Book update: Rot by Michele Lee

While browsing the blog Wag the Fox, I ran across an entry for Rot by Michele Lee in a new Kindle edition. This is good because as far as I’d known the book had gone out of print, and I’d had to give up on recommending it to readers. I even emailed my ebook copy to someone because I wanted them to read it. (I deleted my copy because I respect copyright, and because I still have an original print copy.)

Michele and I no longer talk (no use rehashing old shit, so I won’t), but this is one book I’ve reread multiple times and still tear up at the ending. Briefly summing up, Rot is a unique take on zombies because it involves the undead being reanimated by way of magic. These zombies are aware, but still quite prone to violence and munching on raw flesh. Most are kept in a retirement home of sorts, but the people running the home are doing some rather unsavory things with the undead whose family’s can no longer afford the rent. It’s a story that makes every zombie’s suffering personal and easy to empathize with, and even years after first reading the book, it sticks with me as one of the best zombie stories I’ve ever read, if not the best. (I waffle on whether I love Rot or John A. Lindqvist’s Handling the Undead more, but both are fantastic and worth you time.)

So, knowing there’s a Kindle reissue for this book, I’m happy to once again recommend it to everyone, not just fans of zombie stories. It’s reasonably priced, a good short read with a gut punch of an ending. So please, do check it out and add it to your to-be-read pile. Trust me, you won’t regret it.