Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Dead of Night (Dead of Night #1) by Jonathan Maberry

Dead of Night





Dead of Night (Dead of Night #1)




Still not sure how I missed finding Jonathan Maberry before but I am hooked. This book seems to keep up his Zombie theme, with more of the classic outbreak/beginning story.  Providing one of the better back stories for how the infection came to be than most books, the book kept me glued until the end.

When a mad-scientist doctor injects a death row serial killer with something other than what the government wants, untold horror is unleashed on a little county in Pennsylvania. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the reporter, Trout, and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Dez. Trout gets the full story from the prison doc, while Dez must slowly figure out the danger she is in bit by bit and only through trial and error is she able to learn how to fight correctly.  It is a solid story that keeps you involved for the entire novel, as you try to figure out where the story will end.

Kitty Takes a Holiday (Kitty Norville #3) by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Takes a Holiday (Kitty Norville, #3)







Kitty Takes a Holiday (Kitty Norville #3)


This book was kind of a slog to get through. I continue to enjoy reading stories involving Kitty, but this story seemed somewhat adrift and not anchored like the first two books.  It also had the odd feel that there were basically two stories in this book that are combined. The mystery of who is harassing Kitty during her self-enforced isolation and the part where she deals with the aftereffects of the first story.

Overall we get a better understanding of the world that Kitty lives in (with the expansion of new types of supernatural creatures and of magic) as well as better understanding of the two men who dominate her life, her lawyer, Ben, and her occasional hunter ally Cormic.

I really do enjoy the tone (the voice) of Kitty, she remains an engaging character and I have hopes for the next book. It helps that in the end she is back where she belongs, behind the mic.

Ex-Heroes (Ex-Heroes #1) by Peter Clines

Ex-Heroes (Ex-Heroes, #1)




Ex-Heroes (Ex-Heroes #1)


You got Zombies in my Superheroes novel. You got Superheroes in my Zombie novel. Together it is a great combination (yes, I know Marvel has done this in the past, but it still doesn't make it any less interesting).

This story is a solid read. It combines both the origin stories of the various heroes with back story on how they handled the Zombie outbreak to the present situation, dealing with their closest opponents, a gang that has also survived the outbreak.The writer does a great job blending those stories together, causing a level of care for the characters as well as bringing the story to a rip-roaring battle of a crescendo.

4/5 stars.