Vacation

 (15 customer reviews)

There was a clear and sharp arc in the "graph" of my reaction to this book. It started pretty low, where I couldn't help but think, "oh, this is going to be another one of THOSE silly zombie books" (I knew it had some aspect of that to it, but because the word "zombie" is never actually used, not in the reviews or metadata tags, I didn't realize it was going to be an all-out "zombie book" in most senses of that label--so, fair warning, this is basically another "zombie book").
But very quickly, my interest and appreciation ramped up, as the plot "thickened" and there were some really good elements of "mystery" to it and it wasn't just about hunkering down and the us-versus-them mindless fighting.

The middle-of-the-plot-arc development was nicely done, built up slowly and fleshed out pretty nicely (no pun intended), but unfortunately, it fell short at the end. While the author nicely developed the middle part of the story, the ending came way too suddenly, and seemed...Read more

In Vacation by Matthew J. Costello we have an interesting look at society after a `zombie outbreak' has decimated much of the world. First off it's not a traditional zombie outbreak. The world is hit by a plague that has killed off crops and a large portion of animals. Eventually this plague has also spread into some portions of humanity turning people into what are referred to as "Can Heads." It's actually an infection though the `can heads' act as your typical zombie so as always it's close enough for us!

The story itself starts out with a bang as we see the main character thrown into a situation where he has to fight for his survival. After that though it does slow down a bit as we have character development that some may find slow after the initial Can Head encounter though I felt provided the right amount of dialog and `waiting' to fit our character's personality as he has to be talked into what his family is about to do.

So what is his family about to do...Read more

***MAYBE MINOR SPOILERS***

It's New York City in the near future, and this is not your father's future, there's been a devastating global environmental disaster, while simultaneously most of the human populace has turned into "Can-Heads", which are feral, cannibalistic creatures.

In this world Joe Murphy and David Rodriguez are just New York City cops doing what cops everywhere have always done. Protecting the people, keeping crime down, maintaining order, and killing cannibalistic run-amok humans; issuing parking tickets evidently now being a passé function of the police. And all while not getting killed or not getting et, and not necessarily in that order, in the process. Well, not every action goes as planned, and as Murphy and Rodriguez answer a call to an apartment building where there's a Can-Head breakout, or break-in, they are attacked. Rodriguez bites it, and gets eaten, raw, and Murphy is chawed on, severely. Still, the job gets done, and...Read more