Review: The Infected - Michael McBride

Title: The Infected
Author: Michael McBride

Publisher: Delirium Books
Year: 2008
Pages: 313
Reading time: 5 days (July 2010)
Rating: 7.5/10

Before beginning the review I must say... Great Artwork. Excelent. Pretty scary. Delirium has very good cover arts. I must search more about this artist called Dave Kendall.

First of all the plot... the book is non-stop action, thrill packed ride. At least that's what I thought. I read the book in three long strides in three days. It's that quick.

The Infected is an apocalyptic novel that begins with a Mayan priest casting a curse upon the Spanish invaders who are slowly decimating his people later in the future,in a vision. The book jumps ahead to the present time, as the curse is fulfilled with a plague of zombies infected by a swarm of flies.

The plot begins in Chichén Itzá with an event that release a swarm of flies that as they bite people they transform into zombies. Then other "zombies" bite another humans and they transform into zombies. Nothing new here. The only thing new is the how the zombies were created. It is part of the mythology inside every zombie book. How they were created. Another part is how the zombies react. And the last part is how the survivors... well, survive. The zombies in this book are not just eaters of flesh and blood. They are more than that... they have a dose of animal cunning that makes them dangerous. But in the end they are just zombies. The characters, well there are a dozen characters that McBride introduces us but most of them are not that good and pretty boring and flat. Most of them, transformed into zombie or something worse.No long, drawn out sections of dialog; no paragraphs devoted to physical descriptions or individual backgrounds For whom enjoy blood there is plenty of healthy doses of the red stuff. Zombie feeding fests are lovingly rendered in shades of blood-red, bone-white, and flesh-pink. You can imagine how awful they would look as they charge towards you, teeth bared and ready to rip the flesh from your bones. Much of the action in The Infected takes place in a hospital setting, or involves characters who happen to be medical professionals. As they try to help and then flee the zombies they are helped my the military. The final scenes take place in an underground military shelter in the Cheyenne Mountain or NORAD. The ending is not fully closed. If the writer wants the book is closed but if he wants to return he door is open. It's quite usual in noawadays books. They leave a small door open to return. Sometimes that upset me.

Overall, the book is another good adition to all zombie mythology. One that you will read and enjoy it but I doubt you will re-read it again.

I have a trilogy of Michael McBride sitting here waiting to be read. One that I am eagerly waiting it. But not now...