London is not the place to holiday in Darren Shan's new teen horror series, Zom-B. This is post apocalypse London, where zombies roam the streets and eat the brains of any poor non zombie creatures they find.

The unusual heroine of this story is B Smith. B is a form of zombie who doesn't associate with the living dead and tries to help the surviving humans. In fact, she belongs to neither world but is free to wander the streets observing the horrors of the city.

In book 3 we see a cult who feel they can communicate with zombies and remain unharmed, an artist who wanders the streets drawing what he sees and the very creepy clown Mr Dowling who enjoys tormenting his human captives (the 'baby' episode is particularly cruel). He features on the front cover, his clothing decorated with human entrails and eyeballs. This is teen horror and has a cover to appeal to its fans.

Shan has commented that this series of books are based on a post 9/11 world of fear and hatred. This is a dark and horrific creation with both zombies and unattractive humans. B is the only positive character is the story and it is hard to see how she can find any optimistic ending.

Where can this story go? It will be interesting to see how Shan continues the Zom-B tale. His fans are enjoying this new series and will look forward to the next instalment. This is a book for secondary school libraries.