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Zombie, Ohio

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 991 ratings · 147 reviews

When rural Ohio college professor Peter Mellor dies in an automobile accident during a zombie outbreak, he is reborn as a highly intelligent (yet somewhat amnesiac) member of the living dead. With society crumbling around him and violence escalating into daily life, Peter quickly learns that being a zombie isn’t all fun and brains. Humans—unsympathetic, generally, to his n...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published February 8th 2011 by Skyhorse Publishing

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Sep 09, 2011 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy-with-male-protagonist

I don't read zombie genres. In fact, I can only remember two books related to zombies that I had read. This one came to me by accident, when I saw the advertisement and the reviews were quite positive. So I decided to give it a go.

And BOY, was I mesmerized!!

I enjoy reading this story, a tale coming from the zombie rather than the humans. Of course, the zombie, Professor of Philosophy Peter Mellor, isn't like any other zombies. He can still talk and think, although yes, he eats brains. I find his...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Taylor Horton rated it 4 of 5 stars

The zombie apocalypse has started and now anyone who dies with their brain still intact becomes a zombie. The main character, Peter Mellor, wakes up as a zombie minutes after crashing his car into a tree. He doesn’t know he’s a zombie at first and thinks that he’s only suffering from memory loss since he can’t even recall his own name. He finds his wallet and learns his mane is Peter then grabs a knit hat out of his car for the cold even though, surprisingly, he can’t feel anything. He finally d...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Our protagonist and narator, Peter Mellor, lifts this book above the average level of zombie gore-fest. Our story begins with him awakening by the side of a highway after an accident, unlcear as to how it happened due to partial amnesia. This sets us up for a voyage of discovery as Peter recovers his identity, realizes that his accient occurred at the height of a zombie apocalypse, and that he did not survive the crash. It's a few pages more before he discovers the tastiness of brains.

What follo...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Monster added it

Shelves: zombies-adult

With the first page we know there is something “different” about Peter Mellor. Peter is a zombie. He wakes up not knowing who he is or where he is. It seems that he has been in a fatal car accident, hence the zombification. His memory of anything before the wreck is spotty at best. Title of the rock song on the radio? No idea. The year? Clueless. The Simpsons? Yes, and he specifically remembers Chief Wiggum. This is what makes Peter special. He is a zombie, but he can remember some events, feeli...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Shells Walter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Peter Mellor wakes up disorientated with a car crashed nearby. He is unsure what has happened to that car. Was he in a car accident? He also doesn't remember who he is. Getting up slowly, he grabs his hat and places it on his head, which is now half-gone.

He runs across some people who recognize him and give Peter some semblance of his memory back. When he comes in contact with an old friend named Sam, he starts to realize something is not right. Zombies are all over the place and maybe he assume...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Barbara Z. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love horror fiction, and have for more than 40 years. The new wave of zombie books, and the advent of Kindle self-publishing, has swamped the English-reading world with a lot to choose from. My daughter got to this one before I did and immediately told me, "You've GOT to read this - it's the best book I've read this year." She reads a phenomenal amount, and I knew that was high praise.

So I launched into it, and absolutely, this is my favorite ZOMBIE book of all time. It's also a runner-up for...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalyptic-fiction, apocalypse, fiction, horror, humor, zombies

There are numerous first person accounts of the inevitable zombie apocalypse everything from World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War to Day by Day Armageddon: there are remarkably fewer books, like Zombie, Ohio, were the narrator is a zombie. I was initially turned off by the idea of a zombie protagonist arguing if the he is cognizant enough to think than he isn’t really a zombie. The positive reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon convinced me to give this short book a try. While the conce...more There are numerous first person accounts of the inevitable zombie apocalypse everything from World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War to Day by Day Armageddon: there are remarkably fewer books, like Zombie, Ohio, were the narrator is a zombie. I was initially turned off by the idea of a zombie protagonist arguing if the he is cognizant enough to think than he isn’t really a zombie. The positive reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon convinced me to give this short book a try. While the concept could have gone horribly wrong a healthy dose of humor and not taking itself too seriously makes the story an enjoyable read.

