A droll and charming zombie tale that’s a bit hampered by predictability.
In this comic horror novel, two human survivors of a zombie apocalypse fall in love.
While Hanson Belfour is at his weekend job updating computer systems, a sudden zombie outbreak occurs. He locks himself in the empty building and survives. Before too long, the zombies stop being violent and return to the routines that they had as humans—including going to work every day. Hanson is able to walk among them, albeit slowly. A decade later, Hanson is living with his zombified brother, Rick, and assumes that he’s the last living human on Earth. That’s why he’s surprised when he happens upon “the most beautiful zombie he’d ever seen.” It’s Alicia Hooker, whom readers know is also human and feigning zombification. Alicia regularly socializes with other human survivors, many of whom who hang out at a secret, zombie-free social space called the Blue Oyster. When she and Hanson finally connect, they’re almost immediately smitten with each other. Alas, being in love can be dangerous, as excessive emotion draws unwanted zombie attention. Soon there’s a human threat to their maturing romance, as well: an ex-boyfriend from Alicia’s pre-apocalypse past. As Hanson worries about the future of their relationship, Alicia becomes determined to locate the reputed “Promised Land,” a safe haven for humans. Perkins (Hot Chocolate for the Mind, 2012) and Sakai (co-author: 442, 2019, etc.) deliver a zombie tale that’s more funny than scary. There’s still plenty of tension, however, as the zombies remain a perpetual menace; whenever characters let their guard down, they often receive violent reminders of the zombies’ presence. The comedy, meanwhile, is generally subtle, as when Alicia muses that eating cow brains, as part of her zombie act, isn’t “the healthiest diet in the world.” Most of the zombie attacks are implied, rather than described, which strengthens the lighthearted tone. However, the story tends to lean on clichés, particularly when it comes to the central couple’s relationship; as a result, a few plot turns, while entertaining, are also unsurprising.
A droll and charming zombie tale that’s a bit hampered by predictability.Pub Date: May 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62526-889-1
Page Count: 251
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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