(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Read giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I personally felt that this book was a more unique story about a zombie apocalypse, because rather than showing the start of it and everyone trying to escape/survive, the author showed a world that had some semblance of order even after the disease had hit… and people actually taking on jobs directly relating to dealing with the rising dead.
I found Rob an easy character to relate to. It was interesting to see the fact that his job had become almost mundane, when the very act of burning people is probably a horrific one… when they’re still ‘living’, even if it’s not real life.
Rob’s desperation to find his son came across really well in this book, I felt. I liked seeing the glimpses of his life with his wife and son, though I would have liked a few more details about how long ago the dead started rising… was it fairly soon before the events of the book, or had it been going on for quite a long time?
It was interesting to see the reactions of the other characters to what was going on, too. I found it intriguing how some of them viewed the whole thing. And I really liked the fact that Rob still tried to help out the other people, even though he was desperate to find his son.
I found the book, on the whole, to be really well-written. There were a few scenes that made me hold my breath, particularly the one in the church. And the descriptions of the dead feeding on the living were particularly creepy.
Some of the characters voiced the theory that perhaps the infection could be reversed and I think it could be interesting to read a sequel with that possibility. I would definitely look at more books by this author in the future. This was a quick, easy read and had a main character who was easy to relate to and empathise with. And as I said earlier, this was a fairly unique take on the ‘suddenly the dead are coming back and attacking the living’ theme.
Ink of Blood 