Zombie, Ohio opens with the protagonist’s (Peter Mellor) death and him waking up with a case of amnesia and no pulse. Peter has retained vague memories about his past life and the ability to reason and talk, which puts him in a strange category between living and undead. Instantly a bunch of questions came to mind “Why can he talk?” (view spoiler), “How is this story being recorded?”,(view spoiler), “Is this book just going to be 250 pages of him trying to unzombie himself and/or eat brains?” (view spoiler). All of these questions are answered, some more satisfyingly than others, but what really made this story work for me was how the author paralleled the traditional zombie story arc in a new way.

Most zombie stories have a hearty band of survivors who must deal with the relentless assault of the undead while humanity decays around them. In Zombie. Ohio Peter, a former philosophy professor, is the one doing the decaying as he struggles to find his place among a mindless horde of zombies that accept him and the human survivors who he relates. Peter must come to terms with his death and his new role as a brain-eating zombie. We see him struggle with the morality of eating people and trying to decide if it matters whether his victims are old, young, good or evil.

At 250 pages this is a quick read and enjoyable for anyone who has read numerous other zombie books. The ending is predictable and there are numerous bad puns to make you groan but the humor and absurdity of the concept will keep you reading.
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Nov 23, 2011 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took a while to gain any steam, honestly. Like every other review, the idea of a first person zombie narrative (that is, from the zombie) is so great, but I think part of my problem was that this particular voice annoyed me? It seemed overly try-hard to be edgy and funny and just sort of came off as a weirdly misdirected attempt at YA lit.

The narrator, Peter, didn't seem to be to be at all reliable as a middle aged professor. Like, I get the amnesia thing, but I don't know that I'm sold on t...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 04, 2012 Dayna Ingram rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-stars, super-fun, zombies, reviewed

I was going to read BREATHERS but then an all-black turkey sat atop this book, gobbling at me, and I thought, holy frak a wild turkey in a bookstore somebody shoot it! But I named it Bob instead, and we lived happily ever after.

But seriously folks. I grant that the middle section of this novel can feel, at times, like you're watching Tom Hanks talk to a volleyball for an hour and a half, but Peter Mellor is so much more FUN than Tom Hanks. I loved the pacing and progression of this story; at fir...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Zombie, Ohio" was a fun, witty and unique take on the zombie apocalypse phenomenon. I enjoyed it even more considering most of the action took place in or referenced areas of my home state that were very familiar to me such as Mount Vernon, Marengo, Fredericktown, Columbus and Knox County.

The story is a bit of a hybrid, piecing together the standard zombie apocalypse novel with healthy doses of comedy, a dash of romance, tons of action and a murder mystery. It was interesting (and often hilario...more

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Oct 04, 2011 Breakdown rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, general-fiction

On a whim of fancy I saw this book for a couple of dollars and thought to myself, "Self, I think I could go for a book about zombies," So I bought it.

This book did not disappoint. Peter Mellor was interesting and fun, from his initial recognition of his Zombified state, to his slow realization that he couldn't do much about it, to his sudden acceptance and joy in becoming a thinking Zombie.

I cringed and cheered at his first kill. A feeling I get sometimes when reading Jeff Lindsey's Dexter. My e...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Dan C. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie, read-in-2012

The first zombie book that I read this year was one I picked up for a lousy 2 bucks as a Kindle Daily Deal last October. I had interest in reading Scott Kenemore’s Zombie, Ohio even before the price drop, but I was just nervous enough about it that I didn’t want to spend 10 bucks on it. At 2 dollars, it was more than worth the risk. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried because Zombie, Ohio was unlike any other zombie book I’ve read up to this point.

The book opens with university philosophy p...more The first zombie book that I read this year was one I picked up for a lousy 2 bucks as a Kindle Daily Deal last October. I had interest in reading Scott Kenemore’s Zombie, Ohio even before the price drop, but I was just nervous enough about it that I didn’t want to spend 10 bucks on it. At 2 dollars, it was more than worth the risk. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried because Zombie, Ohio was unlike any other zombie book I’ve read up to this point.

