"The woods surrounded the five zombies, no one from the road could see them now if they happened to pass by. Meanwhile back in the cemetery, more of the undead were rising and soon, they too, would hunt for the blood they could smell on the air."
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Penny by Margaret Chu Trafford Publishing
book review by Brock Cooper
A young baby is the only hope for humanity as zombies roam the countryside devouring the living and spreading their virus. Kathy, her husband, Walt, and a small group of survivors take refuge in an old home as they try to understand the zombie menace and survive the undead's never-ending onslaught. Kathy and Walt thought the old house on Belchertown would be the next step for their family, but their dreams are dashed when zombies from nearby cemeteries are reanimated by electrical lines downed by a large storm. Penny's dying mother breastfed her as she transformed into a zombie, infusing the baby with antibodies capable of immunizing people against the zombie virus. Penny is the only hope of ending the spread of the virus, but she has to survive, and the air is ripe with the smell of rotting flesh.
Chu invigorates the survival horror genre, although the book gets bogged down with technical style issues. The book is filled with emotion, and Chu does an excellent job of painting portraits of the characters through snapshots of their pasts, both zombie and human. This ragtag group unifies under the leadership of Kathy to protect the child, but we also see their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Each person faces loss on a physical and emotional level. While her story is compelling and characters are dynamic, Chu's problems with spelling, grammar, and sentence structure makes the story difficult to follow at times. Anyone interested in a pure story will enjoy this book as it flows well and the journey is worthwhile.