Welcome to the Lair!
Exploring dark alleys. Discovering new nightmares.
Revisiting the masters.
Ally Lane survived the sinking of the Betty Loo, escaped imprisonment, and averted an all-out war between the nations that would have destroyed the world.
Now she is faced with her greatest challenge. She must cross the country, avoiding hordes of the undead and groups of people willing to do anything to survive.
While she travels with a rag tag group of survivors and new additions, the reality of their situation hits home. There are worse things out there than the zombies, and she can only think of one solution for them to live.
Z-End by Suzanne Robb begins a few months after Z-Topia ends. Ally is severely underappreciated, she is surrounded by people going insane, and the new zombie mutation has made the undead nearly impossible to kill. Despite everything that happened in the first two books, Ally has found a few people to care about, and she is determined to find a safe place for them. She just needs to stay alive long enough to see her plan through.
More details are revealed about the source of the outbreak, but Ally is more concerned with uncovering the reason for the downfall of several other survivor groups, before she loses what little she has left. It's looking like the end of the human race, once and for all.
Robb does an excellent job of mixing mystery and suspense into the horror of her zombie series!
As always,
AstraDaemon
Ally Lane wakes up aboard a cargo ship dazed and confused. She has survived the explosion of the Betty Loo only to discover she's in more danger than ever. The captain has a hold full of zombies and the doctor on board is out for himself. The reality of what is happening hits her when she sees a map of the infected areas.
Armed with the truth, Ally must find a way to let as many people know what is really going on. She runs into a snag when the captain betrays her, turning her over to an enemy from a past she'd rather not remember.
Z-Topia by Suzanne Robb is the second book in the Z-Boat series. The post-apocalyptic future Robb created seems like a strong possibility - a frightening future. It reminds me of a quote that I recently read, "One day the only thing left for the poor to eat will be the rich."
Society has turned into a savage struggle for survival: food shortages, brown drinking water (if any water at all) and multiple families sharing one apartment...just to mention a few highlights of daily life. No more governments - just three major firms running the world, and the US is not one of them.
As if the self-induced apocalypse wasn't bad enough, a secondary apocalypse has unfolded in the form of a worldwide zombie outbreak (which spread through the limited water supply). While the main character, Ally (sole survivor from the events of the first book), sets out on a revenge mission, she realizes a third apocalyptic wave is unleashing a new nightmare in the form of stronger, more bullet-resistant zombies. Oh, and they're smart too.
Robb packs the pages with espionage, drama, brutality and character-intensive action. I can't wait for the third book!
As always,
AstraDaemon
Ally Lane is the pilot and navigator of the The Betty Loo, a search and rescue submarine. She took refuge from her demons on the sub a decade ago.
Brian Kingston, a captain with good intentions but a heavy drinking problem, jumps at the opportunity to make more money than he can imagine on a deep-sea dive aboard the search and rescue submarine, The Betty Loo. He quickly discovers just what he’s gotten himself, and his crew, into. The Betty Loo will be going to suicidal depths on a mission to rescue The Peacemaker, a sub once thought to be unsinkable. After receiving an anonymous threat on the day of departure, Brian is left with no choice but to continue on the mission.
But the depths of the sea aren’t the only problems ahead. New crewmembers arrive, and seeds of distrust are sown within hours. And, upon arrival to The Peacemaker, he realizes that though not all the bodies are dead, there is no one to rescue. The crew members, both old and new, have to trust one another and fight for their lives against the adapting undead or join them in the floating graveyard that is The Peacemaker.
Z-Boat by Suzanne Robb is more mystery-thriller than a horror novel. While the first 1/4 is a painfully slow set-up of the characters and setting, it's obviously necessary. I know a lot of readers that would be tempted to give up, and, if they did, they would miss the fantastic writing in the rest of the book. Robb has a real flair for the dramatic, and knows how to reach in & twist your guts.
The prologue is a nice touch, but depressing as hell. The new world powers are Russia, Israel, and North Korea. Drinking water has to be mined from the Moon. On a mission to find a new sources of energy in the ocean, the crew of a submarine are being slaughtered by some unknown enemy, and send out an SOS. The chain of events in the prologue really sucked me into the book, but the pace of the story came to a crawl as the timeline jumped ahead six months to a rescue mission.
Robb does a thorough run-down of the characters' descriptions, including some brief personal background info, and switches the POV among them for the duration of the story...but it takes time to get everyone into place for the unfolding drama. It's like the characters of Deep Rising, in the setting of The Hunt for Red October, with some elements of Resident Evil, and some fabulous original writing by Robb.
As always,
AstraDaemon
