Thursday, September 16, 2010

Rise Again-Ben Tripp

Rise Again
Ben Tripp
Gallery (Pocket), Oct 26 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9781439165164

It is the Fourth of July and Forest Peak, California Sheriff Danielle Adelman realizes her sister Kelley has run away. Kelley knows that while her sister’s body came home from Iraq, her mind is not in Forest Peak. Before Danielle can look for her, a warning comes over the radio that thousands of from Los Angeles are moving in the direction of Forest Peak looking for safety.

Los Angeles is ground zero; the place where the zombie plague began. The first ones are the George Romero kind who eats human flesh. Later generations are a bit smarter; reanimate quicker and has 1% cognitive ability. Danielle leads a group of survivors to a place of safety before taking off on a quest to find her sister. Her journey is in vain, but the people she left behind lost their freedom when mercenaries arrived and took over. Danielle and her allies try to find ways to rescue the civilians from criminals pretending to be soldiers. If she succeeds she plans to keep this group safe from the zombie apocalypse.

George Romero will love Rise Again (except perhaps it being in California instead of Pittsburgh), a zombie thriller that would make a terrific action movie due to a strong cast of starring characters struggling to survive by choosing to become heroic or malevolent. Danielle is a natural leader who has saved lives by leading her troupe to safety while her concern for her sibling is a powerful emotional driver. Part of the fun is the death of communication as the group has no idea what has happened on other continents in Ben Tripp’s fabulous futuristic apocalyptic thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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