Hungry Hearts
Hungry Hearts – Gary McMahon (Abaddon Books)
They say true love never dies. They never mentioned what would happen if your true love died, then reanimated. Would you still love your wife if she was a zombie? Rick Nutman does. And the man who killed her in the first place can’t wait to steal her away from her adoring husband.
Gary McMahon has written a splendid novel here for Abaddon Books entitled Hungry Hearts. This one is part of the Tomes of the Dead series which tells us that it is, of course, a zombie novel. Don’t mistake that previous sentence for lack of enthusiasm. I did, in fact, love this book! Mr. McMahon has drawn upon the lore of the undead which we all know and love and added something we don’t usually see; our survivors going batshit crazy.
Daryl is a mama’s boy with a serious bent for evil. His mother is dying but he’s there to help her toward her end. By torturing her mercilessly in exchange for the torture he believes his childhood to have been. During his transformation from worthless nobody to sadistic serial killer he sights beautiful housewife Sally Nutman, who he decides will be his first human victim. The only obstacle Daryl has to overcome is the fact that Sally’s husband is a highly trained officer of the law. When the dead rise to consume the living, Daryl grabs his chance.
Rick Nutman is no longer in the military but he is a highly trained officer of the law. When he returns from a raid, one complicated by the living dead, he finds his lovely wife mutilated and murdered. Using bandages from the cabinet he wraps her up and leaves town in a desperate bid for safety. During their travels he has to lie, lie, lie to keep his dirty secret from their living travel companions in order to prevent Sally’s second demise. He can and will do whatever it takes to keep Sally at his side.
This book is a very cool ride through slipping sanity and the cold reality of the zombie apocalypse. We get to watch our characters develop from (mostly) normal members of society into raving lunatics. Plus, we get to see zombies get splattered! Woo hoo. Jim Dodge Jnr.
