Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsGood stories with one miss
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2012
An interesting set of 'zombie' stories in a different universe from Clines' Ex-Heroes series.
Here the zombies are called Junkies but serve the same role; they're dimwitted (mostly), hunger for flesh, and their bite is capable of infection. They're non-Romerian zombies in that they are quick and have a degree of intelligence which improves when they get into packs - features that makes them far deadlier than traditional zombies when present in any significant numbers.
The stories are interlocking and are told from a different perspective in each tale. This is an interesting way of telling the story as you don't have a complete picture of events until you've read all of them. Clines paints a vivid picture of a near future ravaged by the spread of the Junkie disease. It isn't quite as bleak as the Ex-Heroes universe - most of humanity has survived this one - but the nature of the disease is actually more horrific. In Ex-Heroes, death tended to be quick and certain after being bitten or scratched. Here, a recently infected victim has the Sword of Damocles hanging over them for weeks while they slowly manifest symptoms that can lead to only one outcome.
** Possible Spoilers Below**
I found all of the stories to be good reads except for the last one. The last story is from the point of view of a professional assassin. That could have been interesting except the character failed the 'Bourne Test' (If the character would handily defeat Jason Bourne in both marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat, then the author needs to go back to the drawing board and redesign the character because he/she is seriously overpowered.) This character would give Stealth a run for her money and that's a problem considering that Stealth is a 'far more than human' superhero. This made it impossible to get into the final story and that made for a weak denouement.
** End Spoilers **
Despite my reservations about the final story, I enjoyed the book immensely. This is due in no small part to Clines' clean prose style and effortless/organic dialogue. Clines' junkies are also an interesting take on the zombie genre and I couldn't help but think about how different Ex-Heroes would have been with junkies instead of Exes.
