An unorthodox tale in which battling zombies is just one of many tribulations for troubled soldiers.
In Beauchemin’s debut sci-fi thriller, a specialized military unit aims to protect the world from recurring zombie outbreaks.
Military personnel assemble in Texas to take part in a mission whose details are secret—even to them. The group includes the story’s narrator, a U.S. Navy petty officer known only as Fritz, and Armstrong, an Air Force senior airman who can’t pronounce the protagonist’s never-stated French name. The assignment turns out to be a training school for the 1st Joint-Service Counter-Zombie Operations Division; its purpose: to contain undead outbreaks that have been happening worldwide. Head instructor Gunnery Sgt. Gunny Riley takes the trainees through standard zombie fare: zombification is caused by a virus, bites are infectious, and anything other than a head shot is a waste of ammunition. The training consists primarily of simulations involving swarms of “notional zombies”—people wearing rubber masks. These exercises aptly demonstrate what could happen in the field, as the slow-moving living dead are revealed to be highly dangerous en masse. As the typically stoic protagonist gets closer to his fellow soldiers, he starts having anxiety attacks, possibly triggered by the idea of inevitably losing someone. When they go on a real-life mission, mental collapse proves to be just as much of a threat as zombie mastication. Beauchemin’s tale is an engaging interpretation of a familiar subgenre. The focus shifts between the undead and the military unit, and the soldiers deal with issues beyond the zombies, such as a hazing incident that lands some men in trouble. The prose is befitting of a naval officer, with its thorough descriptions of weapons and military engagements. But there’s humor here as well, chiefly in the sarcastic—and generally graphic—dialogue, which even includes a few references to walrus genitalia. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t dig very deep into the personal lives of its protagonist or other division members, giving the later, plentiful deaths little emotional impact. The action, however, does get increasingly more intense, resulting in a final act that’s nothing short of exhilarating.
An unorthodox tale in which battling zombies is just one of many tribulations for troubled soldiers.Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5351-9469-3
Page Count: 294
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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