The Down Home Zombie Blues

by Linnea Sinclair

In this steamy, suspenseful new novel from RITA Award–winning author Linnea Sinclair, a dangerously sexy space commander and an irresistibly earthy Florida police detective pair up to save the civilized galaxy . . . but can they save themselves from each other?

Bahia Vista homicide detective Theo Petrakos thought he’d seen it all. Then a mummified corpse and a room full of futuristic hardware sends Guardian Force commander Jorie Mikkalah into his life. Before the night’s through, he’s become her unofficial partner—and official prisoner—in a race to save the earth. And that’s only the start of his troubles.

Jorie’s mission is to stop a deadly infestation of biomechanical organisms from using Earth as its breeding ground. If she succeeds, she could save a world and win a captaincy. But she’ll need Theo’s help, even if their unlikely partnership does threaten to set off an intergalactic incident.

Because if she fails, she’ll lose not just a planet and a promotion, but a man who’s become far more important to her than she cares to admit.

Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Romance, Zombies, Fiction, Futuristic, Space Opera

516 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Winner of the prestigious national book award, the RITA, science fiction romance author Linnea Sinclair has become a name synonymous for high-action, emotionally intense, character-driven novels. Reviewers note that Sinclair’s novels “have the wow-factor in spades,” earning her accolades from both the science fiction and romance communities. Sinclair’s current release is HOPE'S FOLLY and, scheduled for 2010 from Bantam Dell, REBELS AND LOVERS, book #4 in the Dock Five Universe. A former news reporter and retired private detective, Sinclair resides in Naples, Florida (winter) and Columbus, Ohio (summer) with her husband, Robert Bernadino, and their thoroughly spoiled cats. Readers can find her perched on the third barstool from the left in her Intergalactic Bar and Grille at www.linneasinclair.com .

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the characters, as I always do in Linnea Sinclair books. Her women are smart, strong, brave, and extremely capable, while maintaining their vulnerability, and Jorie is no exception. The men genuinely respect and admire the women and their abilities. In addition, Theo is a nice guy, one who's been hurt before and has his own vulnerabilities. I just didn't feel a lot of passion for the characters. There is almost no information about their pasts and very little to connect to. It's a bit like in the movie Speed, it all happens right here, with lots of exciting action, but not a lot of character development.

As for the plot, reading a Sinclair sci-fi novel set on Earth was a fun change of pace, but I didn't really feel that connected to the story either. The "zombies" (nothing to do with walking corpses) just didn't capture my imagination. The fact that Jorie knows 3 languages and one of them is so near English in both verbal and written formats was an annoying cop-out, but a minor point. I did enjoy the Star Trek references and little jokes throughout the book Overall, I liked it, it just didn't have the pizazz that other books by the author have had for me.

Edit: I just found out that Green Sign Media has optioned the book for a movie. I can totally see it! I hope the strength and humor of the excellent characters translates. It's more than just a shoot-'em-up, although that aspect should make it fun as well. Congratulations. Linnea! I'm looking forward to seeing it and I hope it's the first of many.

[Katie(babs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title may be a little out there, but make no mistake, The Down Home Zombie Blues is another great novel by sci-fi author, Linnea Sinclair. There is action, suspense and a nice little romance.

Jorie Mikkalah is an intergalactic Guardian who hunts man made zombies. These zombies are not the typical ones we think about, but more of a biological and scientific machine that kills and if they are able to be controlled, the person who rules the zombies will rule the world. Jorie and her crew come to the planet Earth and to Florida to find one of their own, who has been eliminated by these zombies. Jorie must find a way to wipe out these creatures without the people of Earth finding out.

But when Baha Vista homicide detective Theo Pertrakos (who is Greek) comes in contact with Jorie and those deranged zombies, there is no turning back for either of them. Theo will help Jorie find a way to stop people from dying and which also includes the ones responsible for letting these creatures loose.

Linnea Sinclair is a true shining star of the sci-fi genre. She has come up with a great fantasy world and characters not found anywhere else. And even though she does have a bit of love and romance between the two main characters of Theo and Jorie, this shouldn't defer anyone from reading even if you were expecting a straight forward sci-fi novel.

The title alone should catch your interest and make you wonder- why is it titled this? Take a gander, open this book and you will find out why.

