About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

XOMBIES
by Walter Greatshell
Berkley, August 2004
346 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0425197441


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Lulu, or Louise Alaric Pangloss, and her mother are stalking Mr Cowper. Lulu's mother claims that he is her father and wants him to acknowledge her. Lulu is a little tired of her mother's games but does not have the power to stop her. They are staying in a cabin in Maine when disaster strikes. When Lulu's mother goes to town to get the mail, she is unable to make it. During their seclusion, Agent X has struck and the population has turned into Xombies.

Xombies are obviously a person with Agent X, who resembles a zombie in both appearance and behavior. A person can become a Xombie either through the disease itself or from dying. Those that die come back to life as a Xombie. In some ways, this is a form of eternal life.

Lulu's mother quickly succumbs to Agent X and Lulu is forced to rely on Mr Cowper to protect her. Mr Cowper and Lulu escape to a nearby navy base and flee the infected in a sub. The entire crew searches for a location that is not filled with Xombies. This is a difficult goal and one that influences the majority of the book.

XOMBIES does not provide enough detail on Agent X and its spread. While the propaganda of the disease, which was human released, is explained, it did not make that much sense and did not seem like a good idea to any thinking human being. In addition, a lot of the plot was very predictable and not very interesting.

I am not a large fan of horror novels for the reasons listed above. The books usually are not very scary, the explanations do not frequently make much sense, and a large part of the book is predictable. A true horror aficionado might approach this book differently and might enjoy it much more than I did.

In defense of the book, Lulu has an engaging voice. She is 17, but acts much younger. While she seems unwilling to stick up for herself and is not exactly an appealing character, she does have the sarcastic wit that is necessary to tell this story. Unlike most teenagers she is willing to follow instruction and seems desperate to have someone tell her what to do. While this type of behavior is unusual, it does allow Lulu to know more about the events and actions of the other characters in the book.

XOMBIES is Walter Greatshell's first novel.

Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, August 2004

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]