Autumn: The City-David Moody

Autumn: The City
David Moody
Dunne, Feb 1 2011, $16.99
ISBN: 9780312570002

In a matter of minutes people fall down and die without any apparent cause. A few days later, many of those who died start walking; aimlessly shuffling as mindless decaying corpses. Almost one hundred percent of the population died from the unknown cause; those who revived have one goal to kill the survivors even if that destroys their bodies.

On the outskirts of the city those humans still living make their way to a college building that seem relatively safe enough to keep the walking dead out of their retreat for now. Weeks pass and supplies are dangerously low as the haven has become a prison. Foraging outside is extremely dangerous since the walking dead have started to regain their cognitive skills. An underground bunker is filled with soldiers. They go outside to see what the world looks like. One of the group is separated from his comrades and finds his way to the survivor hideaway. They hope the soldier will take them to the military bunker. He agrees, but they ponder how to cut though hundreds of thousands of walking dead who want them dead ad who encircle their building.

Although this fabulous urban horror thriller clearly enables the audience to know what the monsters are, David Moody never uses the Z word nor is there much blood and gore. The key survivors including the soldier are interesting as their lives have turned upside down with survivor no longer a reality TV show but a way of life in this terrific Byzantine story line.

Harriet Klausner