The Scabs Continue To Evolve As The Hunt Chronicles Continue...

Christian Hunt and the small band of Camp Holly survivors begin their trek west toward Hoover Dam. There, Doctor Tripp believes she and the refugees that have fortified the dam can develop a cure from Christian’s blood. Zombies are an ever-present danger, opportunistic humans threaten their very lives, and scabs are evolving into apex predators, with humans on the menu.

As if the near impossibility of making it past all of these obstacles wasn’t enough, Christian strives to search for his family. Did his parents or sister survive? And if they did, are any of them immune like him? His desire to find out what happened to them puts the entire mission in jeopardy. And what he discovers is that knowing is sometimes worse than not knowing.

With new friends, enemies, and dreadful discoveries, the companions will have to pull all stops and endure more pain and hardship than ever before. Christian learns to love, hate, kill, and nurture, all while trying to hold on to some semblance of humanity.

Crusade by J.D. Demers is the third book in The Hunt Chronicles. Christian is still relaying his story in past tense through a journal of some sort. As he writes, the prologue notes about a year and half has passed since Christian had his life turned upside down by the contagion. He is physically and mentally breaking down, but he believes he needs to keep writing...

His story continues with the mission to bring key personnel, including himself, to Hoover Dam, with hopes that a vaccine can be engineered. At this point in his personal account, it is five months after losing his roommate to the virus, forming a family with Fish, Boomer and Katrina, and establishing the survivor compound, Camp Holly. Nature has been reclaiming everything and Christian's team is already resembling a group from a Mad Max movie.

The Scabs are continuing to evolve. One of the things I love about this series is how well-developed the monsters are. Demers describes in detail how the Scabs have been changing and interacting with each other, with the zombies and with the human survivors. The author even gives a name to a Scab leader. The battles with the Scabs are some of the best I've ever read in any genre.

Christian gains a lot of insight in his quest to discover the fate of his father, mother and sister. This allows him to relate to the others in his group, particularly Fish, in ways he couldn't have imagined. He also suffers more loss in this novel than in the previous two. Even Boomer becomes more of a central character, with battles and personal interactions of his own.

Demers has done an excellent job of keeping up the action, character growth and scientific discoveries. Each novel has been better than the one before. I'm looking forward to finding out why Christian has been writing a journal while trapped.

As always,
AstraDaemon