Peter Meredith writes Zombie Lore!
Let me jump to the rating and state that I have read 5 books by Peter Meredith and I am going to give each of them a 5/5 rating. There are two separate story arcs by Peter Meredith, both of which revolve around zombie lore. They are called "The Apocalypse Crusade" and "The Undead World" series. The Apocalypse Crusade (AC) is a day by day breakdown of what happens when the zombie virus breaks out in a cancer research centre. The Undead World (UW) is on a larger scale and has many novels (7 vs. 2) spanning the entire United States. AC is a close up account of one form of the zombie epidemic and UW is a macro-level tale and both series have LOTS of adventure, action, sex, drama and suspense.
I used to think that the zombie genre has become very stale and repetitive. From TV shows like Z Nation and the Walking Dead and movies spanning from Resident Evil, I am Legend (arguably those were more mutant than zombie), Dawn of the Dead, etc - this has been overdone. But Peter Meredith's work is just fantastic. It is like he is rewriting zombie lore itself.
The AC arc is character focused. The first book in this series is a great introduction and for me this was the first book by Peter Meredith that I read. This is the newer story arc though so readers should be aware of this. The Apocalypse Crusade War of the Undead Day One is a riveting book about a science experiment gone wrong. There is corporate espionage that causes a switch of cancer medication that leads to a mutation in the patients. One of those patients is a horrific hate-filled neo-Nazi white supremacist who becomes the first to turn but is able to maintain some of his humanity and be a leader among the zombies. Pitted against him is a lean mean security expert who falls for the beautiful Asian over-achieving brilliant scientist. There are a handful of main characters in this arc and each one of them has been developed beautifully. You have a mixture of blundering politicians, dishonest doctors, cowardly police, etc and for every negative you have a silver lining or a ray of hope shining through. Day one of the zombie virus outbreak is exactly what you'd expect it to be: sheer chaos, bureaucratic hang-ups, all sorts of breakdowns in the "system" and the story focuses heavily on what happens when humans turn to zombies - the rage, the suspicion, the paranoia, creating an "us versus them" scenario, etc. I have nothing but mad praise for all the books starting with this one.
The second book in the AC series is called The Apocalypse Crusade 2 War of the Undead and it is Day 2 in this series. Day 2 has the National Guard scrambling for a foothold in this new war, areas being overrun by the zombie horde, how a single kid is able to command zombies and make them an army, the feasting on human flesh - all these are themes covered in this book. Characters which survived from Book 1 are the centre focus in this book and a few new elements are added to the mix. The United States government tries to contain the situation while at the same time Dr. Lee is trying to stay alive and get her and her friends out of the Zone alive. There are intense battle sequences and the whole book is fast action paced. I won't lie to you, I was sad when the book came to an end because the characters are very easy to relate to and they have been developed beautifully and I am just glad that a Day 3 is going to be released in the future.
The second story arc of the UW is completely different. Titled "The Apocalypse: The Undead World Series Book 1" the origin of the zombie virus is in Siberia in Soviet Russia where a pencil-pusher spreads the super-soldier virus to the North Koreans who in turn sell it to Muslim terrorists and before you know it the world has gone mad and most humans are now zombies. The focus on this series is in character development and you have various races thrown in there featuring a hispanic G-man suffering from PTSD, a cancer surviving white chick, a white soccer mom with a body to die for, a black hooker, a skinny white Wall Street corporate raider who is a total wuss, a teenage goth chick, a psychotic colonel, etc and these characters have been developed beautifully. The world has gone to hell and now these characters have to figure out a way to survive. They come together, some of their paths intertwine and they either form allies or enemies. There is rape, plundering, foraging and a struggle for survival.
The second book in the UW series is titled "The Apocalypse Survivors: The Undead World Novel 2" features the Russian from the first novel setting up a savior vessel in the ocean and developing a cure for the virus. America is in ruins and the major characters from the first book who are alive are struggling to survive. The CDC is over run with zombies and pockets of tiny kingdoms have sprouted all of whom are fighting for limited resources. You have a crazy journal who trades in women, a bible thumping white boy Jesus wannabe in the south, the black hooker from the first movie has now become a warlord for the "blacks" in Phili, there are the "Whites" and the "Browns" who are also competing factions - so in short there is division of humans on the basis of race, religion and sex. Slave trading has begun and in all this utter chaos you have zombies running around and our protagonists trapped and struggling to survive.
I want to discuss one of these protagonists. Now I haven't read beyond Book 3 so perhaps she becomes an antagonist later but Jillybean is an exceptional character. This girl is very small about 7 or 8 years old and while I am no psychologist she begins to show signs of multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia in the second book that REALLY manifests itself in the third book. Her mind has created an alternate persona to deal with the atrocities in the world - the raping, human trafficking, death of her closed ones, being all alone, surviving on scraps and using her wits in the worst situations and never losing her cool. She becomes the leader of our little band of heroes and the outcome of their plight to survive rests on her - mostly her alter ego to keep them alive and thinking right when every fibre in them feels like panicking. In all the books I have read, I have not come across a character like her. If they make this into a movie, the entire film will boil down to how good this actress is and keeping ethics in mind I'd be worried if the actress would get affected off-screen by her character in the books.
At the end of the second book, all the factions come to war with our band of heroes and there is a high action packed climax which sets the tone for the third book. You have black supremacists, white supremacists, Jesus bible freaks, slave traders, etc all going to war with each other over the vaccine and to kill off our heroes for mucking up their plans. At the end some good guys (and gals) die, new people are added to our survivor list and in the third book "The Apocalypse Outcasts: The Undead World Novel 3" Peter Meredith shows an America with various kingdoms carving up resources and trading in flesh. A bounty is placed on our heroes' heads and they have no where to run. Most towns - even the neutral territories, do not want anything to do with them, the bigger kingdoms want the reward money and all this while the zombie population is growing more and more dangerous. The family is dealing with various setbacks ranging from rape survival, physical trauma, medical illness, loss of family and in all this Jillibean becomes the key player to get them out alive.
I am taking a break from zombie lore for now but I will be back to read books 4 through 7 and hopefully Peter will release a new AC story by then!
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