Zombie

By J.R. Angelella

A zombie movie-obsessed teen is forced to face a dark family secret in this shocking debut literary novel from a talented new author.  

"Wow! A crazy, wicked knock-out of a book!" -Garth Stein

Fourteen-year-old Jeremy Barker attends an all-boys Catholic high school where roving gangs of bullies make his days a living hell. His mother is an absentee pillhead, his older brother a self-diagnosed sex-addict, and his father disappears night after night without explanation. Jeremy navigates it all with a code cobbled together from the zombie movies he's obsessed with: Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, Planet Terror, Zombieland, and Dawn of the Dead among others.

The code is put to the test when he discovers in his father's closet a bizarre homemade video of a man strapped to a bed, being prepped for some sort of surgical procedure. As Jeremy attempts to trace the origin of the video, this remarkable debut moves from its sharp, precocious beginnings to a climax of almost unthinkable violence, testing him, and the reader, to the core.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781616950897

Reviews for Zombie

[minealready · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Disappointment thy name is Zombie, what happened you sounded so interesting.I really don't know what to say in this review, the book made me so livid. I was expecting sharp, witty, and entertaining, but what I got was so clearly not. I was embarrassed by this books lame attempts to be funny, and angry at it's base tries to be sharp.The main character was just so cookie cutter, a perverted, outcast freshman in high school obsessed with zombie movies. His inner dialog just made me angry, I do not like the derogatory term for gay men. So unless you are British and asking for a cigarette I don't want to hear it, PERIOD. It didn't end there either, there was racist and sexist thoughts as well.I expect he gets it from his father, I thought of him as Quagmire in a Windsor knot.He disgusted me, he was a chauvinistic pig of a man. The more he talked the more I wanted to kick him in the nuts hard enough to make him vomit, then pass out in it face first. I have no doubt about why his wife left him. I just don't know why she married him, and I can't stand her for leaving her son with him.At this point I started to get angry, and really just didn't care anymore so I skimmed to the end.So pretty much the only enjoyment I got out of this book was googling images of tie knots.Sorry for the cluster fuck review, this book just pissed me off so please feel free to add kryptonite and fire away.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Life for 14-year-old Jeremy Barker has been something of a suckfest lately. His parents are divorced and his pill-popping mother has moved in with her new boyfriend, his older brother is, according to himself, a sex-addict and, according to Jeremy, a major douche, and his ex-marine father disappears every night without explanation. As well, Jeremy has secretly stopped taking his medication. We are never told what the medication is for and so it is hard not to wonder how much of what happens is real and how much takes place only in Jeremy's head.Jeremy is a huge fan of zombie movies and lives by a list of zombie survival codes he has cobbled together from his favourites: 1-avoid eye contact 2-remain quiet 3-forget the past 4-lock & load 5-fight to surviveHe has just started as a freshman at an all boys Catholic school and has, almost as soon as he passes through the doors, become the target of bullies. Fortunately, his codes help him survive. Actually, he just mostly hangs out in the washroom but it is survival of a sort.Then, one night after his dad leaves, Jeremy searches his room for clues to where he goes. He finds a homemade DVD entitled Sublimation. A man is strapped to a gurney as if for surgery. In the background, chanting can be heard. When Jeremy confronts his dad, he refuses to explain other than to say it is not what he thinks. Frankly, Jeremy has no idea what he thinks but he's pretty sure it's linked to Mr Rembrandt, a teacher at school who is missing the pinkies on both of his hands.Still, Jeremy does his best to put the mystery aside, tries to make friends while sticking to the zombie survival codes and he even meets a girl. After their first date, they spot Mr Rembrandt and decide, just for a joke, to follow him - and that's when things get really strange.I have to say, this is a bit of an odd story. For most of the book, it is a fairly typical but quite enjoyable coming-of-age tale, full of teen angst and budding male hormones. However, in the last few pages, it makes a huge turn into some pretty extreme violence. It almost felt like two stories pushed together and they didn't quite mesh.I also felt that the author introduced some interesting characters like Zinc and Frankie who looked like they would (and should) play a big role only to let them drop.Still, this was a fun book. As a huge Zombie movie fan myself (well, except Zombie Strippers), I loved the idea of the code and enjoyed how Angelella used Jeremy's favourite films to move the story along. Zombies is definitely not for everyone - like I said, there is some extreme violence - but for those out there who enjoy their reading a little on the odd side, this one's for you.

[samsattler · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jeremy Barker, a Catholic high school freshman, lives by a code that he calls the “Zombie Survival Code.” As he sees it, “…rules are meant to be broken, but codes are made to be followed.” Jeremy’s particular code is a product of his fascination with zombie movies (the guy is an expert on the genre) and he figures that if the code is good enough to ensure his survival of a zombie apocalypse, it will probably get him through high school.Because he doesn’t readily fit in to any of the schools core groups, Jeremy has few friends. But when he becomes the target of a group of jocks determined to destroy him, his zombie code serves him well – making it possible for him to defend himself by becoming the aggressor. Unfortunately for Jeremy, however, not all the zombies in his world attend his high school; some are members of his immediate family.His mother, a barely functioning pill addict, has married the man for whom she left his father. His older brother, also a doper, lives on the other side of town and barely manages to function in the real world. To top things off, Jeremy’s ex-Marine father is starting to scare him by disappearing night after night without explanation. When Jeremy, snooping in his father’s office closet, turns up what appears to be a homemade video showing a naked man restrained on a bed and being prepared for some kind of ritualistic surgery, things really get strange. Zombies, it seems, are everywhere.Zombie is the most unusual coming-of-age novel I have read in a long, long time. Yes, it does include all of the basic elements one has come to expect in such stories: school bullies, first loves, personal insecurities, troubles at home, kind-hearted mentors, etc. And, too, Jeremy Barker is a bright, likeable kid with his own quirky way of looking at the world, so getting to know him is fun. But there is also a very dark side to Zombie, particularly the book’s dramatic, over-the-top ending, that changes its entire nature. (Note: Because of the language used and its graphic violence, Zombie is probably not appropriate reading for younger teens – even though they would probably love it.) When he is faced with unimaginable situations and choices, the Zombie Code serves Jeremy well even though he is living through the freshman year from hell. He knows that zombies cannot be confronted without having the right weapons, an exit strategy, a willingness to do whatever it takes to survive, and a talent for forgetting the past. Jeremy’s big problem is that there are zombies all around him – even if they are not flesh-eaters – and they keep turning up where he least expects to find them.Remember…never look a zombie in the eye. (Zombie Survival Code #1)