The third installment of the Dying Days series by Armand Rosamilia has Darlene Bobich and the rest of our zombie apocalypse survivors coalesce into a group that has been able to develop a relatively comfortable space to weather the vicissitudes of the current milieu. Interestingly, Darlene is looked upon as a leader, which in earlier books one would have felt would be repellant and even avoided by someone with her personality. Yet, she may have resisted the initial responsibility, but gradually takes the reins.
Here, the zombies are adapting and regaining their agency. Along with their tireless ability to move ceaselessly and resist injury, these new zombies present a larger challenge than in their earlier incarnation. Now they seem to demonstrate an ability to think, plan, strategize, and with a revivified body kill in a much more insidious manner. In this new paradigm, the survivors may not be survivors for much longer. I love the characters, but I'm not sure that the women characters are behaving like women. I kind of feel torn.
I know in horror, people tend to follow their baser instincts, but even so base doesn't necessarily mean evil. The blood and gore is pretty good, with some shocking things transpiring off-camera so-to-speak, obliquely referred to in order to alert the reader as to what happened behind closed doors. I've decided that I will read the whole series so I bought the rest of the books. Hopefully, I will not regret my decision.