Review: Tooth and Nail

Craig DiLouie, 2010, Schmidt Haus Books
"I mean, is this, like, supposed to be the end of the world?"
"The Army has given me no such order."

As a new plague turns millions of Americans into violent, flesh-eating maniacs, Lieutenant Todd Bowman must guide a unit of hardened veterans across New York City in order to secure a research facility that may - may - hold a cure. But when the army is forced to turn their weapons against the very people they have sworn to protect, even Bowman begins to ask the question: is anything truly worth this?

Let me say, right from the outset, that there are few pieces of zomfic that have ever truly moved me as effectively as Craig DiLouie's Tooth and Nail, and this may be because Tooth and Nail - while undoubtedly a zombie novel - is also one of the most emotive, character-driven, realistic and nihilistic war novels I've ever had the privilege to read. DiLouie combines his obvious insider knowledge of military procedure and terminology seamlessly with breathtaking action, emotive character studies, and a plot that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end. The horrors of having to 'put down' the very people one is entrusted to protect - in this case, ordinary American citizens - is examined more deeply and movingly than in any previous movie or publication I can name, and the end result is a stunning exploration of the hell that is war, and one that - in my opinion - should be read by everyone.

I'm hereby making the call: Craig DiLouie is an author with an incredible future ahead of him, and one whose publications are now and forever on my 'must read' list. If you hunger for the absolute best in zomfic - or any fiction, for that matter - you must track down this book - along with DiLouie's subsequent publication, The Infection - and read it now. Brilliant and absolutely unforgettable.

Review: The Infection

Craig DiLouie, 2011, Permuted Press

Millions fall down, screaming, as a mysterious virus strikes across the globe. Three days later the victims awake with a single, psychotic purpose: spread the Infection. As civilisation crumbles, a small team of survivors fight their way towards a massive refugee camp, seeking protection. But cannibalistic zombies are not the worst things standing in their way; some of the Infected are beginning to change...

The Infection is a page-turner of the highest order, with a plot combining elements of 28 Days Later and The Mist. The prose is written in a dry, matter-of-fact manner, often in the present tense, and there's a resulting immediacy to the action that allows the reader to completely suspend disbelief and plunge into DiLouie's world of survival horror; the characters, also, are Everymen (and women), gloriously damaged and fallible, whose every misfortune hits the reader hard; all of which makes The Infection one of the most emotional, unsettling, and satisfying takes on the zompocalyse yet to see print.

On the back of The Infection, I'm hereby citing DiLouie as a must-read author. Here's hoping for an extremely short wait to his next published offering.