(I reviewed this on its release date but just now remembered I didn’t want anyone to miss this, so I’m posting here too. So GOOD! And yet again from Garza, a creepy good cover with eyes that will haunt me a little bit.)
This story is so much more than just another zombie book. I’ve read a lot of Garza’s work, and I think this is my favorite. What I love about his stories is that the characters feel like real people – you might hate them, you might love them, but they feel like real people. Their choices make sense rather than just doing whatever works to advance the plot. Mia and Rowan are two great characters, and even the minor characters are given a lot of attention. Mia’s development greatly overshot my expectations (without giving away spoilers), and Rowan was consistently a good guy you could cheer for.
The post-apocalyptic world-building in this story is simple but perfect. Every description gives you just enough to create a picture in your head, and basically if you picture mass desolation, you’re good. Zombie worlds all have the same familiar feel, but I really liked the idea of how “tribes” of survivors had formed in cities and how these people had reverted to more primitive ways – if the world hadn’t functioned in decades, yeah, teens wouldn’t know about electricity.
The tension in the writing is great, too. I plowed through this book in two sittings because it kept building and I couldn’t put it down. The unique evolution of the zombies was something I hadn’t read before, and it added to the creepy factor. I always love when books like this use bad-guy humans as the biggest (still living) evil, and the second part of the book does a great job of bringing in something new.
Definitely gory. Definitely intense. Definitely worth a read if you like post-apocalyptic, zombie survival stories infused with a human kick.
See it on Amazon!
Sunshine Somerville 
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