Very clever. A male reader of Darren Shan's previous work will come to this thinking "great! Gore! Blood! Zombies!" And he won't be wrong.
But he's also going to get quite a lot to think about - racism, family relationships, and he's going to have to work for his gore... There isn't a zombie attack for much of the length of this short book.
There's also a great, great twist that would be interesting to question the typical reader about when they've finished. Didn't see it coming, and was very pleased Shan took the book in this direction.

The story is simple - zombies have apparently started appearing in Ireland. Ireland you say? Pah! Far away, probably a hoax. So the story focuses on B, a teenager with a racist father and issues to deal with. Only later do the two stories collide, and set the rest of the series up.

Will be recommending this to my 10+ readers in the library, and for an adult it's not a bad read either. Very well done, Mr Shan, you'll hook 'em.

B is a high school kid who lives in London with a racist, abusive alcoholic father, and a mom who doesn't stand up for herself. B hangs out with a tough group of friends, and has gotten a bit of a reputation.

When the zombie attacks that happened in Ireland (which B and family did not believe were real) come breaking through the front door of B's high school, race and reputation don't mean much. After all, zombies don't notice skin color when digging through someone's skull to devour their brains.

Well, I never had trouble getting into this book, but I will admit it had a slow start. Besides the prologue, it took more than half the book for zombie action to even happen. But once it did, HOLY CRAP.

The entire first half of the book was basically showing the foundation of B's dysfunctional family. The father, Todd, is an extreme racist who believes England should be whites-only. Todd drinks too much and takes his frustrations out on his wife, until B gets between them.

Yet in spite of this abuse, B has a sick desire to please Todd. B regularly bullies a black kid named Tyler, and picks fights for no reason. Even though B knows it's wrong, the urge to make Todd proud is a strong one.

So, then zombies attack at B's school one day. I must say, this was a zombie novel done right. Blood and gore are not spared in the narrative, and it's awesome. The undead hordes quickly consume kids in their path, using sharp nails to drill through skulls like plywood. B and friends form a large group to try to find some escape, but their numbers start dropping quickly. Imagine B's surprise when one of the strongest, most level headed members is a black boy.

As I said, the first half of the book was slow, but the GIANT twist at the end and the explosive final page, combined with an abundance of zombie gore, more than made up for it in my opinion.

interesting take on the zombie story - told from the perspective of one of the victims. A girl from a home filled with violence - playing out the violence and racism she experiences at home.

Listened to audiobook. I would say it's a 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the second half of the book more. Slow start.

It wasn't good enough to hold my interest. Too many books, too little time. Moving on.

Boring and not what I was expecting from a novel in this genre. Also disliked the characters so much! Dnf at 75%

3.5 stars

A nonreader friend of mine told me about this author because he read a book of his and enjoyed it, he constantly told me to read one of his books and I finally picked up Zom-B. For the most part, I enjoyed it.

The biggest turn off was B's father, he's a racist and an abusive man.