[Barbara ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well the title is a bit misleading and the reason it took me so long to read this book. The "zombies" in this book aren't your typical "dead-man walking" zombies. These are man-made, technologically modified killing machines that eat (for a better word) humans (so yeah zombies but not).

Jorie Mikkalah is an intergalactic Guardian (a humanoid alien) who hunts these zombies. Right now the zombies have invaded a small town in Florida where homicide detective Theo Petrakos protects the masses. Jorie and her crew are on the down-low but Theo stumbles upon a mummified corpse with no real explanation of how it happened or who might be responsible. Jorie just happens to be in the area hunting zombies and follows Theo home.

This is a fast-paced story with never-ending action which grabbed me in the first chapter and simply didn't let go until the final word. Excellent story, terrific world-building, sweet romance.

[Gena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, Jorie and Theo are a good couple, both talented law enforcement. I didn't feel the angst in their relationship as much as the author wanted me to as the hea solution was pretty obvious. The secondary characters Zeke and Suzanne are pretty strong and I enjoyed them.

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

So basically - what I usually think about Sinclair's books - lasers, spaceships, sci-fi, action fun stuff which I seem to love right now. Space opera, yay! This is totally that. Oh and kissing, as you see on the cover. Jorie Mikkalah is a Guardian Force commander trying to kill all the zombies on the "nil" planet Earth, while Theo Petrakos is a divorced cop who gets caught up in the crossfire, eventually joining up with the Guardians to help save the planet. had a good time reading this. There were some interesting dynamics in here (a love triangle and some bad exes), and there wasn't a silly misunderstanding between the two characters - no silly drama, just a real worry about how they are literally from different worlds. I liked the romance (but my favorite is still Games of Command), and it was balanced well with the plot of the zombie invasion problem. I liked how the language differences were overcome (Jorie realizes that English is like the alien language of Vekran) and they do kind of get to know each other as they improve their communications. I also liked how Jorie is independent and can take care of herself - she's better what she does than any other guy in the story, so thing that nagged at me was how often Theo would try to save her. He'd throw himself at her while they were shooting in order to get her away from some tentacle. But he's the zombie-killing novice, not her. Oh well. That's a nit.

More on my book blog - http://janicu.livejournal.com/28335.html

[Hilcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally read The Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair -- scifi/romance. This was definitely different from her other books. Most of the story is set on Earth, not out in space. It's actually quite an amusing story... and if you're a Trekkie, you'll recognize the tongue-in-cheek basis of the story. The zombies are NOT the type of zombies we think of... they're bio engineered space-monsters. There's a female commander, who with her team, comes to save the earth from zombies and in the process meets a male detective from earth who unwittingly becomes involved in the saving. There's lots of action, and of course a romance develops between the two main characters. Although there's romance, don't expect an excess of erotic scenes, the action/adventure takes precedence in this story. There are other Sinclair books I've enjoyed much more, however as always I did enjoy the action and romance and the subtle humor is a plus in The Down Home Zombie Blues.

[Borderstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loooove Linea Sinclair and think I have read nearly everything she has written, but for some reason I always put this one off. I think because of the idea of zombies – I was thinking of the ‘walking dead’ ‘post-apocalyptic’ kind, so was having difficulty combining this with the type of Sci-fi she normally writes. However, the zombies turn out to actually be some kind of weird mechanical type monster that’s become somewhat sentient, so completely not what I was expecting.

I did like the characters and the story was pretty good, but I didn’t feel the same love of the story that I normally do with this author. I don’t know if I would rate her other stories differently now if I re-read them or if this one just isn’t as good as her others? Still worth a read if you like this author, but just not one of my faves.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short review: I loved it. The characters are incredibly likable, the plot is well-developed and interesting, and the romance is completely believable. This is a fantastic blend of science fiction and the best elements of romance.

[Jessica]

This is kind of a bitchy thing to say, but I kind of feel like The Down Home Zombie Blues had too many words in it. It's a perfectly cromulent bit of light scifi: galactic commando types intersect with human law enforcement in a mid-sized Florida city while the space force hunts creatures called "zombies". (Which, I might add, is a total misnomer: they're more like genetically engineered space chthulu. Normally this doesn't bug me -- call made up creatures whatever -- but because I read this book because of a predilection towards the shambling undead, I felt a little cheated.)

