Every time I read Dying To Live by Kim Paffenroth, I find myself caught up in the perspective of a different character each time. This book was first released over a decade ago, but it's a zombie story I still recommend to horror readers to this day.
The first time, I naturally thought about the main character's perspective. The book starts with Jonah, long-after the initial outbreak. He had originally been searching for his family, then rescued from a zombie horde by a group of survivors. He tries to make a life for himself at their museum-turned-fortress, but he doesn't find peace. Instead he finds himself on a mission where he discovers a father and infant struggling to survive near a gruesome site, as well as a helicopter. When the group flies back to the museum, they see a trail of smoke, and decide to seek out the other survivors. They realize too late that there are some things more traumatic than the walking dead. Jonah is forced to face the worst of human behavior, and after his ordeal, it's not exactly what you can call a happy ending.
The second time, I took Popcorn's perspective into consideration: a child, who loses his mother after zombies overwhelm their rescue station, and has to fight zombies by himself. When you discover Popcorn's story, before he joined the museum group, you convince yourself nothing bad could happen to this character. Unfortunately, when his team finds the other survivors, even Jonah is sickened by Popcorn's horrendous fate. It's not often you find an author willing to make a child one of the main characters, but I was glad that Paffenroth didn't sugar-coat the outcome, even though I was severely shaken.
The third time, I related more to Frank than any of the others. Many of us zombie fanatics ponder what we would do in the event of an actual outbreak, but since I'm someone's mother, I have to rethink all my previous post-apocalyptic plans. Frank does a superb job of keeping his head together to take care of his infant daughter. However, Paffenroth show us how even a great father isn't safe from the sadistic side of humans. I had to ask myself if I would be willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good, if I couldn't see my child again.
I could go down the line with each character, but this review is long enough. The main storyline is the museum survivors who discover another group of survivors - at a prison. As I said earlier, it's not exactly a happy-ending, but Dying to Live is an excellent zombie novel.
As always,
AstraDaemon
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