Zone One

Review by David Rupp
Author: Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead in my humble opinion ahs breathed some new life back into the dead. With his book Zone One being pressed by Random House UK, he steers us into a slightly different direction. I'll admit I do read a lot, and some books just get you interested enough to see how things play out, but in Zone One you actually invest emotions to the characters, their stories, how they got where they are.
The basis of the story is there was an unknown plauge that spread globally on what survivors call Last Night, and follows the survivor dubbed Mark Spitz from his discovery of the catastrophe to supposed santuary. What I liked about the book was the zombies are not over played, they aren't the focal point but the vehicle to deliver the true story, how we handle this, what lengths will we go to ensure our existance and how the human machine as a society can't move past its trappings.
Zone One introduces a new type of undead, the straggler, which seems almost like a zombified sleeper agent. The description in the book lends you to believe they are a malfunctioning zombie, stuck forever in a past time. You are also witness to the rebirth of attempted government and a term PASD, post apopalyptic stress disorder.
Oveall I highly recommend that you check this book out, it's well written, flows nicely and as I stated before you are invested in the players and part of the story. My hat's off to Colson and we here will look forward to more great works. (9/10)