Plague of the Dead (The Morningstar Strain)

Z.A. Recht
Permuted Press (2006)
ISBN 0978970705
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (2/07)

When I started reading “Plague of the Dead” I was expecting a fun but cheesy zombie tale.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  It is the first book in the Morningstar Strain trilogy by Z. A. Recht.  The world is being overcome by a zombie apocalypse caused by an artificially manufactured virus.  This virus is called “The Morningstar Strain.”  It is transmitted through saliva.  The virus causes tissue deterioration; however, it does not kill the host immediately.  As the body starts decaying, extremities start falling off.  It also causes a fever so high that it destroys all higher brain functioning.  It reanimates dead hosts, also referred to as “Deceased Ambulatory Viral Hosts.”  After the body dies, the virus takes complete control over its functions.  The only way to stop a dead host from reanimation is to destroy its brain.  In this case, the people defending themselves would shoot them in the head.

Lt. Col. Anna Demilio is a US Army Researcher working out of the Institute of Infectious Diseases.  She is an expert on the Morningstar Strain.  Not only has she been tracking it, she has ideas on how to stop it.  Lt. Gen Francis Sherman of the US Army and Demilio has been corresponding with each other.  As the Morningstar virus starts showing up all over the world, their lives are heavily impacted.  Sherman and his troops take off from Africa on a destroyer.  They decide that they best chance they have of surviving is to go AWOL.  Even then there are many casualties.  Demilio is kidnapped by a secretive government agency.  They are after her knowledge.  She and a couple of people on her side manage to escape.  She is working her way to a lab where she can continue her research and try to end this apocalypse.  Sherman and his people are trying to make their way across the United States to reach her.

“Plague of the Dead” really surprised me with its depth.  It is a well-written story that actually makes you believe that something like this could really happen.  That is the scary part.  The characters are well-developed and have you rooting for them.  The twists and turns in the plot add excellent aspects to the story.  I could not put this book down until I finished it, and now I have to patiently wait for the next title in the series to be completed.  I highly recommend this book.   

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