Jungle Zombies

Pray For Darkness
by James Michael Rice
328 pages
$2.99 Kindle version

In this novel, a group of tourists find themselves trapped with a tribe infected by zombie ants. Their riverboat captain is killed, leaving them stranded and they have to fight their way back to civilization with a tribe of hungry corpses on their trail.

I love how the book begins with the group in hiding from the infected, and then flashes all the way back to the beginning of their ill-fated adventure in the Amazon jungle. Knowing ahead of time that the group is going to be screwed big-time, and that they have already lost one of their fellow survivors, built up the suspense to a point where I felt I couldn't put the book down, at least, until I reached the part where they are in hiding. It proved to be an incredibly intense read.

Unlike many other authors, Rice does not depend on excessive violence or graphic sexual content to propel the story, but rather creates imagery and characters that will make readers feel as if they too are in the jungle. For the first time in my life, I was actually rooting for ALL the characters, and the ending left me devastated, but thoroughly entertained.

I'm sure there will be some debate on whether or not the infected could be considered zombies, but there is no doubt in my mind that zombiephiles will be pleased with the source of the infection. I also think this novel will appeal to horror fans in general, especially those who enjoy stories that feed on people's most basic fears.

As always,
AstraDaemon