Nerds That Geek Book Review: 'Dead of Night'

Written by Scott Edwards

Prepare to step into Stebbins County, a town no larger than eight thousand people on a good day and follow in the footsteps of the local peace officers, Officer Desdemona Fox, Dez for short and Sergeant J.T. Hammonds, J.T. for short. The coupling of these two could not have worked out better; neither have any family left and no attachments to speak of, except for the community. J.T. looks out for Dez as a father figure, since he is a couple years longer in the tooth than she and is more than willing to do anything to make sure she does not get hurt at all.  Dez, an Afghanistan veteran is just trying to keep her head above water, but out of the site line of the public eye as she practices loose morals when it comes to her personal life.

The day starts off pretty normal, Dez and J.T. stop off to get coffee when they receive a call for what appears to be a by the numbers case of breaking and entering. When they arrive at Dr. Hartnup’s Mortuary to investigate, there is nothing standard about what they encounter. The good Doctor is on the floor, his throat has been pulled out and the same thing has happened to his cleaning woman. The two call in for backup to get a proper handle on the scene, but during this time the cleaning woman wakes up and attacks Dez. Taking several shots from Dez’s M21 Glock, the woman finally stops her pursuit and lies down dead once again on the floor, but Dr. Hartnup’s body...goes missing.

That is the start of Jonathan Maberry’s Dead of Night. A small town is ravaged by the undead, but these are not your standard zombies, instead they are a man made strain that was supposed to be used in war time efforts. Lucifer 113 was developed by a Dr. Volker who defected to the United States back in World War II. As a doctor of corrections now in a local prison, his motives have changed when it comes to the use of this chemical. His new goal is to punish the evil, by keeping them alive and conscious after they have been put six feet under after being executed. The plan was sound, but one inmate, Homer Gibbon changed everything by waking up after his death, passing on the gift he had received in the form of a bite.

Homer’s return to Stebbins County was a memorable one for the entire population, for one bite, turns into two, two turns into four and so on. Within hours, hundreds of people have been turned into the Hollow Men, roaming the streets with nothing but finding human flesh on their minds. J.T. and Dez stay on the scene, but are pursued not only by the zombies, but by the government as well. Returning to his home town, Billy Trout, Dez’s ex lover, tries to come save the day with his knowledge of media outlets, but it may be too little too late once the National Guard is called in and told to eradicate the town.

If you're having problems finding a good zombie novel without the name Walking Dead attached to it, pick up Dead of Night. It includes the same principles as any other end of the world story, try to survive as long as you can. Plus there is also a hurricane that makes the survival efforts that much worse, or better, depending on how you look at it, and you'll find great characters filled with worry about losing their own humanity when having to kill their own neighbors to survive. This is how the world ends. Not with a bang…..but a bite.

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