Monster Nation
A Zombie Novel
by David Wellington
Publisher: Running Press
ISBN-10: 1560258667
ISBN-13: 978-1560258667
Alexis de Tocqueville once said that the only thing worse than a tyranny of the minority is a tyranny of the majority. In other words, mob rule. But what does one call a horde of undead descending on the American Heartland, devouring men, women and children and rendering entire governments obsolete? What if the dead aren’t really…dead? Those are just a few of the questions David Wellington poses in his doomsday thriller “Monster Nation”, and while it doesn’t rise to the level of a Steven King novel, the bizarre, surreal wasteland America that Wellington paints is more than a cure for narcolepsy.
The novel revolves around a cast of survivors from the most unreal of places-the American West-fleeing a zombie epidemic, and in some cases, each other. They range from a captain in the Colorado National Guard, a pair of neurotic lovebirds from Northern California, and a baldheaded psychic. But the main character in this Six Degrees of Zombie Apocalypse is a young amnesiac, Nilla, a half-dead blonde with supernatural powers, and a sketchy past. As she hitchhikes across the country, dodging opportunists, vigilantes and the trigger happy military, she strikes out on a journey to learn about herself, only to discover a bitter secret that not only concerns her but the entire world.
As a plus, Wellington weaves a larger narrative-told via AP clippings, press releases, and an occasional shout out to blogs-that serves almost as a Ken Burns-style documentary of the Epidemic (Funniest moment: A Wonkette-style satire of the military’s response as a lightning round of “Name That Gun”). The only downside is character development, if one can call it that, of some of the characters; specifically Charlie. Throughout the novel, he is so priggish and annoying he screams to be cannibalized. Never in the history of sci-fi has such an unlikable character been such a turn off. Not to put too fine a point on it, but his demise in the book almost makes up for it.
Overall though, the book is an interesting read. It’s got everything a reader could want in a zombie story. Action, romance (sort of), mystery. Though it does raises some interesting questions about the Unthinkable. Yet the end of the world, strangely enough, doesn’t feel all that bad in Wellington’s hands. It fact, it is downright hypnotic, even appealing. Never has death seemed so good.
by John Winn
Staff Writer - Buzzy Multimedia
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