WARNING: "Zombie Tag" is not what you would expect from the blurb. I think this is part of the reason why I felt - not ambivalent, but ocnflicted about ZT for a long time while reading it. The plot - particularly ZOMBIES!!!!! - might lead you to think that this is a very plot-driven, ass-kicking, MG adventure story. It isn't. It's a surprisingly dark, quiet, character-focused book about coping with grief, loss and understanding death. I should also warn you that this is one of my more biased reviews as I am Hannah Moskowitz's "biggest fan" (said in the appropriate note of Kathy Bates creepiness, naturally) and have read her YA novels, "Invincible Summer" and "Break", approximately 40 million billion times. Also, I know very little about MG. Aside from Judy Blume and Harry Potter, I have very little experience and/or memory of middle grade, so I'm not sure if I am judging by entirely the wrong 'standards.'

One of the things I love about H.M.'s novels is how she addresses things in a way you would never expect, approaching them with a unique point of view and originality that never fails to feel like an amazing gust of bracing fresh air, such as the creepy-close sibling relationships in "Invincible Summer" or the slant on self-harm in "Break" (don't worry, concerned parents, "Zombie Tag" is nowhere near as dark as either of them). The literariness of "Zombie Tag", particularly the largely introverted, thoughtful tone were completely unexpected from the zombie genre. I appreciated it a lot, but it did leave the novel feeling a little anticlimactic. Also, the Key (see what I did there? I know, I'm impressed with myself too) to "Zombie Tag" is sympathising with Wil, the protaganist. Though he was sympathetic, I felt an itchy sense of déjà vu permeating my reading of ZT. Though I doubt 98% of her readers will have read her two previous novels, Wil is quite similar to Jonah from "Break" and Graham and Wil's relationship, in particular, are very similar to Noah and Chase's - Wil could almost be the mishmash of Chase and Jonah, toned down to make him a more palatable hero to the MG crowd. Like Chase, he's pathologically afraid of growing up and both worships and resents his older brother, Graham, at the same time; like Jonah, he's intense, a worrier and determined to do what he views as right. I feel uneasy writing this down because it would probably only impact on someone like me, who had read H.M.'s previous books about a thousand times, which would be a relatively small percentage of ZT readers. Still, the nagging similarities - even in voice; although Wil doesn't swear like either Chase or particularly Jonah, words like "drip" and "Christ", to an older reader like myself, stood out as just being toned-down swearword surrogates. It tempered the entire feeling of freewheeling originality her books usually give me.

Still, there is so much to admire in ZT. First and foremost: depth and maturity, but still presented in a way to make it all extremely accessible. Although the Lowensteins are obviously Jewish, death in ZT is free of religion - no fluffy-clouds afterlife here. It's agonisingly, incredibly dark in places; this is a world where death is traumatic, unbelievably painful and forever, even if you do come back as a zombie. Parents might bristle at H.M.'s almost unbearably sucker-punch description of it, but trust me - MGers know that's a possibility, even if they wish they didn't. My grandfather died very suddenly when I was thirteen and an afterlife like the one in ZT was on my mind a lot then. I felt like crying with the simple horror that H.M. evoked. That's some powerful writing. Though the supporting characters are mostly flat, they are still endearing and loveable, particularly Stella and Eben. Zombie Tag is a fantastic game, and H.M. gives a real sense of the visceral fun of child's play in the book, with the game of Tag at the end being my favourite.

As I said above, I don't know much about MG. But despite knowing that MG is known for its simple-yet-intricate plotting, I couldn't help but be slightly taken out by irritation at how obvious some of the parallels were, particularly between Wil's flashbacks of Graham and Wil's struggles with Graham in real time. Still, H.M. always manages to surprise me in every book. Yes, really. What I love about her twists is how organic they are - complete game changers but at the same time, totally natural within the story. I also loved the hanging thread of what happened to a certain parent, because I love little sprinkles of ambiguity and it was a really nice change of pace. The best thing about "Zombie Tag" is again definitely its emotional evocation, which is so real, so deeply felt and complicated that H.M.'s writing was wonderfully delicate. Older readers especially might be surprised by Graham who, despite very much being the trope of the 'aloof big brother', is much more, too. Hidden depths and an emotional gut punch: I wouldn't expect anything less. No, not from a MG, either. This is a hard book, but it's also a gentle, adorable, upsetting, humorous and fast-paced read.