Mixing It Up

Sometimes I get into a rut where I am just reading one certain series or a certain genre.  That's what has been happening lately and I found myself getting a little bored.  I decided to mix it up a bit and read a genre I would never normally read.  I picked, of all things, horror.  For this I have to thank Becky Spratford of RA For All.  Becky knows her horror and when I saw that she had an interview coming up with the author Jonathan Maberry it piqued my interest.  So, I found myself reading Maberry's Dead of Night, a zombie thriller.  I approached the book with apprehension, sure that I would be throwing it aside after just a few chapters.  Horror of horrors, I found myself totally engrossed in the book and didn't want to put it down!

The story had a substantial plot with well developed characters.  Told from different points of views, including the zombies, the reader is aware of what the characters are thinking and feeling.  Ever wonder how a zombie feels?  Here's your chance to find out. The story bounces back and forth between several characters including a zombie, a reporter and a female police officer.  The fact that you are watching events unfold through different views really adds terror and evokes different emotional responses in the reader.

 As for the plot, it wasn't just a lot of zombies chasing after humans, though there was a lot of that, but the storyline developed as to how it all started and who was behind it.  A suspenseful read from the beginning, we are introduced to a small town in Pennsylvania.  The story starts with the corpse of serial killer Homer Gibbon being delivered to the mortuary in Stebbins, PA.  However, Homer was injected with a drug that would render him conscious in death as his body decomposed.  This was to be his punishment (besides being executed) and he was to be buried on prison grounds.  Instead, he is delivered to the mortuary and this is the start of a chain of events that release the zombies.  We see the story develop and how the government tries to contain the zombies to just the town of Stebbins.  The story flows and develops in a very natural way.

I enjoyed the book so much that I know I will continue reading some more horror.  Hopefully, other authors will give me the thrill and the scary jolts that come with reading this type of book.  Give it a try, mix up your reading a little, you may enjoy it.  If you find yourself at a loss as to what to choose, Deerfield Library's readers advisory department is always here to help you.