Autumn: The City

This vague sequel to Autumn, a novel of the undead (Moody eschews the word "zombies") that was first made available as a free download in 2005 and published by St. Martin's in 2010, covers familiar ground well, but doesn't add any insights into what it would be like to survive a calamity that wipes out most of humanity. The bland lead characters, who live in an unnamed city with a British feel, are somehow unaffected by the illness that turns most of the populace into walking corpses. As the undead become more aggressive, the survivors realize that their future depends on escaping from the city and reaching a nearby underground military bunker. Moody pays little attention to either the psychology of the survivors or the moral challenges of their situation, robbing the story of any emotional power. (Feb.)