The Reborn/Biters

Two stories with flawed execution combine for Journalstone’s unsatisfying fourth Double Down tête-bêche. Talley (The Void) crams too many high concepts into “The Reborn,” including a global civil war, reincarnation, nurture versus nature, DNA analysis, and abortion as crime prevention. The war and the crime plots only casually relate to each other via the main character, and an inevitable twist forces an all-too-easy resolution, leaving no room to contemplate the myriad ethical questions raised in only 140 pages. Shannon (Clan) describes a zombie apocalypse through the eyes of Ryan, a character who treats a stray dog better than a desperate woman. Just about every zombie trope appears in this caper story where nothing goes wrong for the hero, except that he doesn’t get to have sex with the untrustworthy female lead. Either too much or too little happens in this disappointing double. (Apr.)