White Zombie #1
Diana Rowland
Daw Books Inc. July 2011/978-0-7564-0675-2
Urban fantasy / Horror
Amazon
Reviewed
by P.L. Blair
White Trash
Puts New Twist On Horror Staple
Angel Crawford
is a self-branded Loser – a high school dropout with a pill
habit and a criminal record.
Then she wakes up in a hospital ER with memories of a horrible car
crash – but not a mark on her – and the police say they
found her wandering naked … suffering from an overdose …
And there's
more: She receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job
waiting for her at the county morgue – an offer she doesn't
dare turn down.
Before long,
the pill habit and criminal record have become the least of Angel's
worries. Especially after she develops this craving for human brains
…
If you like
your zombies in the traditional style of the Hollywood movies, My
Life As a White Trash Zombie may not appeal to you. Despite the
subject matter, there's little horror – and a lot of subtle
humor – in Rowland's novel.
But if you
delight in books that reinvent the mold, you'll love this one! Angel
is smart, wise-cracking, totally aware of the irony in the twist
her life has taken –
And as bewildered as the rest of us would be if we awoke with a
huge – and significant – piece of our lives missing
… on the receiving end of cryptic notes from a mysterious
“someone” (Angel begins referring to him as Anonymous
Letter Guy) … and the dawning realization that consumption
of human brains is important to our health ...
Here, for example, when she receives a note that tells her “If
you crave it, eat it. Trust your instincts”:
“But
I'd been craving brains. The smell was like chocolate and cookies
and biscuits and gravy and everything delicious. It damn near drove
me crazy every time I had to touch one. I'd been fighting the cravings
the way I'd never fought the urge to take drugs or get drunk.”
Rowland exercises
a deft touch in getting her readers inside Angel's head –
and at making Angel not only believable but … sympathetic.
Sympathy? For
a zombie?
Definitely
not Hollywood.
And then …
Angel finds herself drawn into a police investigation of a serial
killer … who decapitates his victims … and she discovers
that she's in danger of being on the predator's list …
White Trash
Zombie is fast-paced, fun, with its own weird logic that just pulls
you along. And just like Angel, you'll crave more – not brains,
but more of Rowland's books.
Trust me. You'll
never think of zombies quite the same way again.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
My
Life As a White Trash Zombie #1
Even
White Trash Zombies Get the Blues #2
White
Trash Zombie Unchained #3 |