They’re coming to get you, Barbara. And everyone else in the world, too.
Set in late 2006, Z.A. Recht’s zombie novel THE MORNINGSTAR STRAIN: PLAGUE OF THE DEAD chronicles the spread of a virus that resurrects the dead. It begins in Africa, where the situation escalates to crisis mode in no time flat, prompting the entire continent to be quarantined. Unfortunately, a carrier makes it over to America before that happens.
Along with the shit going down in Africa, the narrative jumps back and forth between a core group of central characters: There’s an Army general in the field with a college-aged Red Cross volunteer. There’s a female Army medical researcher who had intelligence that would have helped prevent the outbreak, if only the ignorant U.S. government would have heeded her warnings, and now she’s holed up in a safe house outside of Washington, D.C..
Speaking of, the feds have chosen to make dissenting voices into political prisoners, much to the dismay of TV reporter Julie Ortiz, who’s thrown into a cell and tortured. Lastly, there’s a crew aboard an American ship, ready to see what’s in store for them as they dock at the West Coast.
Recht’s book says nothing new in regards to the zombie genre, but it says it pretty well. Those schooled in – and obsessed with – George Romero’s LIVING DEAD films will feel as if they’re reading another chapter in his world, especially with Recht’s military-heavy slant that informed DAY OF THE DEAD and LAND OF THE DEAD. So in this case, familiarity breeds comfort.
Initially, all the background info you need is relayed through e-mail messages between the aforementioned Army general and researcher. Once the outbreak is established and the dead begin to walk, the focus broadens a bit as other characters are introduced. Recht does a skillful job of knowing when to shift from one scenario to another, and the characters are endearing – at least the good guys – and humanized, referring to the virus as “one sick puppy.”
A caveat: Because this is the first book in a planned trilogy, Permuted Press’ PLAGUE OF THE DEAD does not offer a satisfying end. No conclusion is reached as much as threads begin to converge. –Rod Lott
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
Related posts:
- Fiends of the Eastern Front: Twilight of the Dead
- Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
- The Brief History of the Dead
- The Book of the Dead
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }