Gene Z: A Zombie Novel
Written By: John Woodlock
I was approached a couple of months ago by Mr. John Woodlock, author of "Gene Z: A Zombie Novel", and was asked if I would like to participate in the first round review copy distribution of this book along with two other individuals. Naturally, being the zombie book enthusiast that I am, I agreed and was promptly sent a PDF copy of this book via email.
The story starts out as you would expect any zombie book to start, with no zombies, but instead, a young woman by the name of Karen waiting for a tram to get to work. Now Karen is a small town country girl turned city dweller in order to persue her career as a genetic research scientist.
Now meet Zoe, another Genetic Scientist, and best friend of Karen. Zoe discovers a gene, hidden within the human genome that is turned off. There is some very technical terms and machinery thrown around here, but, anyone that is familiar with the way science works, youcan guess where this is going.
The government is informed about this finding, sends the army, government scientists, and comenderes the hospital and absorbs all staff associated with this new find. The next step, let's figure out what happens when we turn this gene on? We all know this always works out in our favor.
Fast Forward, they have figured out the protein required to activate this gene. So lets let a pissed off Zoe handle the stuff! Yup... She throws the dish and the lab assistant cleaning up the mess gets cut by the glass.... Karen to the rescue, and she gets cut by the glass...
The symtoms start, tingling, throbbing, headache, loss of appetite for normal foods, and finally Karen decides its time to leave. On her way home she decides she wants to eat some journalists, and some pedestrians, and... well, you get the point.
Now the real story starts, Zoe comes home to her husband John, unaware of what is happening. They decide to watch the news and the aftermath of Karen's attacks start to unfold as zombies begin to shuffle and take over the city.
Its discovered that the "Zombie" problem is caused by Zoe's discovery of and accidental activation of the now labeled "Gene Z", which is present in 60% of the Earth's population.
The army comes to rescue them, they fail! So its up to John to get Zoe back to the hospital, now governemnt lab, so that she can continue her work and try to stop the spread of the zombie menace.
But zombies are not the only problems that they have to worry about.. Roaming packs of outlaws, an alcoholic neighbor, a mute boy, vehicles that run out of petro, Murphy's Law, and so much more.
The beginning of this story was a little slow. But, it was a necessary build up that answered why this zombie outbreak was happening.
I was genuinely impressed by the plot development and the character development. Mr. John Woodlock did a tremendous job providing a background for the important characters in the story and left me wanting to know what was going to happen next.
I recommend to anyone that enjoys a good zombie genre read, or even a what if type story, to look for this book when it is published for the general public.
Rating: 8 / 10
Thorn |>
Gene Z Website
