August 18, 2014
In a thought-provoking YA debut, comic book writer Gallardo (100 Girls) looks at a world where the zombie apocalypse forced survivors to abandon the cities and move to the suburbs, where life goes on despite the omnipresent danger of the walking dead. In order to finance her escape from her small Oregon community and go to school where she can study how to cure the zombie plague, Courtney Hart supplements her fast food wages by selling the drug known as Vitamin Z, which lets users experience life as a zombie. Her life then takes some complicated turns when popular jock Brandon develops an interest in her. With his attention and her own drug-dealing alienating her from her friends, Courtney is caught off-guard when tragedies strike, forcing her to find the strength to fight zombies and own up to her mistakes. With its complicated and believable heroine, exploration of moral dilemmas, and disturbingly mundane vision of life among the undead, this action-and-gore-soaked adventure entertains on numerous levels. A sequel is planned. Ages 14âup. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary Agency.
August 1, 2014
Unlike the classic zombie-apocalypse scenario, humanity here hasn't been completely devastated-in suburbia, life has adapted. Post-zombie outbreak, people live behind gates or fences, students take a yearly health and hygiene class on the zombie virus, and firearms are commonplace in backpacks and cars. Courtney's determined to escape the suburbs and attend college in New York-the government hopes the city will be habitable again-but her father will only pay for her college if she goes in-state. To fund her dream, she works at a local burger joint-and sells Vitamin Z (an illegal drug made from zombie brains). Then jock Brandon falls for her, crossing clique lines. Courtney vacillates between her old friends and Brandon's popular world while hiding her drug dealing. Courtney's smart and ambitious, and she makes terrible decisions. Comics author Gallardo nails her voice-likable yet self-absorbed. This rough world lends itself to drug dealing, partying, guns-blazing action sequences and unvarnished language, but it occasionally enables the characters' emotional detachment, resulting in weak motivations for their actions. There's an additional mystery about some smarter, faster zombies-seemingly left for the sequel despite heavy hints that make the answer seem obvious. Aside from that, the interpersonal drama strikes a comfortable balance with undead action. More brains than your average zombie novel...and more entrails as well! (Horror. 14 & up)
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September 1, 2014
Gr 9 Up-Courtney Hart, 16, is a typical teen living after the zombie apocalypse that wiped out the human population in the world's major cities. She hangs out with her friends when she's not working at her part-time job at Bully Burger and hopes to become a zombie researcher and move to New York when she graduates high school. Courtney also carries a gun for protection, and her school closely resembles a high-security prison, built to keep humans safe inside and zombies outside. The virus that created flesh-eating zombies pushed survivors to escape to smaller rural areas. However, Courtney starts to notice a horrifying trend: a crop of very humanlike zombies have started to gang up on humans. The heroine suspects it has something to do with a methlike drug called Vitamin Z that is made from actual zombie brains and that she sells. When one of her friends succumbs to zombification after getting high with Courtney on Vitamin Z, the teen starts reevaluating her life and whether the popular crowd and boy she's been dating are truly her allies. And when her nerdy coworker saves the day at a zombie-infested party, she begins to see him in a new light. A mostly likable protagonist, Courtney may frustrate readers at times with her misguided choices. Fans of zombie fiction will devour this book; teens who haven't made the leap (or shuffle) to the genre will be hooked. A gory, campy read.-Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elementary School, Gastonia, NC
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