How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back

Introspective questions of loyalty and betrayal underlay spouting gore, zombie parasites, and brain-munching in the solid fourth installment of Rowland’s urban fantasy series (after White Trash Zombie Apocalypse). The unlife has been good to Angel Crawford, who’s gone from being a living high school drop-out and junkie to a GED-earning zombie and morgue assistant. Then a “parasite-balancing procedure” for Philip, her “zombie-baby,” goes wrong, and Pietro Ivanov, the enigmatic leader of the Mafia-like collective called the Tribe, is kidnapped. Loyalties are tested and alliances strained as Angel and company flee from assassins toward a dark, unavoidable truth that threatens to shatter Angel’s precarious trust issues and the Tribe’s zombie network. This spiraling roller coaster is as full of heart as blood (and brains and guts), exploring themes of love, sacrifice, guilt, and vengeance amid splattery action. This orgy of super science, roadhouse rumbles, and slapstick supernaturalism should satisfy readers searching for blood-soaked fun. (July)