What Is ‘The Boat – Zombie Survivors’ About?
At the end of the world, the undead aren’t the greatest threat to those who have survived.
A deadly plague brought on by an experimental AIDS drug called Lazarus sweeps the country. Lazarus, named so because it brings patients back from the brink of death, has the unfortunate side effect of bringing the dead back to life. A handful of survivors have made their way to water where the walking dead–called ‘sinkers’–are less of a threat. These battered and traumatized survivors have colonized a super yacht (Flyboy), a tugboat (Big Daddy), and a weekender yacht (Barbra’s Bay Breeze). As they wait for more survivors and organize a voyage south to a warm climate, they unintentionally bring aboard a monster who might be the end to them all.
Our ‘The Boat – Zombie Survivors’ Review
In ‘The Boat – Zombie Survivors’, Christine Dougherty asks us a very important question: “What if the dead aren’t the greatest threat that we have to endure?”
I’m not going to lie this is a question that is at least vaguely touched on in most zombie novels these days. At least it’s touched on in the more interesting ones. The threat could come from the setting, the threat could come from nature, the threat could come from a lack of supplies or knowledge of survival, the threat could come from other people. Regardless of where it is coming from there is an external force that is just as dangerous, if not more so, than the zombies themselves.
Having said that I will now say that Christine did a great job at bringing that threat forward in a somewhat credible manner that is an absolute blast to read. You aren’t going to get a lot of zombie action within these pages as they are features primarily in two scenes aside from flashbacks. What you do get though with the undead is extremely well written though I’m not sure I can agree with the choice of names. While I understand that these survivors are on a boat they insist on calling the zombies ‘sinkers’ as they ‘sink’ in the water (even though the majority of zombie references are on solid land.) Naming aside, when the zombies are on page they are both fierce and menacing so are a credible addition to the zombie genre.
Now onto the plot itself. While there are a slew of supporting characters brought into the mix there are only four that we truly followed and who were really fleshed out. Maggie, who is the main character that we view this novel through. She has become numb from the loss of her love and is partially detached from the rest of the group and runs one of the smaller ships. That changes slightly though as she gets to know Steve better who happens to be our second main character. What’s a novel about the end of the world without a little romance blooming right? Steve is an ex-professor who runs the second largest ship. While he lost his girlfriend to the zombies (which is one of our flashback scenes with the undead) he has become taken with Maggie. While he doesn’t make it comfortable it’s clear to just about everyone who he has his eyes on. He’s the natural leader that most people follow though he’s not the one in charge. In charge is the unofficially self-proclaimed leader of the group, Adam. He was a complete douchebag back before the zombies ruined everyone’s life and since he figured out and found the Yacht that is the main ship of the three he put himself in charge and balks whenever anyone even slightly disagrees with him. Finally we bring in John Smith who is on a raft that the three ships stumble across. With a name like that you know he can’t be good and he ends up being a serial killer. I’m sure between these last two characters you can guess who the threats that aren’t zombies are.
While this isn’t the only novel out there about survivors on a boat it’s a great read and worth picking up. Christine’s writing is top notch and is really able to bring both character development and empathy to the table. You are going to want to keep flipping through pages to find out what is going to happen next as she builds suspense with each chapter on what is going on with John. While the focus here is more on a serial killer than the zombies, they are present and add quite a bit to the rules of the world we find our crews in.
The Boat is a well crafted read that will draw you in from open to close.
Where Can You Get ‘The Boat – Zombie Survivors’?
The Boat – Zombie Survivors is available at Amazon
