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Buy it now direct from MLR Press or from out Amazon.com store - Zombielicious  

If you pick up a book titled Zombielicious, you have to know straight off you’re not in for an experience to rival, say, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. I read books like this because authors or publishers send them to me or, for reasons known only to my inner masochist, I ask for them. Based on its title alone, Zombielicious has every right to be a hot, steaming pile of zombiecrap. But it isn’t. It’s a surprisingly well-plotted action story with some interesting characters.

Sibling trustafarians Walt and Molly combine forces with Jill—a retired porn star turned nurse—the uber-macho Ace and Walt’s love interest, a patient named Joey, to fight off an onslaught of zombies. Where did the zombies come from? Who knows? The zombiepocalypse, perhaps? That’s not the point. The point is they’re here, they’re hungry and they’re legion.

The book is separated into acts, and that goes along with the feeling that it’s a movie script writ large. I almost expected lengthy shot descriptions or camera angles included in the text. This doesn’t detract from the piece, however. It moves at a dizzying pace, pausing only for rifle volleys or interludes to bandage injuries.

But McGivney has also created some excellent characters to move his plot along. Walt may be a proto-typical nice guy, but his sister Molly has some deliciously warped “American Idol” fame fantasies. Jill, formerly known as Katie “Killer” Kummings, has an interesting backstory that hooks up nicely with the studly Ace, a janitor at the same hospital, who has discovered her identity. 

Though this doesn’t sound marvelous, Zombielicious is more than the sum of its parts. McGivney manages to keep things fresh and interesting, and it accomplishes a great deal in its 209 pages as two survivors (I won’t tell you, but you can probably guess) ride off into the sunset on a motorcycle to spend the rest of their lives fighting the rotting, shuffling enemy. Will Zombielicious remind you of Charles Dickens? No.

But I’ll bet he would have liked it.   

Reviewed by Jerry Wheeler