The Hungry by Harry Shannon & Steven Booth; Genius Publishing; 2011; $3.99 US

Here comes Harry Shannon again, busting out with yet another book for the year, this time tag-teaming with mate Steven Booth.

It’s zombies. A mad scientist. An ass-kicking female sheriff out to save the world.  Before skipping ahead to the next review thinking that this is just another zombie read or another Buffy wannabe, give it a whirl. It’s worth your effort.

The free prologue,”Jailbreak” is available from Amazon.com and might be worthwhile for those on the fence. Most will go for the whole shebang.

It begins like many others, ala “The Stand,” with an “oops” moment but thankfully, that’s just the jumping off point. The readers quickly meet main character and butt-bruiser, Sheriff Penny Miller. Shannon and Booth establish a likeable, sympathetic character within a chapter as the hordes of the flesh-eaters swarm her town. As with anything Shannon writes, it’s his characters which sets the story apart from the competition.  Add to the mix Penny’s ex-husband who still has yet to retrieve his set in the divorce, a murderous biker, and nutty scientist and the sheriff has plenty to show off her witty, strong persona. True, no one here will develop much other than the lead (or likely survive) but after a few chapters, few will care.

It’s a fun ride and that seems to be the authors’ intent here.

Shannon and Booth bring us one of the better novels of the undead and come recommended by this reviewer.

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Jan 18, 2012

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