The standard “Don’t get eaten” plotline for zombie novels gets a nice gust of fresh air in Brad Goldberg’s Z vs. V: Among the Living. He also pays a lot more attention to the fact that living in a world filled with decaying everything, especially rotting people, really stinks a lot. Too many television shows, movies, and novels gloss over that point, which kills the realism for anyone watching or reading (or is it just me?). Breathing in such a world can be heroic enough, but Kyle goes one better: he insists on recording everything for a survival guide he imagines others could use. At least that is what he is thinking. That gives us insight into Kyle’s feelings and reasoning as he shoots, smashes, mashes, and otherwise tries to hold his nose through the daily mess of survival in New York City.
To liven things up with nicknames, he has to deal with corpsies by day, as he likes to call the dead, and vees by night, presumably undead blood suckers. Hey, it is his survival guide, so he can call them anything he wants. Going against the standard quiet approach to avoid attracting attention and more mouths to feed—on him—Kyle carries around a gun shop’s worth of handguns, semi-automatics and rifles to tackle the hordes. Not one to panic shop, he also remembered to grab the cleaning supplies to make sure his guns do not jam up in critical situations. The cleaning fluid comes in handy too when he gets wounded, though it stings a lot.
Goldberg makes sure there’s plenty of action to let the bullets fly as Kyle struggles in the present while flashing back to the past through alternating chapters. In the present, he becomes the protector of a ten-year-old named Chloe; her mother became a corpsie and her dad and brother became vees, so she needs all the help he can give. She is also a capable match for Kyle, using a grenade to save both of them early on, although she needs to practice her aim and timing.
In the past he was a television news reporter, watching the downfall of everything, who fell in love with the girl of his dreams only to have a rivalry intervene. In-between, the piece de resistance is a hell of a night as he is attacked by Zs and Vs, while fire and drowning limit his options for seeing the morning. To say this book moves fast and furious would be more than accurate.
The lulls are not much for rest, but Kyle and Chloe need to find food to keep up their stamina wading through endless corpsies and lodging each night to avoid the vees. It is in these moments that Goldberg gives us glimpses into the shattered lives of everyone by the remnants of those lives left behind or shattered on the floor. By this time, you realize he has a good handle on pacing: neither too long in the quiet, reflective moments, nor too short in the fights for life that occur fast, often, and described with tactical precision. The usual rivalries and petty squabbles among the living are here, but the daily slog dutifully jotted down by Kyle keeps them from overwhelming the hordes. Let’s face it: we read for the chomping and stomping, not the chit-chat; but darn if Goldberg has not struck the near perfect balance between both in his novel.
It’s a breezy page-turner but carries depth and emotional weight. His people are struggling to survive, struggling with each other, and struggling with themselves. We feel their struggles and that is a lesson in how you write a zombie novel. This is the first book in the series. Try not to hate him too much for having to wait until he gets the next book out. I am sure it will be worth it. Though, I do admit I am getting a bit anxious waiting already.
Staff book reviewer for The Horror Zine.
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