Fall of Night

Maberry continues his zombie apocalypse series with this harrowing, gory adventure, which picks up immediately after the events of 2011’s Dead of Night. Caught at the epicenter of a viral outbreak that turns humans into shambling monsters, police officer Dez Fox and reporter Billy Trout must try to keep hundreds of survivors alive. Mishandling by the military and the government allows undead serial killer Homer Gibbon, originator of the plague, to slip through this quarantine and doom humanity. While the depiction of the collapse of society is textbook and the condemnation of the government unsubtle, Maberry excels at humanizing the plague’s victims, both living and dead. Naturally, readers shouldn’t get too attached to any specific character. Overlapping characters explicitly connect the story to Maberry’s Joe Ledger books and anticipate his Rot & Ruin YA series, proving that while the immediate outcome is bleak, there’s still hope for the future. Messy, tense, and highly atmospheric, this is a perfect example of zombie action. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Sept.)