The book opens with university philosophy professor Peter Mellor waking up from what has been a pretty bad car accident. Surprisingly, he doesn’t really feel any pain and appears to be more or less uninjured. As he makes his way back into town on foot, he realizes he doesn’t remember who he is or anything about his life prior to waking up. He gets his name and address from his driver’s license. As it turns out, the world has been engulfed by a zombie apocalypse (thanks to the earth flying through the tail of a comet or somesuch nonsense) and the reason Peter feels no pain is because he’s a zombie. Unlike most of the living dead, he’s a sentient zombie – a zombie with a conscience, if you will.

I wasn’t sure this would work for me. I’m a big stickler for Zombie Rules. And I’m was pretty positive that a zombie that could think and make choices and shoot a gun wouldn’t fit in to the Zombie Rules very well. At first, it reminded me of the zombie in that awful Day of the Dead remake that wouldn’t eat humans because he’d been a vegetarian in life. However, Kenemore managed to make me buy in to the whole “sentient zombie” thing, especially when he explained Peter’s past which was less than sinless. Also, since the book was told from Peter’s point of view, we were able to understand his thought process as he switched his focus from being a “good zombie” and eating only the bad people’s brains to embracing his zombie nature and eating as many brains as possible – which he did with gusto in the gory and gruesome second act of the novel.

In many ways, this book is about the redemption of Peter Mellor, who as I alluded to, had been a real prick in life. Still, the third act of the novel seemed a little bit tacked on and overall, the lack of a clearly drawn antagonist until the final 50 pages detracted from the book quite a bit. When the antagonist finally did show up, he wasn’t convincing and I didn’t know him well enough for any of his actions to make sense. But for as much as I didn’t understand the motivations of the antagonist, by the time we got to the end, I understood Peter much better than I thought I would. That’s where the sentient zombie thing ultimately worked. Because he was more than just a mindless brain eater, Peter had an arc and a journey that would have otherwise been impossible.

Zombie, Ohio is an engaging read that I would recommend to zombie fans of all sorts. Don’t let the thinking and reasoning zombie put you off. Zombie books are tough to pull off, but Kenemore does a more than admirable job.
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Apr 18, 2013 MommyDearest rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who love zombies and humor

If you are a fan of zombies and humor read Zombie, Ohio!

*****Spoilers Below***************************************

************************Yes, still Spoilers below*********

Yeah, yeah, I hear you now. She gave another zombie book a good rating. Shocker I know. But it was good! Really good! You like Peter. You don't like Peter. You like Peter. Inbetween is zombies, relationships and question of who killed him.

Many laughs were had and several times I cornered family members and read them my favori...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Chris Aylott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Zombie apocalypse stories usually bore me -- yeah, they're fun to joke about, but it's a well-worn plot and there aren't that many good twists to it. Occasionally, however, you run into something different, like a zombie story told entirely from the perspective of an unusually smart zombie.

Zombie, Ohio still has its share of cliches, not to mention a villain who falls flat and nearly drags the rest of the story down with him. But former college professor Pete Mellor has discovered he likes long...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Slickery rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 27, 2011 Gef rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books

What does an author have to do to breathe a little life into zombies these days?

In Scott Kenemore's case, he focused a little less on the zombie hordes and keyed in on just one member of the undead, and told his story. Peter Mellor wakes up with amnesia inside his car, which has been in a serious accident. He wanders his way back into town to find everyone else is dealing with a crisis of their own--a full-blown world-wide zombie apocalypse. As for Peter, amnesia is the least of his worries. Aft...more What does an author have to do to breathe a little life into zombies these days?

In Scott Kenemore's case, he focused a little less on the zombie hordes and keyed in on just one member of the undead, and told his story. Peter Mellor wakes up with amnesia inside his car, which has been in a serious accident. He wanders his way back into town to find everyone else is dealing with a crisis of their own--a full-blown world-wide zombie apocalypse. As for Peter, amnesia is the least of his worries. After a rather blood-soaked demonstration of how to exterminate zombies outside a compound in town, he discovers while cleaning himself that there's a chunk of his skull missing from under his cap. Oops, Pete's a zombie too.