But I swear to the blue heavens, I kept looking down, and thinking, my god, how am I only at 55%? So.much.time was spent with the principles wheel-spinning emotionally and like, making and eating peanut butter sandwiches and drinking coffee. (Like a Stieg Larsson novel, but with less misogynist violence.) This is in spite of the main characters being likable and competent, and their antogonists legitimately spooky. DHZB also manages to cross an alien abduction romance with a buddy cop situation, and do it completely completely po-faced. Alien abduction romances often work to top each other in how weird the alien sex is -- sex venom! knobbly dongs! tentacles! &c! -- but that's not what goes down here. Both lovers have all the requisite interlocking sex parts cis-het human couples have.

Which brings me to my last observation. (This is not a criticism, just an observation.) In first contact situations, when human meet aliens for the first time, writers have to decide how they're going to deal with communication. Sometimes, how to communicate becomes the point of the narrative -- like the short story in Stories of Your Life and Others which ended up as the movie Arrival. Other times, there's a babblefish or a translation computer, which I think in the biz is called a literal plot device. Star Trek relied on this last for the most part, though there are episodes like "Darmok" which illustrates how important idiom, culture, and history is in translation.

How Sinclair deals with this is to have English, which the human cop speaks, be virtually identical to one of the languages the space lady speaks, just randomly, why not. Largely this is so there can be terrible puns and such when English and the alien language diverge slightly. I'm totally down with some malaprop humor. But honestly, I would regularly be arrested by the text, thinking to myself the etymology of whatever word or phrase that was just used for a funny, and trying to imagine how another language would develop the exact same etymology for the exact same phonemes as in English. Like, did this language also have a Great Vowel Shift after the invasion of northern river pirates? What about words based on a person's name, like mesmerize or the aforementioned sandwich??

Look, I know! This beyond nit-picking into some other rarified level of overthinking stuff that completely does not matter. And I want to reiterate: I am not put out in any way! This is fine! But it did make for a really weird reading experience, as I keep tripping over linguistics during phaser fights and the like. Anyway! Perfectly fine little book, but not as enjoyable to me as the other book I've read by this author, mostly because that one took place on a space ship where I didn't have to have etymological freakouts every 20 pages. I get this is a me problem.

[Vleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet romance of a Police Detective who meets a zombie chasing female from space and falls in love. It was probably a bit too long in parts as all the details of alien technology were slowly revealed but I still enjoyed it.

That said, I was thinking if I'd read this a year ago, I'd probably given it 4 stars but lately I find myself obsessed with more complex stories and characters that have a cryptic sense of humor.

[Lyndi W.]

Might try again some day, but I'm just not feeling it now.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read! Zombies in Florida! 3.5 stars!

[Jeffrey Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is classified as “Science Fiction Romance” but I’m not quite sure what garners the “romance” tag. I mean, a romance between the two protagonists is a large part of the plot, but it hardly consumes the entire story, at least in my opinion. I’ve read it before, but it was quite a while ago so this time through was almost like the first read.

The two protagonists are Theo, a Florida homicide cop, and Josie, a commander of an extraterrestrial force that hunts what they call zombies; essentially biomechanical monsters that are suffering from a massive software malfunction. He ends up running into her and her team, circumstances force them to work together, romance ensues amidst hunting the zombies.

That’s obviously an oversimplification, and it wasn’t meant to be derogatory. The framework surrounding Josie and her people is fairly well structured and there’s a good amount of extra information to establish her and her mission, conveniently using the other protagonist as the everyman who receives the infodumps. Theo’s life and family are also fully baked, even if that’s not terribly hard because he’s not a unique cop and most of his family isn’t around. Her mission, and his contribution to it, follow a logical path and involve as many firefights, plans, setbacks, and interpersonal conflicts as most stories would.

Basically I’m confused about what earned this the classification of “Romance” over just “Sci-fi”. I suppose it’s because text is given over to internal monologues about the feelings of the main characters, both about the situations and each other, rather than simply allowing context clues to tell the story while people blather on about the details of how all the technology functions and fight until the two have a pivotal conversation and then fall into bed together. However, it certainly didn’t seem to dominate the story. I would say there’s very little here that is different from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar or 500 Kingdoms novels or most urban fantasy books. This certainly isn’t “mommy-porn with laser guns”; there’s actually only one significant sex scene and I’ve read hard sci-fi authors who get more explicit.

