This is the eighth - yes, eighth! - book in Shan's zombie series. We last saw sentient zombie B Smith when she and her fellow revitalised were about to try to save the town of New Kirkham from a racist gang of thugs led by the Owl Man and his undead killer dog. B's friend Vinyl is captured by the gang, despite the Angels' victory in the ensuing fight, and B's only chance of saving him is in an exchange for her own dangerous captive.

But can she trust a deal made by the Owl Man? Will Dan-Dan betray her? What is Rage hiding? And will Doctor Oystein, the leader of the revitalised, have to say about the plan? And what information has Doctor Oystein been holding back about his connection to the evils they are fighting?

Woohoo! I liked this episode. We're still talking a great deal about racism, which is the underlying theme of many zombie stories. In this series, Shan isn't subtle about it. He has the racism we all know about - white supremacists don't stop hating brown and black people even in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. How charming they are. But he also talks about the horror even the anti-racist living people hold for the revitalised undead. Isn't this hypocrisy? We see all these issues through B, who has really lived them all. She's the daughter of a racist. She was too afraid to speak against him when she was alive. And now she's dead, she's trying to make up for it while suffering the prejudice of the living.

This episode is also about loyalty to friends and whether many lives should ever be sacrificed for just one. What do you think? As ever, it moves at breakneck speed and there is plenty of blood, guts and action. There's also a plot twist that I've been hoping for and anticipating for the last several instalments. Huzzah!

Roll on, book nine!

4 stars.