Fever review

I reviewed Wayne Simmons’ previous zombie novel Flu here, and now it is the turn of the sequel.
Well, it’s kind of a sequel. The first section of the book is actually set before the events in the previous novel, and they go a long way towards explaining the origins of the flu virus that’s currently sweeping across the world. This whole section is a tight and tautly written one, with a real sense of claustrophobia in places although I did feel a bit cheated at the end of it.
The rest of the book though, sees the reader in more familiar territory. Simmons does a clever thing in not making this a straight sequel. He spends time introducing us to some new characters, and even has them encounter scenes from the previous book. This is a nice idea, as it gives returning readers something to feel good about while not alienating new readers who have not read the previous volume.
I’m actually finding it difficult to talk about the novel too much, for fear of spoilering anything. I will say that we eventually have some questions that were posed towards the end of the first book answered, but are left with different ones at the climax of this one. We meet some familiar faces from Flu as they intersect on their journey of survival with the new characters we have met.
As with his previous novels, Simmons shows here his admirable lack of sentimentality and his willingness to kill off characters at the drop of a hat.
I suspect that there will be at least one more volume in this series. Certainly Simmons has left enough unanswered questions and seems to be enjoying exploring them enough to have him pop back to zombie ravaged Northern Ireland (not the actual one, the one in this book) hopefully sooner rather than later.

Fever is published by Snowbooks.

Drop Dead Gorgeous review

After reading Simmons’s previous novel (well, not exactly 'previous'… I shall explain later) Flu, I was looking forward to reading Drop Dead Gorgeous. Flu was the previous novel to this one, but this novel had been previously published and this edition is a slightly reworked reprint… so Flu is kind of the second novel, not this one… None of which matters at all, of course!

Like Flu, this novel also has a high concept idea behind it. With Flu it was a zombie apocalypse, whereas here Simmons has asked himself: what if 99% of the world population dropped dead one morning?

There are a number of surface similarities with Flu: the cast of disparate characters and the Belfast setting, but it is a very different book. The Belfast setting works a lot better in this book than it did in Flu. This is, I think, is because here Simmons is not afraid to use some big city landmarks- The Europa Hotel or The Victoria Centre for example, which instantly gives it a strong sense of place.

The characters are all well realized and not necessarily likable- in fact most of them are not. Even the one that could conceivably be called the main character- a tattooist called Star- is highly unlikeable at times. It’s nice to see characters in this sort of novel behaving like real people, and not transforming into some kind of super resourceful survivor overnight as they tend to do sometimes…

What I enjoyed most though, was that Simmons resists the urge to explain anything. Even when, in the final act of the book, 'Things' start to happen and the writer obviously knows what they are, he doesn’t bother to tell us. I’m sure there are some of you out there who want to see what’s behind the curtain- but I am not one of them.

As with Flu, Simmons has a lack of attachment to his characters that is admirable. No one is safe, and this makes for some genuinely shocking moments.

In my review of Flu on another site, I commented on some highly convenient coincidences with the characters. Well, there is just the one in this book, but it works brilliantly to provide an emotional coda to a character arc. And this is all veering dangerously close to spoiler territory for my liking, so I shall stop talking about specifics now.

All in all, this is a fast paced and bloody horror novel. I’m genuinely interested in reading what Simmons does next- I suspect he could be a major new talent.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is published by Snowbooks.