Like The Thousand Names, this is a genre I wish there were more of or that I knew how to find. I like some harder sci-fi books, but I like people more than technology, and the attention paid to characters and interpersonal interaction here attracted me. I have most of Sinclair’s other books already (even though remembering the plots is tough because it’s probably been at least 8 years since I’ve read them) so finding other authors who are able to mix personal stories with believable sci-fi settings would be nice.

[Mystique Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unstoppable. I opened this book and could not put it down. From the first moment that I met Commander Jorie Mikkalah, learning to drive on the fly (a gut-bustingly funny scene if there ever was one. "They're blessing us. See their upraised middle finger?") to my introduction to Detective Theo Petrakos, standing over a mummified corpse he coined "Mr. Crispy", I was hooked.

Jorie landed on Earth, a nil-tech dirtball on the butt-end of the galaxy, because all communication from her friend and co-agent Danjay Wain had ceased. Concerned, she and her team "beamed" down...only it's called a PMaT instead of a "transporter" in this universe. (Sorry, Scotty.) She half-expected Danjay to be dead--although the fact did come as an unhappy truth--and also the existance of Zombies, biomechanical horrors Danjay had been tracking. She certainly wasn't expecting The Tresh. Theo Petrakos, with the Very Good Face, was certainly a surprise.

It was to be another industry-standard two-week vacation for Theo, scheduled during the Christmas holidays. Business as usual until Mr. Crispy showed up. It was creepy seeing someone as desicated as poor Dan J. Waine still sporting moist eyeballs. But that wasn't the end of the evening's creepiness. Some butt-ugly, gawd-awful critter climbed out of a floating hole in the air and trashed his car. It almost trashed him, too, if not for the arrival of one bad-ass, one-woman army who fired honest-to-God laser pistols.

Unfortunately it wasn't some bad episode of the Twilight Zone. Theo was zipped up to the Mother Ship and told that his life on Earth was over. No time for goodbys or to pack, Mr. Petrakos, but you'll like Paroo. Theo reacted as I would have. Saying and doing anything to get back home. But that was just the beginning.

Don't start this book in the evening like I did. It'll capture you. I stayed up all night then was forced to work the next day. I say "forced" because I didn't want to put the book down even then. And the heat between Theo and Jorie? Fabulous! Aliens, galactic enemies, and Zombies! What more is needed?

Five Mystique Moons. (Outstanding)
Class Two sensuality. (Limited)

[Aerulan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really liked the books by Sinclair that I've read so I thought this one sounded promising, it didn't live up to the others. The idea was neat but the details were irritating. An alien who is the leader of a group of soldiers who hunt "zombies" in this case alien bug things that eat people's bodily fluids by chewing on their heads is sent to Earth. Now that's fine, sounds like it will be funny and interesting. But it turns out that English, modern English at that, is almost identical to an alien language, even the written form can be understood by these aliens. So you get some lost in translation bits but mostly they can communicate fine. And it's so far fetched that it just threw me out of the story and I never got back in. Add in things like the cop who ends up helping these aliens hunt their zombies fires a gun in his home in a busy residential area (with very nosy neighbors established as part of the story) and yet nobody calls in gunshots to 911. It wouldn't have taken much to smooth over these details and make them make sense, hell I would have been delighted if some sort of translator device had been used, anything would have been more believable. That would have solved 90 percent of my issues with this story but no, English is apparently not exclusive to Earth. Even words like zombie that have a very specific meaning and origin are somehow universal. If you are not bothered by stuff like this Down Home Zombie Blues might be a satisfying read but it ruined it for me. Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. If you enjoy watching Star Trek and also like reading romances, you are very likely to enjoy books written by Linnea Sinclair - even if you don't typically read Star Trek type books. I particularly like that she never seems to kill off characters the reader likes - and there's always a happy ending. This is my third book by this author, and I've enjoyed them all.

