Plague of the Undead by Joe McKinney

I finished another zombie book. It was Plague of the Undead by Joe McKinney.

In this book McKinney takes a different line about the origin of the zombie apocalypse. It's no longer Houston in the aftermath of a slew of hurricanes. This time it's a chemical food additive CDHL. It was realized too late that massive CDHL exposure causes the zombie state, and that everyone reanimates after they die.

The book is set in a town on the Mississippi river called Arbella. It's set 30 years into the ruined future. The residents of Arbella have survived and set up an agrarian pre-industrial society. The community has done well. The population has increased to 10,000 and is looking to expand beyond its walls.

An expedition team is assembled to venture out, see what's out there, and determine potential sites to expand Arbella. The book is about the expedition team and their encounters out in the wilds.

It was a good book. It felt a bit derivative of the later Walking Dead in that the zombie problem is largely under control, and a lot of the dangers are in the people they meet along the way. It's not McKinney's best zombie work. The Houston series is better, especially Apocalypse of the Dead. The book isn't really long and he ends it with a collection of zombie apocalypse short stories tacked on at the end. Some of those stories are strange, world war Z style, but a good read.

Maybe the zombie thing has run its course and I'm ready to move on. Still this was a good book. If I happen to see any more McKinney at the library I would grab it.

Mutated by Joe McKinney

I've got through a few books of late. I finished another Joe McKinney Deadworld book. Mutated is pretty good. This picks up the story eight years after Apocalypse of the Dead. He picks up with the Apocalypse characters Nate and Ben. Nate is somehow immune to the zombie infection. As long as they don't tear him to pieces he can take some bites and scratches.

There are some new characters introduced Sylvia, Avery and Niki. At this point 8 years on some survivor settlements have been established. There's also some trade among the settlements along the Mississippi river. Which makes sense since the McKinney zombies drown in deep enough water so that would more likely emerge in the post apocalypse.

A new sinister force has emerged among the zombies. A terrifying Red Man who gets both the zombies and some human black shirt soldiers to work for him. He's overrun 4 of the 5 major survivor compounds. In the story Niki and Nate want to reach a mysterious Dr. Fisher who may be able to turn the tide on the zombies. The Red Man wants to find and eliminate the doctor and wants to use Niki to get to him.

It's a pretty good book. Not as great as Apocalypse of the Dead, but it was satisfying to see Nate again. The new characters are pretty solid. McKinney still captures the terror of the undead well. It's a fast paced read I got through most of it when home sick for a weekend over new years.

I think I have two more Deadworld books to read to complete this series. I'll look for them at the library.

Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney

I finished up another zombie book. It was Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney.

It was a good book. A typical McKinney fast and compelling read. This book is the origin of the dead city series. The story of where it begins in Houston. After 4 major hurricanes in two weeks Houston is badly flooded. Among all the death and rot and oil refinery chemicals stewing in the water the necrosis filovirus emerges.

The book is the story of two police officers in the Houston PD working in the emergency task force and their families. Sergeant Eleanor Norton and her boss Captain Mark Shaw. They are working together at the command centre at a Houston University. As the zombies emerge and overrun the university and the city it's a struggle to survive and get their families out and try to help the dwindling and desperate survivors as best they can. In the McKinney style their paths intersect through the story.

The McKinney zombies are interesting. They aren't the "undead". only a living person who is bitten by a zombie and then turns before dying of some other cause becomes a zombie. which makes more sense if you think about it; it's a bit like rabies or ebola in that sense. after all how can someone who is dead get some infection or virus or any condition.

I got the book at the library. they ordered it in for me. it's always a treat to be the first person to read a brand new library book. so I checked and I guess there's still two more in the dead city series to read. I'll definitely be looking for them to finish off this great series.

Dead City by Joe McKinney

I finished another book. It was Dead City by Joe McKinney. It was another zombie book. This book is the prequel to Apocalypse of the Dead which I read a couple months ago.

Dead City takes place over a single day. It is the account of a San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson dealing with an initial report of a disturbance in a neighbourhood which turned out to be zombies. They didn't know that at the time. It's the story of how the undead quickly overrun San Antonio and officer Hudson's struggle to survive, find what's left of authority, and find his own family.

It was a good book. McKinney's writing style is fast paced and the descriptions of the zombies are very believable and terrifying. After reading Apocalypse I wanted to read his other titles. I believe there's another McKinney zombie title which I'll look for in the new year.

Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney

Continuing the zombie and light reading theme, I read another book recently. It was Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney. It was pretty good, I read it in a few days.

The story takes place around 18 months after the initial zombie outbreak in Houston after a major hurricane. In the first outbreak the government sealed Houston and much of the coast behind a large wall with a sea quarantine. In the book a small band of survivors escape in a boat. Alas there is an infected among them and when the boat comes ashore in Florida it is full of zombies. They swiftly wreak havoc there.

Around the same time the quarantine wall fails and both zombies and some stray survivors bust out into Texas and Mississippi.

The author cuts between a number of different characters in Houston, Florida, Mississippi, LA and other places as they struggle to survive and stay on the move. The characters are drawn to a survivor colony in North Dakota led by a charismatic preacher and his devoted followers. The individual stories come together and intersect at the colony and an interesting conclusion.

The author has written other zombie themed books and this one ended in a way that he could pick it up with another book if he wanted to. Also set 18 months after the outbreak, this book may have been a follow on to an earlier zombie book. I might look for his other books and read them if I see them.