It's zombie week here on HorrorBid and what better way to celebrate than delve into one of the greatest zombie novels ever inked. World War Z centers around a fast spreading zombie outbreak and the pace never lets up. Prominent horror book reviewer Jim McMahon is back with us here at HorrorBid to give us his take on World War Z and why it's worth checking out....

Follow up:

WORLD WAR Z

In World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, author Max Brooks gives us what many devotees’ of the genre cite as the definitive zombie novel. Brooks, also the author of the very popular The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, treats the reader to a thoughtful and detailed account of a planet crawling back from the brink of annihilation. The book is so popular that when the reviewer called a local used book store to locate one, he was informed that employees always keep any copies that come in for themselves.

Set 10 years after the “official” end off the war, the narrative is delivered as a series of personal accounts as survivors recall their experiences from the initial discovery of the zombie outbreak, through the near destruction of civilization, and finally the deployment of a draconian government-backed plan that leads to eventual “victory”. Brooks excels at bringing different voices to life, across countries and cultures as he brings what would truly be a world-wide nightmare to life. Each account is also relatively short, so WWZ can be enjoyed in short bursts, or read easily in a couple of hours.

One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is its global scope. While many stories intimate what is happening around the rest of the world, most focus on a few characters in a distinct location. WWZ really gives the feel of how the entire planet is affected when up to 90% of the population has joined the ranks of the living dead. One of the most vivid images retained is that of millions of undead inhabiting the worlds rivers and oceans, just waiting to drag the unwary down to join them for a bite.

A Google search for "World War Z" returns more than 34,500,000 hits, and according to the very informative and well-maintained Wikipedia page the film rights were purchased by Brad Pitt's production company. A working script is reportedly close to being finished. There is no doubt that, in the right hands, WWZ could be made into a thrilling, spectacular film. There are several well-detailed scenes that could be turned in major action sequences that would leave Transformers and the like, looking like stick-figure flip books if properly rendered. For collectors, a film could generate items of interest such as the "Lobo", which I'll leave to readers to discover more about.
Interested readers can also watch fan-made trailers for WWZ, some of which are very professional looking, currently playing on Youtube.

WWZ is highly recommended for both horror fans and fans of good, imaginative writing in any genre.

4.5/5

Jim McMahon: To read more of Jim's reviews please CLICK HERE!