From there, Peter tries to hide his affliction from everyone, but it's an impossible task as his body is starting to decompose just like every other zombie walking around. Only, he's the only one that is sentient. Things become even more complicated for him when he realizes that his car accident wasn't an accident at all--his brakes had been cut. And with a huge chunk of his memory missing, figuring out who would want to kill him is not going to be easy.

With elements of horror, comedy, mystery, and even a pinch of romance, Kenemore does a really good job in finding a balance. The story flows fairly well and feels like a genuine blend of genres, though there is a bit of a speed bump in the pacing about midway through, that's carried by a very likeable and sympathetic character in Peter. Pete's no paragon of virtue though, as he discovers the complications and advantages of being a sentient zombie, as well he is brokenhearted to find the very few people in life he does hold memories of are falling victim to the catastrophe that's befallen them. The mystery surrounding who killed him felt a bit tacked on at first, but through the whole of the novel is works and winds up being one of the key undercurrents to the novel.

Even though I'm not as well read in zombie fiction as the more ardent fans of the genre, I do believe I've hit a kind of saturation point. A motley crew of flawed characters battling a relentless horde of the undead isn't going to hold my attention the way it would have a few years ago. I need something that walks to the beat of a different drum, and that is certainly what Kenemore's novel does. The zombies are slow, shambling creatures and don't set themselves apart from any other Romero-esque monster, except for Peter Mellor of course, but the story in which they populate does feel original as it journeys through familiar territory.

My main criticism of the novel stems from Peter's journey through the countryside as a zombie, after removing himself from the human side of things, hunting down humans he considers bad people like a man he stops from abducting a young girl early on. The trek from town to town, killing people and learning the zombie way drones on after a while, causing me to count the pages until the original story jumps forward again. It's interesting to see things from the zombie horde's point of view, like a Gorillas in the Mist for zombies, but it felt a bit too long for my tastes.

If you're a zombie fan, you're definitely going to want to get your hands on this one. If you're not a zombie fan, you might still want to give this one a chance. Peter Mellor came across as an interesting and genuine character set in extraordinary circumstances. It all depends on how much of the walking dead you can tolerate in your reading, I suppose.(less)

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Nov 13, 2011 April rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although I love the concept of telling a zombie story from the perspective of the zombie, this book really missed the mark for me. Several months ago I read Raising Stony Mayhall and fell in love with the book. Stoney is kind, noble, thoughful, a zombie you can get behind and root for. By the middle of Zombie, Ohio I found myself wanting the main character to get his head blown off because he is such a douche!! I don't mind a protagonist with some issues, but zombie Peter is a guy that I hate un...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am very surprised at the rave reviews, I was really looking forward to this but it did not live up to the hype. First the pros: I really liked the story being told from the POV of the zombie, it was a fresh take. The setting in an Ohio college town was also unique, as so many of these stories take place in or near a major city. The car wreck and amnesia all worked. I enjoyed the first 50 pages and then it all went down hill. This really would have been great as a short story.

The cons are too m...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Kay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Peter is a loser as a human being but finds new skills and abilities as a zombie. I enjoyed this zombie novel as Peter explores who he was (as much as he can under the circumstances), what being a zombie means and can mean, and still struggles with ethics and old connections to the human world. I gave this 3 stars because there were some awkward (to me) moments in plotting where I'm mentally exclaiming--how hokey!--but the end did deliver and I did like the 'whodunit' that is part of Peter under...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror, science-fiction

This wasn't great fiction, but it certainly wasn't bad either, so I'm rating it right in the middle. Our protagonist wakes up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

As a zombie.

