Embrace of the Dead by Ian Woodhead

This is the story of Dean, a scientist working in a secret underground lab in London. Something has gone wrong and all his coworkers are turning into the undead. He returns home to the sleepy village of Seeton to try and work on a cure, unaware the horror is following him and that the villagers are highly suspicious and mistrustful of strangers. Together with another returnee, Alison, they work together to try and solve the problem.

This is another belter by Ian. He is fast becoming the master of the zombie genre, I have yet to read one of his that I haven't liked. Once again the characters are believable and tangible. The village of Seeton was lifelike and just sleepy enough to be realistic. The story flowed nicely, and I found myself rooting for Dean and Alison to get through the horror intact. There were the obligatory odious characters you just have to love to hate and Ian does seem to make them particularly obnoxious! The ending was satisfying and I wasn't disappointed.

I recommend this as a must read for fans of Ian's and also to newcomers as it is not your usual run of the mill zombie slash fest.

Disclaimer....this is my review for ZombieDead as this is the same story re-edited and with a new cover and title.

The Sleeping Dead by Richard Farren Barber

This is the story of Jackson. He is intent on leaving his dead end job and goes for an interview in a prestigious company. During the interview one of the directors begins to act strangely, and as Jackson is leaving the building afterwards, he witnesses the director throwing himself out of a top floor window. This is the first of a spate of suicides that rocks the city, and as Jackson tries to find his girlfriend he comes across another survivor. Together they must get to the bottom of whats going on, whilst trying to ignore the voices in his head telling him he is better off dead....

This was an interesting idea and a great story. I was hooked from the first page and the pace belted along and carried me right to the end. Although the bulk of the story was just two characters, they worked well together and reeled me in. The horror was subtle, and that made the story all the more creepy. Rather than out and out gore, most of it was psychological and that made it worse! This was another great addition to the DarkFuse library.

The Lone Bostonian by Sean Sweeney

Set 100 years into the future. This is the story of Terry. He works for a company that makes inexpensive tablets, but at a terrible cost for mankind. When his girlfriend is moved to another department, he vows to follow her. When he gets transferred there he notices something is very wrong with his girlfriend. This is just the beginning of the nightmare. When Boston is suddenly obliterated, he emerges from a subway to find he is the last person alive. He begins a journey to find other survivors, and to wreak revenge on the culprits...

This was a thrilling story. I was gripped from the first page, and couldn't put the book down. The idea was an interesting one, and one that could so easily happen which makes for unsettling reading! I felt for Terry as he made his perilous journey to find other survivors, and his devastation at losing everything that mattered to him. The pace was spot on and the ending was brilliant. A good sci-fi thriller that kept me glued to the page.