Dead Lez Walking by G Benson is the horror novel you didn’t know you wanted. Come for the zombie apocalypse, stay for the romance.
Taren Makumbe is at the beginning of her shift in the Accident and Emergency ward of a major hospital. There are news accounts about the appearance of a highly contagious novel virus. This means her department is about to be inundated by people consumed with worry over a simple runny nose or an upset stomach. There’s not enough coffee in the world to help Taren through this shift.
Gifted surgeon Joy Ayton is exhausted and just looking for somewhere to catch her breath. If that place will keep her from bumping into Taren, all the better. After months of flirting and one incredible date, she shrugged Taren off like a cheap suit. When she wakes up from an accidental nap the hospital is in chaos, corpses litter the hallways, and all the exits are barricaded.
The dead are reanimating and they’re hungry. Taren, Joy, and a rag-tag group of survivors must find a way out of the hospital before they’re eaten by zombies or killed by their own government. If Taren and Joy can get their acts together and reconcile, maybe something good will come out of this zombie apocalypse.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Benson uses the most clever device in structuring Dead Lez Walking. Each chapter is labeled with the current time and the character whose point of view the reader is going to inhabit. This sets up a constant sense of urgency and makes it easy to identify with a large cast of characters. There’s just the right amount of graphic descriptions to make this story horrifying, but not so much that I couldn’t stick with it. Much of the fear it generates is the anticipatory dread of, “What’s next?” However, seeing your undead coworker snacking on a random intestine does pack a wallop. Setting the story in a hospital, a place where the sick are healed, was virtuosic.
Because of the romantic subplot, the reader spends the most time with Taren and Joy. Taren is easy going and amenable while Joy is more aloof and in control. It’s fun to see how the terror of impending death at the hands of flesh-eating zombies brings out different aspects of their characters. (Did I just use “fun” and “terror” in the same sentence?) The circumstance they find themselves in is far from usual which makes watching them tip toe around reconciliation all the more compelling.
Cons And Heads Up
This is a horror novel with blood, gore, and physical violence. If you consider this a con, Dead Lez Walking is not for you.
The Conclusion
Amid the worst pandemic in the last century, did I really want to read a novel about a virus that’s escaped a government lab and is turning the citizenry into zombies? You bet I did! Benson is one of my favorite authors. I adore her moving romances, but who knew she could write a story that had me double-checking the locks on my doors and muttering, “No, no, no”, outload. I don’t read horror often, but when I do, I want it to be a visceral experience. This story did more than give me the chills, and I absolutely loved it.
Excerpt from Dead Lez Walking by G Benson
The door opened and Joy took a fast step back in surprise, back hitting the people behind her.
“Oh, no.” Taren sounded exhausted.
Someone was at the back of the elevator, a heavily bandaged leg the only sign of what could cause him to be slumped like that. He wasn’t moving. Joy took a step forward.
“Sir, are you al—”
“Ayton, shut up.”
Taren’s hand gripped her bicep and Joy tried to rip it away indignantly, turning her head. “It’s a patient, Taren.”
“You don’t know!”
Joy scoffed, glaring into the dark eyes that were glaring right back. “I do, he’s clearly a patient and not well—”
“Oi!”
Xin’s voice cut through the argument and they both looked back to the elevator.
The man was slowly rising, his movements uncoordinated. His head lifted up, bright red hair falling into his eyes.
“What the fuck?”
Taren’s grip on Joy’s arm tightened.
The man was deathly white, with a tinge to his skin that bordered on green. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them dark and bruised. His mouth was covered in blood, crimson handprints patterning the white of his hospital gown.
Something dangled from his closed hand.
“Is that…”
Joy couldn’t finish the sentence as her stomach turned.
“That’s an intestine.” Xin’s voice was high pitched, shaking.
The man brought his fist up to his mouth, which opened wide as he pushed the sausage-like tube inside and chewed. Joy flashed back to watching her nephew when he was one year old and just learning to eat. The man stepped forward, eyes glued to Joy, mouth moving mechanically as he slowly ate the entire organ in his hand. A step brought him closer, his other hand rising up, fingers grasping at the air.
“Taren.” Joy couldn’t control the near hysteria in her voice. “What the fuck is going on?”
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 9798452700609
Publisher: Indie Author
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