Zombie Fiction Book Reviews

The zombie genre has exploded in recent years, and unfortunately, so many similar stories have begun to run together, making it less of a desirable avenue for both writers and readers. However, there is still hope for this genre niche in the form of Tell Me When I’m Dead by Steven Ramirez. The first book in a trilogy, this slow-burning thriller does far more than simply promote an everyman into a zombie-killing hero, introducing readers to a uniquely compelling protagonist.

Leading this novel from start to finish is Dave Pulaski, who is not the type of character you’d expect to […]

A stellar sophmore installment to the Tell Me When I’m Dead series, Dead is All You Get ups the ante considerably, avoiding so many of the common clichés in zombie tales, for an original and well-rounded work of zombie fiction.

The first book in the series largely focused on the outbreak and the battles that our unlikely alcoholic antihero must fight to protect his new family and make it out on the other side alive. This second installment takes this basic plot and expands it into something truly shocking.

The zombie contagion was actually a covert government operation […]

Finishing a trilogy always comes with a certain amount of pressure, as the disparate narrative threads must all come back together, and if loose ends are left untethered, it can often seem anticlimactic for a loyal reader. Fortunately, Steven Ramirez didn’t struggle at all with this challenge, and delivers a knockout final installment with Even the Dead Will Bleed, the last book in the Tell Me When I’m Dead series.

As with the prior two novels, the action is carried not only by a stunning unique protagonist – flagrantly flawed Dave Pulaski – but also by a plot that […]

This third installment of Daniel Greene’s End Time Saga pushes the envelope even further in its post-apocalyptic hellscape, making The Rising one novel you should not miss, whether you’re new to the series, or you’ve been along for the ride in this oddly addictive work of zombie fiction.

The survivors from the first two books are still plowing through their harrowing missions, fending off the living dead and fighting for a cure. The virus that threatens the planet has laid waste to society and the rule of law has shattered. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and with the ultimate […]

Telling a horrific story about the coming zombie apocalypse is no longer a unique approach to the genre, but Counter-Zombie Warfare by Jason A. Beauchemin takes a decidedly different angle. Once the zombie apocalypse happens, there are bound to be some people standing boldly on the front lines, tasked with protecting the rest of us from certain death. This is the story of one such soldier.

Readers are invited to see the strange and terrifying new world through the eyes of a counter-zombie infantryman, and while the context of the dead coming back to life is far-fetched, there is a […]

★★★★½

A savage, unforgettable zombie thrill ride.

From the very first scene of Greene’s gruesome, entrancing thriller, readers know that they are in for one hell of a ride. When a deadly virus begins to spread in the DRC, one might think that all the petty rivalries, policies, and ambitions of people would be put to the side for the sake of survival, but this novel takes readers not only through the brutal gore of an imagined zombie apocalypse, but also into some truly dark corners of human nature.

Readers are initially led to believe that this is a slowly […]