This was a slightly different spin on the typical zombie-outbreak theme. The story takes place in a secluded rundown trailer park in New Mexico, where the outbreak is contained. That in itself makes it different in comparison to the typical zombie story; since there are boundaries to where the action takes place. And there is a lot of action. It’s very fast-paced throughout the entire story after the initial contact with the zombies is made. I honestly didn’t want to put it down because I was having too much fun and didn’t want to ‘miss’ anything.
The explanation for the outbreak is actually very plausible, and it was refreshing to see the plague unfold naturally through the characters, their lifestyles and actions, and not read about it in the typical overly dramatic ‘the world ended on such and such date and the dead have come back to life to feed’ fashion, which is too comic bookish and overdone. There are no strange monsters or aliens; just the living and the dead.
The characters themselves are no cookie-cutter ‘Jerry Springer’ rejects, but a well developed mix of people, which you’d expect from an outdated half-abandoned trailer park. Each of them added more realism to the story without making it cartoony in any way. Some of their back-stories were funny, some sad. I especially enjoyed the snake, owned by a war veteran, which brings me to the blood and gore- There was a lot of blood and gore, and that was great, because if it wasn’t as bloody as it was, it would have been too watered down and read like a ‘Lifetime Movie’. Everything in it in terms of the gore fit and was needed.
Without going into too much detail, I can say the outbreak began with a group of immigrant workers employed at a company where they really shouldn’t have been working unprotected with chemicals and such, and since they aren’t documented citizens when one of them got infected and died- well, you can see what direction things would be going in from there. The body was brought back to the trailer park and put on display for the ‘funeral’ of sorts.
I don’t want to give too much away, but if you enjoy a good romp with the ‘walking dead’ this is a great story for you. It’s a well written zombie story that doesn’t rely on anything other than what it’s supposed to be; a gory tale of the living fighting off the walking dead. I’ve never read anything else by this author but I really liked ‘Valley of Death’. It was a quick read and nonstop action. The ending was realistic especially under the circumstances, and it kind of left things open to continue. I hope the author takes it further, and I’ll check it out if he does.
