What happens when you reverse the roles of humans and zombies, add an upside down government along with mother earth’s hidden energy? You get a remarkably inventive, fresh story line with a plot that keeps on surprising you at every turn. Robert Swartwood’s eBook, “The Dishonored Dead“, kept me on edge and turning pages the entire way through – just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Swartwood introduces a new twist that blows your mind. I spend a lot of time reading books in the zombie genre, and I’m always amazed when I run across a totally new idea that extends the realm of the genre. I was lucky enough to receive a copy for review.
The book starts off with our protagonist, Conrad, on a zombie hunting mission with his broadsword. He had spent years on similar hunts, beheading more zombies than he could count, his broadsword never failing to taste blood. As his raises his arms to deliver the killing blow to a zombie child, he hesitates; something is wrong – he pauses to think, something that has never happened before. One of his fellow hunters has to finish the job, and thus begins the downfall of Conrad’s life and the beginning of his troubles.
He has a wife and son, and neither of them know what Conrad does for a living – the Zombie Hunter Code prevents them from telling anyone what they do, not to mention the fact that there are zombie sympathizers out there trying to kill zombie hunters so they must remain secretive. Oh, and guess what? In this story, living humans are called zombies, and they are being hunted by the living dead, who make up the normal society on earth. The roles are reversed because zombies won the zombie apocalypse and humans are on the verge of extinction. Swartwood has successfully reversed the roles of humans and zombies and made it very believable.
Conrad gets released from his job, and is placed in a top secret quasi-government lab which has been experimenting on zombies and might be considered out of control should the government actually know how their black budget dollars were being spent. The agency means well, is trying to save the world, but uses questionable methods much like our CIA, NSA, etc. Meanwhile, the hunter who had to take over Conrad’s failed zombie kill becomes an antagonist to Conrad as well as the agency’s status quo. This part of the book reads like Clancy and the suspense and intrigue will keep you on edge.
Soon we find out how zombies are created, and Conrad’s son, wife, and sister-in-law all become key players in the story adding to Conrad and the world’s trouble. Things get pretty hairy, but there’s more surprises in store. I don’t want to put any spoilers in here, but let’s just say this turns into a possible apocalypse within an apocalypse, with mother nature taking charge with Conrad’s help.
As I said before, this is one if the most unique zombie novels I’ve ever read, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I contacted the author and asked for an interview to learn more about the book and how it came to be. I should have that posted in a couple of days – we’ve been conversing through emails with questions and answers. It is a shame this book is currently only in eBook form, because I know it would do well on the shelves of any brick and mortar bookstore as well as in online stores. It would be in your best interests to get this book on your e-bookshelf as soon as possible. It’s a must-read.
PS – Swartwood has posted his short story “In the Land of the Blind” so that we can read it for free! This is the published short story that inspired the book.
Update – 7/17/11 – Swartwood has written a short story exclusively for the site Swedish Zombie – the story is actually back-story about the character Philip – pretty cool.
Robert has included THE HUNTER into THE DISHONORED DEAD, so interested readers should of course visit my website where they are much welcome, but then they should absolutely get the e-book and read the whole story which is great!
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