"In this world there's two ways to handle your business: the right way and the shortcut. Ask a hundred men in the penitentiary; ninety-nine of them thought they saw a quicker route. So, gentlemen, which path are y'all gonna take today?"
"The short one," Idle said.
"The even shorter one than that," Billy said.
"Can we, perhaps, complete this hike online?" Yeltsin asked.

I can't decide what I enjoyed most about The Infects. The writing style, the vividly-detailed gore and violence, the highly amusing characters with their cocky teenage attitudes and smartass humor. It was all fantastic!

The story is told through Nick Sole's point-of-view. He's an average high school kid who works at Rebozzo Aviraculture, loves his little sister, and is too afraid to tell the girl he's crushing on that he's into her. He's a likable, well-crafted character and I loved every minute of being inside his head. His thoughts were witty, sarcastic, and occasionally chaotic in an oddly fascinating way.

Following a strange set of circumstances and some less-than-ideal choices on Nick's part, he's fired from Rebozzo and sentenced to three months at Inward Trek, a boot camp for delinquents. As a part of the program, each kid is assigned a trek handle. This is where Nick Sole is left behind and the evolution of Nero begins.

The great thing about being a convict was that you got to write your own story.
Act cool; you're cool. Act tough; you're tough.
At least until someone called you on it.
Nero was only what Nero proved himself to be.

As the story progresses, we meet a colorful, often humorous cast of characters. Yeltsin, War Pig, and Mr. Bator, among others, all kept me glued to the pages and I even found myself laughing out loud at their completely inappropriate dialogue and behavior.

Once they discover the infected, you quickly learn not to choose favorites. No one is safe and I was left on the edge of my seat wondering who would be the next to go.

The Infects is not your typical zombie novel. Some of the infected are unpredictable, calculating, and not completely lacking in emotion. Also, the initial cause of the plague and the twisted ending is disturbing, but also thought-provoking. It's a conclusion that I found satisfying and at the same time was left wanting more.

For fans of zombie survival stories, dark humor, and gruesome violence, Sean Beaudoin's The Infects is a must-read.

The first great and most enduring mystery: why are they all so goddamned hungry?