Review: rot and Ruin, by Jonathon Maberry

Benny Imura is fifteen. Fourteen years ago, on First Night, he saw his parents killed by zombies. He's always kind of resented his older brother, who ran with him instead of trying to save their parents.

But now Benny's fifteen, and the rules of their enclosed little town say he has to get a job. And the only job he can find is working with his brother as a zombie killer.

It's not how he imagined it.

It's much, much worse.



rot and Ruin is unique among the zombie genre; the zombies aren't the bad guys. Sure, they'll eat you if they can, but there's no malice in it, any more than there is in the mosquito that bites you. Zombies are people who caught a disease, were bitten by zombies or died of other causes.

Of course, not all the characters share this view. Benny doesn't. But he grows and learns through the novel, and watching him is fascinating. Apart from a couple of speeches from his older brother, Benny is left to come to his own decisions, and through entirely natural growth his entire worldview has flipped by the end of the book.

This is the first of either a two or four book series, depending on who you believe. Either way, I'll be looking forward to the next book.




Benny shook his head. 'Doing this over and over again would drive me crazy. How do you do it?'

Tom turned to him as if that was the question he'd been waiting for all day. 'It keeps me sane,' he said. 'Do you understand?'

Benny thought about it for a long moment. Birds sang in the trees and the cicadas buzzed continually. 'Is it because you knew what the world was before?'

Tom nodded.

'Is it because if you didn't...then maybe no one would?'

Tom nodded again.

'It must be lonely.'

'It is.' Tom glanced at him. 'But I always hoped you'd want to join me. To help me do what I do.'

'I...don't know if I can.'

'That's always going to be your choice.'

Review: Flip, by Martyn Bedford

Alex wakes up one morning in someone else's room, in someone else's home, in someone else's
life. Philip - Flip - is his age almost to the minute, but that's the only thing they have in common. Except that Alex is now stuck in his life with no way out - and Flip is stuck in Alex's.


There's an odd creepiness underlaying this story. I have to say I was very relieved to find I'm past the age where PE - psychic evacuation - might be an issue. Imagine waking to find yourself in a country where you don't speak the language? The book is clear that while muscle memory may carry over, memories don't. Alex finds himself hurled into a new world without warning and with no map along the way. With only one person on his side, the weight on his shoulders is sometimes overwhelming, and the way he deals with it is very realistic.

The story touches on some moral issues - what is the soul, what is the mind, what's the difference, can your soul really be dragged from body to body - but thankfully keeps them in the background instead of preaching about them. Flip is a fantastic debut from Mr Bedford and I'll be looking forward to his next novel.

And I love the cover - the back cover is a mirror of the front, bar Flip's eyes being open - and the way the chapter headers are mirrored. It's a nice touch.

Parents be warned; there are direct and indirect references to suicide, and some kissing and drunkeness by teens.


The typical, all-too-familiar mood swings of the new PE was how Rob saw it.

"One day you feel great, like you've got a whole new lease of life; the next day you're so far down you could top yourself." Rob ran his fingers through his fake yellow hair, causing it to spike up even more than usual.

"Did you ever think about that?" Alex asked. "Topping yourself?"

Rob held his gaze. "Alex, there isn't a psychic evacuee who hasn't."

That shut them both up for a while.