Title: Dead Things
Author: Meredith Russell
Genre: Zombie, Contemporary
Length: Novel (284pgs)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (11th August 2012)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: A deadly virus creates hungry monsters. Devin Reid, a survivor, risks his life scavenging food and supplies. One day, Devin finds someone with the potential to change a dark future into one of hope and second chances, Noah Weber.
A deadly virus rages indiscriminately across the United States and then beyond. The survivors face a new terror–the undead creatures created in the wake of the infection.
Devin Reid is part of a group surviving out of a high-security penitentiary near Kansas City. Resources are limited and it’s down to a handful of people like Devin to meet the demands on food and supplies. The newly-made monsters are hungry, and the survivors risk their lives scavenging the cities and highways.
On one fateful venture, Devin finds something, someone, with the potential to change a dark future, destined for blood and heartbreak, into one of hope and second chances. He finds Noah Weber.
Purchase Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/products_id/1179
Review: Devin is part of a small group of survivors living in a prison after a deadly virus outbreak. On a scavenging trip, Devin comes across another survivor, Noah, who has managed to survive living out in the open, which the zombie bites doesn’t infect, and who could just be humanities savior. But the journey to survival is harsh, with blood, loss of life and an egomaniac leading the way. Will there be a future for any of them?
This is a very grim and bloody zombie story, which has a glimmer of hope and maybe developing new relationships after you have lost your whole world. Devin nearly lost everything when the virus struck, but with himself and his sister safe in one of the only safe places in the country, he at least has life. But, when he comes across another survivor he is made to face the fact that although he has life…he is not living. Noah lost everything when the virus struck, he has survived by himself since those first bloody days and now he has been dragged to ‘safety’ where they inject him and want his blood. The only one he trusts is Devin, but Devin holds him away at arm’s length. Can Noah crack the shell that Devin has built around him?
I really enjoyed this story as it has a slightly darker outlook on life, after a virus outbreak that turns the population into zombies. Both the characters of Devin and Noah are really well written, with both of them reacting differently to how the disaster has affected them. Devin draws into himself and continues on, because he has people relying on him. While Noah, grips life with both hands and tries to get as much joy as possible or it could just be that he is around humans who aren’t trying to eat him.
This isn’t a huge romantic, sex-filled story, far from it. It is a story of new hope and maybe new beginnings. It is a story of starting to lay old ghosts to rest and of a glimmer of happiness in the future. This story also isn’t for the faint hearted as it has some pretty gruesome scenes with lots of blood, some with characters we are just getting to know and we don’t get a hearts and flowers happy ending. What we get is the beginning of something that could be special, and a new hope for all humanity.
So, I am going to recommend this to those who love grisly zombie stories, finding the beginning of new love amid harrowing times, of an egomaniac who just hasn’t got a clue and of hope for the future.