HELL’S MAELSTRÖM

In this debut novel, Texans fight to stay alive in the wake of an undead apocalypse.

After dead people start attacking the living, Bill McGuire plans to flee Fort Worth as quickly as he can. But after Bill saves Kim Leeds from her undead fiance, the two have no choice but to retreat to his apartment. Both want to check on relatives: Bill’s family is in New Jersey, and Kim has a sister at Bright Well University, which, according to the radio (their only news source), is one of the nearby safe havens. Bill convinces Kim to stay put, at least until the horde of undead outside his apartment abates. Over at the John Peter Smith Hospital’s psych ward, Grace is a patient who wisely absconds from an onslaught of the biting dead. She arms herself with a claw hammer and takes refuge at a seemingly abandoned house. Though she prefers the isolation, Grace must contend with the living and the dead as well as occasional voices. Bill and Kim likewise run into a fair share of fellow survivors, most of whom are rather contemptible or outright lethal. This may soon include Curtis Mintzer, who heads a cultish group that believes the undead uprising is a divine punishment called the Great Retribution. Holed up in a local high school, “congregation” members occasionally go out to scavenge supplies while some search for escape from Curtis’ group. All the while, the dead continue to roam with an insatiable appetite that threatens Texas—and possibly the entire world.

Redmond’s diverting novel checks off several genre staples. Bill and Kim, for example, spend a good deal of time fortifying his apartment and go days or weeks without seeing other living beings. And some humans prove just as deadly as the undead, if not worse. But though myriad characters populate the narrative, the author astutely spends the first half concentrating on Bill, Kim, and Grace. Their two stories aptly dramatize the characters’ increasing desperation as apartment complexes and houses, which initially seem like the safest places, eventually become hubs for violence and death. Bill and Kim are appealing leads who are generally surrounded by copious indisputable villains. Grace, in contrast, is gleefully complicated: She’s strong and capable, but readers ultimately learn that her residence at a psych ward was for a good reason. Redmond provides distinction among the bands of survivors, namely by how they refer to the undead. Curtis’ followers declare them “heathens” while Grace calls them “slayers,” after the media-dubbed killer the Night Slayer—and no one uses the z-word. Concise descriptions keep the story moving at a steady clip even when characters stay in one location for prolonged periods. At the same time, the author strays a bit from the traditional walking dead scenario with an added supernatural component, though it’s primarily ambiguous. This aspect is something a potential sequel could explore along with other elements, from a few surprises at the end to characters who remain a mystery.

An engaging tale of the walking dead and the likely start of a smashing series.