Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Even before I reached page 100 I was ready to start recommending this book and having finished I believed in it even more.  Once I started I couldn’t stop reading.  I absolutely fell into this world and was carried away.  I read some reviews that didn’t find the characters very believable, but I believed them.  My half sister and I have a 10 year age difference so I can only imagine doubling that.  I also probably sympathize with Benny’s career doubts.  I’m a decade older than him and I’m still waffling about which direction to pick.  But on to the zombies.  These are real zombies and yet there is still discourse about what exactly humanity is.  There is gore and there is violence, but I mean hey would it be a zombie book without?  I have issues describing anything as layered without thinking of Shrek and onions, but I feel like I just must use that word.  You have Tom being absolutely dazzling with a katana.  You have zombie cards and an array of odd jobs.  You also have the beginnings of young love.  You have troubled family relationships.  You have the commentary comparing then to what we live in now.  You have concepts like honor and humanity.  You have terrible loss and gruesome truths that force you to grow up.  You also have some gruesome scenes and some terrible people.  I’m hitting the rambling point…. Okay summary?  Benny is turning 15 so he needs a job because that is the way the world works now that zombies have taken over most of it.  He finally turns to half brother Tom to learn the family business after giving up on everything else.  He thinks all bounty hunters are the same and it is all about killing zoms, but he is about to learn a lot that has very little to do with the stories he has heard.  The girls in the book are an interesting set but I like that they do seem to be very authentically portrayed as how Benny would see them.  Okay yes they are both busty but I’m sure the feminists are satiated by the fact that the Lost Girl is probably just as deadly as Tom in the right situation.

Okay so it is confirmed.  There is a sequel.  I saw a blurb that referenced there being one and I felt like there would be one even though it was mostly wrapped up.  I just couldn’t seem to find much about it even on the author’s webpage, but Dust & Decay is on Amazon and due to come out August 30, 2011.  Yep, already added to my cart.  Will pre-order on a day I feel less guilty about money?