Five Zombie Novels you MUST read

We all love zombie movies, but what about zombie novels? For your reading pleasure, I have compiled a list of some great zombie novels that are definitely worth a read. After all, what says summer more than cracking open a warm brain cold beer and reading a great book by the pool?

5. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

A must read for any Zombie fan, this book is great for a number of reasons – though I should note that it is an actual survival guide. Even though you will usually find it in the humor section of your local bookstore, this was not the author’s intention. It is not a joke, and Max Brooks has though of everything from which weapons and equipment are most effective against the undead to the very particulars of how you should actually go about surviving a full-blown zombie invasion. This book is really great to read before reading any other zombie novels, as it will give you all sorts of insight into how you would react in some of the situations faced by the protagonists – which can prove to be a lot of fun if you have as active an imagination as I do.

*Max Brooks has also recently released The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks which is a graphic novel version of the last section of the Zombie Survival Guide that describes attacks recorded throughout history.

4. Day by Day Armageddon by J.L Bourne

This novel surprised the hell out of me, as I picked it up for about $3.99 at my local grocery store. After sitting on my shelf a few months, I finally picked this book up and was surprised to find that I couldn’t put it down! Written in diary format, it follows the exploits of a U.S naval soldier (on leave at the beginning of the outbreak) in his fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. This novel came across as very realistic, and rightly so I suppose, because the author himself is a U.S Naval Officer currently on active duty.

For a sample chapter (.PDF download) or to pre-order the sequel Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile visit the author’s website here.

3. The Morningstar Strain: Plague of the Dead by Z.A Recht

Z.A Recht’s zombies are truly terrifying, and truly unique. For a first novel, this book is quite impressive and having read the sequel I can say that it is just as good. In this series, the infected become something similar to the zombies portrayed in the films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later – fast zombies. They are infected, but not technically undead – Z.A Recht’s characters refer to these as “sprinters”. In this world, there are also typical Romero zombies – which are created when a “sprinter” dies. After about an hour, the dead “sprinter” rises as a “shambler” – making for a truly terrifying reality where zombies must be killed not once, but twice.

*The Morningstar Saga: Thunder and Ashes is the second installation in Z.A Recht’s Morningstar series. It is now available everywhere.

2. Cell by Stephen King

As the greatest horror writer of all time, Stephen King does zombies right. In this novel, a pulse is sent over the world’s major cell phone networks which turns any user into a mindless murderer. As these “phoners” band together in increasingly large groups, our protagonist (and some friends) realize that they also possess a “hive mind” or “collective consciousness”. What ensues is a very dark, post-apocalyptic tale that is almost the exact opposite of The Stand – my favorite Stephen King novel – which is also post-apocalyptic in nature but also extremely hopeful. All in all, Cell is a great read, and offers everything you would expect from a master of horror such as Stephen King.

1. World War Z by Max Brooks

It will come as no surprise that Max Brooks’ novel World War Z is a fantastic and compelling read. The story follows a man and his “labor of love” in compiling as many first had accounts of the zombie war as is possible ten or so years after the fact. Each character that is interviewed gives a short testimonial of what happened to them, and how they survived World War Z. These stories are fantastic, compelling, horrifying, political and global in scope – no matter who you are or where you come from you will be able to relate to somebody interviewed in this fantastic work of fiction. Though this project has been in development for some time, World War Z will be adapted for the big screen – view the teaser trailer here.

– Mary Hoffman

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