Translated by Pamela Carmell.
Narrated by Nick Podehl.10 hours and 6 minutes listening time.
Released 6th May 2014 by Brilliance Audio.
From the cover:
An act of terrorism unleashed an unspeakable biological weapon…and hell on earth. But as the masses felled by a hideous virus rose from the dead to prey on the living, a small band of survivors defied death and its ghastly spawn - determined to outrun the world’s end, and somehow begin again.
To Armageddon…
But beyond the undead-besieged shores of Europe lies something closer to damnation than salvation. Rescued from certain death at sea, the young Spanish lawyer, the beautiful woman he loves, and his brash, battle-hardened best friend - who have weathered the worst of the unnatural disaster - find themselves delivered from a world of horror into a stronghold of hate. In a United States ravaged by the Zombie plague and overrun by the undead, only Gulfport, Mississippi, offers sanctuary…for a price: Subservience to a fascist dictator and his brutal enforcers. But their reign of terror will soon be challenged. By rebels hungry for vengeance, and invaders bent on conquest.
***********
Just about escaping from Tenerife with their lives, the courageous Spanish lawyer, his lover Lucia, Ukrainian pilot Viktor 'Prit' Pritchenko, and Lucullus the cat, sail into the midst of a hurricane that threatens to end them. But fate twists again, and sees them arriving at the last sanctuary on USA soil, the stronghold of Gulfport, Mississippi, which seems to not only be thriving, but pioneering a way to deal with the horrific TSJ virus that has all but wiped out humanity. However, it is not long until before our little Spanish band realise that life in this haven comes at a cost they are unwilling to pay.
The final part of the gripping Apocalypse Z trilogy throws our plucky Spanish survivors into a situation they have not encountered before. Self-proclaimed prophet, Reverend Green, fuelled by religious fervour, rules over this community with the assistance of a militia group made up Aryan Brotherhood ex-convicts. Survivors are welcome to embrace all Gulfport has to offer, as long as they are devout, and white... anyone else is consigned to existence in a ghetto, and doomed to suffer at the hands of policies the Nazis would have been proud of, when they are not bring asked to put their lives on the line for their 'betters'. The Spanish lawyer is tempted by the offer of a normal life in a place where strides are being made to tackle the TSJ virus, but his indecision leads him into mistakes that divide him from his friends, and put them all in terrible danger.
The story plays out from the points of view of the lawyer, Lucia, the unhinged Reverend Green, and Green's brutal head henchman Malachi Grapes, and Loureiro mixes up both plot and action like never before (also adding in a great summary of the way the infection, now known as the TSJ virus, cut a swathe through humankind). Almost all of this I was definitely here for, especially the parts which would very much be at home in any creditable dystopian story about survival and resistance. However, the left-of-field, world domination side plot about North Korea was seriously bizarre - I see where Loureiro was going with this, but it was just too out of place in a story has revolved so beautifully around the lawyer and his pals throughout the three books. It is weird, but fortunately not too much of a distraction in the great scheme of things.
The audio book kept me more than entertained from a gripping start to the emotional finish, which had me shedding unexpected tears, and Nick Podehl's narration was superb, right to the bitter end. Pamela Carmell's translation from the Spanish keeps everything flowing smoothly too. There are some really original twists on the usual zombie story, particularly when it comes to the infection, and the promise of hope in the future - although I would have liked to see more between the edge-of-your-seat final showdown, and the jump forward in time Loureiro conjures as the parting shot, as so much obviously happened in the wings that I would have loved to have read about.
I am really sad to be saying goodbye to these characters (especially the plucky Ukrainian Prit, and Lucullus the cat): the bond of friendship and love that grows between them provides lovely emotional content to balance the thrills, spills and truly terrifying events that get your adrenaline pumping. The age gap between the lawyer and Lucia does still rankle a bit, but at the end of the day (and world) you have to view it through the lens of societal conventions going out of the window in an apocalypse. I did like that Lucia finally name drops the anonymous lawyer right at the end - I was beginning to wonder if we would ever discover his name.
Apocalypse Z is a series highly recommended by me, if zombie tales with great characters that trundle along at an entertaining pace are your bag!
Fingers crossed the film adaptations of books two (Dark Days) and three (The Wrath of the Just) prove to be as good as for book one, The Beginning of the End - well worth watching (currently on Amazon Prime) if you have not caught it yet.
The Wrath of the Just is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. Ebook and auido formats are currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
About the author:
His Apocalypse Z novels, including The Beginning of the End and Dark Days, took him from the blogosphere to bestsellerdom, earning him acclaim as “the Spanish Stephen King” by La Voz de Galicia.
He continues to reside in his native Pontevedra, where, in addition to writing, he is still a practicing lawyer.
No comments:
Post a Comment