Book Review: Zombie Maelstrom by Bryan Cassiday

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[image error] 3 out of 5Virulent pocketsof plague, first reported in China, break out worldwide and spread withmind-boggling speed. CIA black ops agent Chad Halverson flies to Los Angeles tovisit his brother after receiving a call that his brother has been hospitalizedafter a car accident. Halverson's Boeing 737 crash-lands in an eerie LosAngeles shrouded with an impenetrable haze of smog. But that is only the tip ofthe iceberg of Halverson's nightmare. Lurking in this mist are legions ofplague-infected living dead who are driven by an all-consuming lust for humanflesh. Halverson's reunion with his brother must take second place to his ownstruggle to stay alive.

As civilization crumbles into chaos, it will take all the skills and witsHalverson and his fellow passengers possess for their hunted party to survivein a world overrun with hordes of flesh-craving zombies. Which will pose abigger threat to Halverson and his ever-dwindling band--their own bickering asthey try to organize and defend themselves, their enemies the living dead, orthe new "civilization" of men that is superseding the old?


REVIEW:
Zombie Maelstromis filled with the repetition of killing the virus riddled dead. It tells thestory of a group of survivors trying to make it through the zombie apocalypsewith limited information.
Chad Halversonknows that something is amiss with the so-called plague, because he works forthe CIA. Chad keeps what information that he has to himself, as he, and a groupof plane crash survivors try to make heads or tails of what is happening. Theaction keeps rolling as the group is devastated over and over by the onslaughtof the undead.
The storyreminded me of Night Of The Living Dead, but in a bug out scenario. My biggestcomplaint about the story is that I couldn't find anything that hasn't beenportrayed in every zombie movie or book in the last 40 plus years: A couple ofleaders, an over opinionated jerk (that everyone wants to see get offed), agirl that seems to lose her marbles, some one that flips out under the pressure,a group of renegades that want to build their own government, and then a fewstragglers that just seem to waste space and resources.
There are a twothings I consider when I read a zombie book.
ONE: What makesthis different from every other one that I've read?
With ZombieMaelstrom I couldn't seem to find anything that struck me as different. Butwith that said, there are quite a few zombie fans that love the repetition ofthe zombie 'slash and dash' story. They want the gore and carnage, and theyaren't looking for anything but the overflow of an all-consuming virus. Forthose people I would suggest this book.
TWO: Being azombie coinsure, I look for whether or not I would have stayed with this group ifI were there.
I'm sorry BryanCassiday, I would have cut and run from this group as soon as possible. The inevitabilityof my death would have had me hightailing it out of there as soon as I was ableto obtain a weapon. With this group they took too much time overanalyzing theirevery move, and bickered amongst themselves under the siege of zombies.
If you like thetried and true zombies of 1964 then Zombie Maelstrom is for you.
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