(point of interest - I know and like Gary McMahon and have worked with him in the past)
Rick Nutman is an ex-soldier, now a policeman in Leeds who is one of the first to witness a zombie uprising. Attempting to get home to his wife Sally, he is beaten there by Daryl - a young man spoiled and made psychopathic by a domineering, religious Mother - who kills her. Nutman waits for his wife to reanimate, bandages up her terrible wounds and leaves. Along the way, he meets up with Stan Rohmer a More...

Part of Abaddon's Tomes of the Dead series, a selection of unconnected zombie novels, I think I'm right in assuming this to be McMahon's first novel, though there's more to come. I've long admired McMahon, and the bleak worldview his writing demonstrates. Hungry Hearts does not buck that trend. It's not a book for those seeking a fun, horror-flavoured romp. It's brutal, squalid, and often painful to read, a novel grounded in insanity, death, and sickness. Where much horror is ultimately abo More...

While the writing was nice and gruesome, the premise fell a little flat for me. The book was plot driven rather than character driven, and certain things like injecting morphine into a zombie just wouldn’t work as there’s no blood pumping around the body to transport the drug – and injecting it into an eyeball wouldn’t make it spread either, as it would just sit wherever it was injected – and as that was a major plot point, it dragged me out of the story. Gary writes well though, and I imagine h More...

Originally posted on Book Chick City. 5/10 on the blog.

“Hungry Hearts” looked and sounded like a fun zombie read – I love zombies, *as if you didn't know* ;)

Looking at the cover I thought this would be about Rick and Sally, their relationship and how her being a zombie would change all that. In a way it was, but not in they way I imagined it. Plus there was the additional plot line with the serial killer, which didn’t add anything to the story really, other than as fille More...

One of the finest novels of this genre...a brilliant read.

I got this book and hoped for hilarity - instead I got a harrowing tale that had a wonderful basis but cheap execution.