Having never read a “Shan” novel before, I was unsure of what to expect from number one best selling author of the young adult series Cirque du Freak.

What Shan does in this grim story of B Smith’s life at home, and at school, is open up our eyes to the fact that, even in this day and age were we are more accepting to the differences in race, sexuality, background, and financial differences, RACISM is still an everyday issue for some families.

“B Smith has always had to deal with a racist father and nightmares of killer babies, but life is about to get a whole lot worse. Welcome to B’s dark and twisted world...”

Having grown up with a racist for a father, B has had to deal with violence and vulgarity throughout life, often being beaten when a drunken parent lashes out, or when there is an article on the news on television told by an Asian news reporter, having B’s father swear at and throw things at the screen.

An unusual news story comes on one day though, which seems to feature something truly terrifying. A breaking story of an outbreak of violence and death in an Irish town called Pallaskenry, where the whole place looks to be in uproar. The folk caught on camera seem to be terrified of the events going on, and talk of zombies actually existing circulate. Soon the stories become a talking point, and then before long the inevitable happens and an outbreak sweeps B’s town, and friends and schoolmates are being attacked all around.

Another mysterious going on is that the zombies might not be acting mindlessly. A crazed group of mutants appear to be controlling them, and a whole series of goings on and strange behaviour develops within the story.

Fans of The Walking Dead will love this, perhaps slightly tamer, tale of flesh eating zombies tearing about the streets, story. The dark edge of having racism as a secondary storyline is, in some respects, more chilling, with each and every turn and twist the plot takes right to the very last word.

Zom-B is a book that I, personally, could not put down from the moment I picked it up, and with it being the first in a series of twelve novels by Shan, I eagerly anticipate some more flesh chomping action.

8/10 Blogger Points