That's a good premise and start, but I didn't think enough was done to explain his condition nor how/why things in the nation and world got the way they got to be. I felt like I'd been dumped in the middle of the story, rather than placed there at the beginning. The usual tropes are there, and it makes for interesting read...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars

A college professor dies in a car crash and comes back as a walking, talking, thinking zombie. Hmmm, doesn't this sound familiar? It seems to be a recurring theme in some of the newer zombie novels. (See, Brains: A Memoir) This one was not quite as witty as Brains, but still pretty funny. The professor decides to become a zombie with morals. (i.e He won't eat children, but everyone else is, uh, on the table.) He travels around Ohio searching for some delish brains and trying to help his girlfrie...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Tommie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal

Honestly, I'm not sure what I think of this book. The premise is fantastic - I love the idea of a zombie book told in first-person POV by a zombie. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, including Peter, but I think that might have been the author's intention, given that a zombie wouldn't have the emotional connections that a live human would. There were humorous sections within the book and there were sections that dragged on. Even though it was a fairly short book, it took me seve...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Caitlin (Ayashi) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Really interesting premise, a tale being told from the point of view as a zombie. I think it just wasn't for me because I can be pretty sensitive about violence (says the girl who plays video games, even violent ones, all the time... I don't know either) and even hearing the protagonist talking about eating bad people was just too much for me! I just couldn't deal with a zombie first person protagonist I think.

Still, I thought the concept was pretty cool. I wasn't super into the protagonist's vo...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies

As with most good zombie stories, the zombies in Zombie, Ohio are really just an exciting backdrop for familiar human conflicts. This novel encompasses love story, murder mystery and comic relief rolled into one.

The premise of the book, that the protagonist is himself a zombie, is fairly unique and it is executed well throughout. The story moves at a steady pace. If you're looking for fast-paced action, this is not it (the zombies spend a LOT of time walking through the countryside), but neither...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Kevin Lanahan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: supernatural

Awfully similar plot-wise to Brains, a Zombie Memoir, but with a much more philosophical bent. What goes through the mind of a zombie with a heart of gold? Can a zombie think?

The author takes the zombie apocalypse theme and turns it into a memoir by a freak of nature, a sentient zombie. It's not exactly heartwarming (more like brain-eating), but it is a well-crafted story that is well worth reading.

The only reason it isn't 5 stars is because it has a similar plot to Brains.

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Mar 09, 2011 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-finished, paranormal

While browsing the library shelves the title caught my eye. With the new found interest in zombies I decided to pick it up.

Definitely an entertaining read. Wasn't quite what I had expected it to be. THe main character Peter is a zombie but with human tendencies. It's told from his point of view. This made the book entertaining since the reader could see how a zombie thought.

the ending was spectacular but it followed the way the book went.

Overall decent but mainly entertaining.

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Feb 25, 2012 Bryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not bad... It was an interesting story about a "thinking" zombie. Someone who died and came back as a zombie, but he still has his human thought process. He doesn't remember everything in his past life, but he still knows right from wrong.

Even though I thought the story was pretty good (3 stars), I gave this novel 4 stars because I thought the author's writing style was very good. Better than most books I've read in a while. The dialogue was corny in places, but that actually added some humor to...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Denise Eggleston rated it 3 of 5 stars

Zombie, Ohio is not a typical zombie book--with people running, tripping, getting their braaaainnnnss eaten. Well, there is some of that, but the book is narrated by a self-aware zombie. That is so rare that the particular dead guy might be the only sentient zombie.

Our hero must survive among humans who want to kill him, friends who want to accept him, and hanging around with regular zombies who are not capable of scintillating conversation beyond the occasional moan.

It's a fun read.

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Nov 06, 2011 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-thriller

A perfectly timed Halloween selection from the Kindle Daily Deal. I really enjoyed this zombie tale with its unusual perspective- the protagonist is a newly formed yet curiously sentient member of the walking dead. There were quite a few amusing quips and funny quotes (especially in the beginning) and I enjoyed the sense of humor, and the inclusion of just the right amount of gore, mystery and life philosophy. A light, but definitely enjoyable horror selection.

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Mar 31, 2012 Netanella rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies

A liberal arts college professor wakes up from a car accident with memory loss and some stiffness. It takes him a little bit to realize he's missing the top of his head along with his most recent memories, and that's he's recently joined the ranks of the undead that are moving around the rural fields of Ohio.

Peter Mellor, or the Kernel - alcoholic, sex addict, philosophy professor, and now a thinking, emoting, philosophizing zombie. Who won't eat kids, cuts his zombie teeth on cheerleaders, and...more

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