SELECT * FROM uv_BookReviewRollup WHERE recordnum = 1565 Dead of Night, by Jonathan Maberry Book Review | SFReader.com

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Dead of Night, by Jonathan Maberry
Genre: Horror
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011
Review Posted: 8/28/2013
Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: Not Rated

Dead of Night, by Jonathan Maberry

Book Review by Michael D. Griffiths

Have you read this book?

The novel Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry is a wild ride. There is a lot of Zombie fiction coming out these days; much of it (except mine) can range from mediocre to downright dreadful. Jonathan Maberry's novel is an exception to this rule. Not only is it an inventive original take on the genre, but it just an awesome page turning read.

This novel has many characters, including even a zombie or two, but the majority of the tale focuses around a beautiful female police officer and veteran, named Dez, and her off and on love, Billy Trout. These two, along with many others, are thrust face first into horror when their small quiet town becomes ground zero for the quickly spreading zombie plague.

Like many novels that start at the beginning of the outbreak, people are confused and uncertain over what to do. Zombies are restrained instead of killed and the whole aim for the head thing isn't discovered until it is too late for most of the local police force. Dez and her partner JT do, however, discover that the dead walk and need to be put down. They have saved themselves, at least for now, but the real question is can they save their town?

While his former lover is in the middle of the undead take over, Billy Trout is discovering how the plague began. No, you will not be finding this out within this review, but unlike other authors, Maberry makes a strong attempt to give the origin of this plague a legitimate source. Trout?s investigation mixes with the all-out action Dez is forced to survive through and creates a riveting plot line.

As the town crumbles, its would be savors turn out to be even worse than the zombies themselves and soon the poor survivors are finding themselves quarantined in a county of death and trapped between the ravenous undead and the trigger happy soldiers determined not to let anything walking escape the scene.

This is a strongly written novel, but if drawbacks could be identified, they might include that the chapters were short and choppy. Personally I found this helped build the story into a well-rounded tale, but others might find the quick sound bites of so many different characters overwhelming. The end also climaxed well, but some of it felt a bit forced like the writer would have preferred keeping the story going for another two hundred pages.

Overall, if you like zombie fiction, even a little, you would want to grab this book. It is strong and focused. Maberry packs a serious punch with this one. I enjoy most books that I read, but I am often happy to finish them so I can move onto the next one. This was not the case with Dead of Night. As the pages dwindled, I felt myself dreading the fact that it would soon be over. Without a doubt it is the best book I've read over the last year and I would recommend it to not only zombie fans, but all fans of action and horror.
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