I'm a big fan of the television series, so I thought I'd check out a Walking Dead novel—it is Halloween season, after all.

I enjoyed reading it for the most part. It does contain a good amount of 'violence and coarse language' as the broadcasters would say. Still, the language wasn't so bad that it ruined the read and of course I expected the violence part, in keeping with the whole fighting-for-our-lives-against-the-dead theme.

The story centers on a group of three adults and a child who are making their way through the zombie-infested wasteland that was Georgia. The de facto leader of the party is Philip Blake, a tall, muscular man whose no-nonsense approach to the apocalyptic events occurring around them gives the group a sense of purpose and direction, even if that purpose is merely survival and the direction is simply the city of Atlanta.

Brian Blake, Philip's brother, is by most measurements the polar opposite of Philip. He's indecisive, more of a thinker, physically small and often ill. Although Brian is the older brother, he's used to Philip taking charge and looking out for him.

Nick Parsons, a friend of Philip and by association, of Brian, accompanies the brothers. Though slightly smaller than Philip, Nick is an athletic man and relishes his role as one of the group's defenders.

The fourth member is Penny, Philip's seven-year-old daughter. It is her father's self-sworn duty to see Penny delivered from the feral, once-people that lurk around every corner. While Philip and Nick see to the duties of protecting the group, Brian is often left to watch over his niece. It's a responsibility he undertakes with enthusiasm, as she's very dear to him as well.

The small company is heading to Atlanta because of rumours that a secure refugee encampment is located there. Atlanta thus provides a beacon of hope and safety amid the ruins of civilization where none is to be found elsewhere. Everywhere they travel, signs of the calamity are present. Signals from radio and television stations change from chaotic, live broadcasts to pre-recorded messages and finally to static. Water and power utilities shut down as the people who monitored them abandon their work throughout the growing epidemic. Highways become obstacle courses of abandoned vehicles or burned-out wrecks. Neighbourhoods, towns and cities are empty of life. Only the dead remain and the four survivors must keep quiet and out of sight in their travels, lest they attract more of the 'biters.'

As the group moves from a rural landscape to the outlying regions and suburbs of Atlanta, this plentiful evidence of civilization's decay only increases.

Much like the T.V. series, I found the character development to be a great strength of the book. I won't give away the ending, but as the book progresses the behaviours and actions of the characters are realistic and believable. Well, as realistic and believable as can be expected in a story populated by roaming hordes of mindless undead. Philip's single-minded determination to keep Penny safe, Brian's self-doubt and Nick's loyalty to his long-time friend will all be challenged before the end.

I found myself asking the following questions: If you're forced to live only for survival, does that change what it means to be fully human? And if so, then what would remain to separate us from those we might classify as inhuman, like The Walking Dead?