Wow. How can a book of few pages sweep me off my feet so fast? Amazing, this novelette.
I like how simple the book is (although it is also very complex). I like how realistically fantastic and fantastically real it feels. I like how the character, the story and the setting has been placed in such a simple way, it’s almost too easy, it’s almost unbelievable (though also very believable at the same time). I like how easy it was for the storyteller to dip his hand into Peter’s past and shove it (or gently present it, when necessary) towards the reader’s silver plate. I like the ironies, the reminisces, the relationships, the parallelisms.
Of course, there are a number of unanswered questions here, but they are quite easy to brush aside when you catch Peter crying all of a sudden after playing a videogame, as you both listen to the undead howls in the night.
The title is apt (although at first I’ve been rather impatient to know why, the reason came soon enough), the story intense, the overall feel of the book great. Undoubtedly, there are some gross parts, but hey – it’s a book with zombies, for crying out loud. Nice take on the zombie apocalypse theme. Quite a “coming-of-age” story too, now that I think about it. Awesome read.
(I want to give it a 5, but I feel it’s more of a 4.8-4.9 for me. I’m leaving this at 4, then.)
The Pied Piper of the Undead by Michael Whetzel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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