Richard Howes's new novel, JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies boldly hurls us into a post-apocalyptic world of human civilian soldiers against two different types of zombies. One type is the classic stumbling but lethal, mindless zombie, wanting only to kill and eat any humans, and traveling in packs that usually comes to mind. But the other type is Howes's own creative new take on zombies: that some zombies are intelligent and called Leaders. (Now there’s a scary thought for his heroine, Julie Rayzor, and the readers of this fresh, fast-paced action novel: a zombie who can think and plan and lead!) And Leaders are often one step ahead of the struggling, armed humans, who can never know when they are playing catch-up with intelligent focused zombies, as well as the biting, human-eating zombies.
Julie Rayzor is a self-taught warrior, in an Army fort in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an oasis of almost-safety, in a world overrun by zombies. She is secretly in love with Corporal Jim Barnett (who is out on a mission and missing at the start of the story, which worries her very much) and Julie is the one who discovers that clever Leader-zombies found out how to infect dogs and they attack the base immediately at the start of this crisply-written, dialogue-rich novel. Having to kill man’s best friend due to the zombie virus infection immediately sets the tone. Julie Rayzor is a woman for her times; she has a broken leg, not yet healed, but volunteers to go outside the walls on the next mission, but her leg in a cast stops all this. So right in front of the captain, she smashes the cast off her own leg, and pronounces herself ready for duty. So she leads a group out to a radio station, into enemy territory (along with best friend Jill, and a few macho soldiers who don’t like taking orders from a woman). They fight their way up the tall office building stairs, leaving Claymore mines behind for the zombies that come after them, and the explosions below become almost routine. Things go from bad to worse in the ensuing battles, and the speed of Howes's narration is almost as fast as this summary. Julie’s real hope is to find and save her secret lover, Jim Barnett, who is out there somewhere.
Richard Howes's writing style is very impressive. He is writing in a style usually found in male adventure, yet his heroine is a woman in love, but he also successfully pulls off the balancing act between realistic feminine energy and highly effective tough combat energy as well. There’s a great deal of dialogue in this entertaining novel, and it’s the Elmore Leonard type: short, character-revealing, and advancing the story conflict. And conflict is everywhere. This is a war novel in many ways, a war between humans working together in a combat unit, with zombies everywhere, so it’s a sci-fi zombie adventure, and also a love story.
The impressive thing about Richard Howes's JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies is that the author successfully blends all three genres: sci-fi, a love story, and a war story, and it works on all three levels. Additionally, the fast-paced (and violent - ever try to kill a zombie?) action works very well for male readers, yet the choice of gender of the protagonist and her secret love story quest will make this novel a successful read for women as well.
Reviewers of books fall into two categories: those who blithely give away important plot points and reveal secrets that should instead unfold in the contexts of reading the story, and those who review the book without giving anything away, yet providing some facts about what the reader can expect. I personally am in that second group; I will not give away any reveals or secrets or solutions to plot problems within this novel. (I won’t tell you about the train scenes, wow, you’ll have to discover thoset yourself.) I will say that she finds Jim, so the love story kicks in like an afterburner, but it all happens in a fast-paced, frightening world of a small Army patrol taking casualties, constantly having to run-shoot-hide, and improvise, since they are lost behind the scariest of all possible enemy lines. They are fighting and trying to kill the already dead - and they are running out of ammo.
Imagine the movie PLATOON or whatever the best military-platoon-o-patrol book or movie you ever read (or experienced yourself) and transplant that constant tension, surprises, and body count into a world of zombies, and you’ll have some idea of what kind of novel JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies turns out to be. It really is a great blend of romance, adventure, and zombies, (but not for the squeamish - there’s blood and body parts aplenty!) Julie Rayzor on military patrol in this scary world is a total page-turner, one with fast-paced, realistic dialogue as well -- and just when you start to relax along with these warriors, zombies come around the corner and through the windows!
And if that isn’t enough excitement for you... This is a novel that should be a movie and the first of a series of novels too. When you finish reading it, you want more, and that is one big characteristic of a really fun novel to enjoy.
-- John Hill, screenwriter, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, and Writing Instructor at the University Of Nevada in Las Vegas.
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