As you would expect with zombie fiction there is horror, gore and a fair bit of action which link to wider social and political trends during the end of the last century. Having lived through those decades, when reading this book, I cannot help but think of the devastation of the AIDs epidemic and the fear and sadness of those times both for those who were touched directly as well as the general climate of suspicion and hopelessness. More recently we have not escaped these dynamics as we respond to fears of otherness played out in discourse about war, terrorism, famine and disease. The author holds these issues up to scrutiny in both an emotionally distant and at times light hearted action narrative as well as painful and beautifully written descriptions of human distress. These focus in particular on sickness within rather than without and the conflict and injuries inside our own minds and in very close personal relationships. These parts of the book carry a deeper emotional resonance and the author brings the two elements of the book together at the end in a surprising and skilful way. The writing becomes much stronger as the book unfolds and the deeper layers of meaning become revealed. I would strongly recommend the book as a serious and thought provoking attempt to tackle troubling aspects of human nature.

GOLD NIGHTINGALE