I am a total sucker for dystopian books! It is almost like mind control and the more realistic the concept, the more entranced I become. While I recognize that zombies are not real today, that doesn’t mean that an alien force won’t someday take control of people, specifically adults, and turn them into eye-less, undead, only beaten through decapitation or a shotgun to the head, killers. That is exactly what happens in this first in a series book by Hurwitz, who is also an accomplished screenplay writer.
Chance and Patrick are the protagonists of this book, raised by their aunt and uncle after their parents die in a drunk driving accident when the boys are little. They wake up one night to strange noises when it is raining outside and they witness both of their caregivers eyes disappear and they come after them with some new found super-human strength. Their fight or flight response tells them to seek out help from the neighboring farm, but to their dismay, the same thing has occurred over there. While on the run they decide to seek shelter in their high school, which seems to be the safest place around. Once inside they find many other children who had the same instinct and one of their teachers. What they learn from sharing their horrific experiences is going to determine if they have a chance of survival.
While there is some violence and gore within this book, the relationships are PG and maybe a handful of swear words so nothing that middle schoolers haven’t heard or seen before.