This book is set on Earth. Jorie, the heroine, leads a team of Guardians who hunt down biomechanical creatures called zombies that wreck havoc where ever they go. She gets stuck on Earth and falls for a police officer named Theo. She discovers that her people's worst enemy is breeding the zombies on Earth to use as a weapon, and her team is all the stands between them and gallactic domination.

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a hundred pages or so but I really got into this story and by the end I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a cross between Star Trek, Stargate, Aliens, Resident Evil, Starship Troopers, a Christopher Moore book and the general idea behind Big Trouble in Little China (which there is a reference to!) and somehow it all works and forms a cohesive and solid story.

The romance was real and it took Jorie and Theo awhile to get together but hey, when it happened you believed it.

The mission was believable all of the supporting characters were believable and acted accordingly (even when you didn't want them to).

I read Gabriel's Ghost and Shades of Dark before this book so I noticed right away the switch of POV. It worked and I'm glad that I kept going with the book.

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow, being under constant dread of death by your romantic partner is not that conductive to romance, at least in my view, others might see it different. The romance did not work for me out of other reasons as well. The author seemed far too sure that her policeman character is inherently sexy, and while he was a nice guy, the book seemed a bit lazy here. The adventure aspect was fine, though. Slightly funny, a point in favour. Alien world building did not convince me as very coherent.

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars/5. About 100 pages too long. Still, it was a better Sci-Fi romance than most that I have read. It was unusual that Florida was the setting.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plenty of action, but thin on details. I couldn't really connect with the story.

[The Book Worm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading The Down Home Zombie Blues, but not as much as other Linnea Sinclair books. It's well written, and the plot certainly is original enough, but I didn't find it as fast paced as some of the others I've read. I also felt I was missing a lot of details about the guardians, the zombies and the world they come from. Some additional information was added throughout the book, but I still couldn't get fully into the story here and there.
Other than the above, there are still enough twists and turns to keep you reading until the end, plus a pretty sweet intergalactic romance, so if you love the genre you may not want to miss reading The Down Home Zombie Blues.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful sci-fi romance

I really enjoyed the characters and action in this book. The leads are both competent and likable. They have honor and will fight for what they want and believe in. They'll also break the rules if warranted. The romance felt real and not forced, which was also nice. It was a fun blending of modern day and futuristic. The action also moved at a good pace. I will be rereading this.

[Jessica Subject · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the title may be misleading (the zombies are not undead, but alien AI creatures), this is a wonderful story filled with action, adventure, and romance. I always wanted to know what would happen next. Jorie and Theo are well-developed characters with a whole slew of friends, family, and teammates by their side to battle the enemy. Overall, a great scifi romance!

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good sci fi adventure/romance

The world building is good, the characters are likeable, the romance is believable, and the scene when Theo tells Stavros about the aliens had me laughing out loud. I enjoy sci fi romances that place the emphasis on the surrounding adventure story.

[Helena#bookdreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Linnea Sinclair's books but this one didn't draw me in. The characters and storyline seemed a bit flat even though there were some funny scenes. disappointed

[John Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect combination of sexy romance and science fiction. Easy to slide into, easy to stay lost in the story until the end. Glad I have another of her books to read next week.

[ReadKnitHoard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining. For a zombie book, unusually upbeat and feel-good.

[tysephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun, so well crafted. The world building and character work are unparalleled. Alien zombies and evil alien empires who want to use Florida for nefarious purposes. A joy to read.

[Melissa Veracruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a chance when I picked this book to read. It had such an extremely different vibe than the books I've been reading (though not out of my purview, since I adore sci-for as long as there's romance).

I loved the interactions and the plot and the romance and the zombies. I loved Theo's interactions with his friends and family. I found him...adorable. And Jorie was so perfectly alien and military. Both with their crappy ex-relationships...

Very well-written from a tech standpoint and from the male POV. Also had excellent well-timed humor. Linnea Sinclair rocked it.

[Linnea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so terrible that I couldn’t stop reading it. I only picked it up in the secondhand bookstore because the author and I share the same first name, and then the summary on the back cover was too hilariously dramatic that I had to buy it (it put me back exactly $1).

Perhaps I’m being a little too harsh, but this book was not well written. I enjoy a good romance novel as fun, light reading, but the sex scenes in this book were so lacking that it led me to believe the author had never had any good sex herself.