Adult Drama/ Thriller in a world with zombies and dowsing. Two main characters/plotlines, one is a detective with a magical intuition, the other is an actor on a PR tour. Spoilers ahead.

[Kristen]

This will contain Spoilers. I first read the book in 2012-2013. It was either cheap or free on the Nook app at the time. The book is set in a version of America where zombies have been around for a long time. Part of the country on the west coast has been walled off, this is where most of the zombies live. The zombies are fully sentient and don't need to eat people. Anyone can choose to become a zombie, the process is basically a magical medical procedure in this world, at the cost of losing their memories of their old life. This is referred to as Tabula Rasa. I think the people that perform the procedure are called resurrectionists. The zombies face discrimination if they do not live in majority zombie areas. There are two plotlines in this book, each following a particular character. The first is a divorced dad who works as a dowser, using his magical intuition as a bounty hunter (he found zombie Hitler in his heyday). His ex has decided to become a zombie, abandoning him and their college student daughter for a clean slate on the recommendation of her life coach. He receives a job to find a person believed to be an urban legend, a young man named Jesse who fell in love with a girl from a family of people whose religious beliefs were extremely anti-zombie. She died tragically, and he had the power to somehow bring her back in ways that defied the normal limitations of resurrection. The other main character is a washed up actor who is currently on a PR tour to improve his image with the zombie community after a number of scandals like appearing in movies and videogames slaughtering zombies by the dozens and vomiting at the sight of maggots inside someone's (possibly a reporter's) eye. He has a bodyguard who I think is named Charles. The bodyguard repeatedly refers to himself as husky. This is revealed in the last third of the book to be an acronym, and the bodyguard is actually a zombie with limbs from different people to be stronger. In the very last scene of the book the actor is having a drink in a dive bar and tells a random woman that his real name is Jesse. Additional details: Tattoo parlors in this world also offer scrimshaw carving on the exposed bones of zombies. There are zombie wannabe people who tattoo realistic lesions on themselves and walk and talk like stereotypical zombies, they are looked down upon by zombies and living people alike. There is an amusement park with a happy zombie as a mascot. The resurrectionist the ex wife goes to performs a Haitian voodoo based procedure, it is said that this is one of many options. People buy zombie parts on the black market, the dowser meets a man who shows off a football player's arm he has replaced his own with. There are a bunch of different belief systems. I think there might be a power plant that is fueled by burning corpses, some people give up their bodies after they die, some zombies are murdered and sent to be burned.

[Kris]

Kristen, is this a self-published book?

Is it written for adults or teens? Would you call this a horror novel?

[Kristen]

Kristen wrote: "This will contain Spoilers. I first read the book in 2012-2013. It was either cheap or free on the Nook app at the time. The book is set in a version of America where zombies have been around for a..."
Adults, I don't think it was self published, and no, I wouldn't call it a horror novel. There are supernatural elements but it was definitely more of a thriller.

[Kris]

Thanks. Try adding more plot details to the header/ topic title "Adult Drama/ Thriller..." You can copy from what you've already written in the comments. Someone is more likely to recognize your book. If you would like help with this, just post a new comment.

[Kristen]

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