by Isaac Marion
First published 2013
Julie Grigio travels with her parents across the wasteland that America has become. They drive through crumbling cities and empty highways, searching for somewhere safe to call home. Hundreds of miles away in Seattle, Nora Greene faces a different crisis. Her parents have abandoned her and her younger brother in the ruins of the city. She must protect him despite her own terror. In a dark forest, a corpse opens its eyes. The dead man wears a red tie but remembers nothing about his former life. He struggles to understand basic functions like walking and thinking while battling an overwhelming hunger that claws at his insides. These three separate stories move toward each other across the devastated landscape. Julie's family road trip, Nora's desperate guardianship, and the zombie's confused awakening will converge in an encounter that transforms all their fates. The meeting will determine whether they find salvation or destruction in this broken world.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, redemption
Setting: America, Seattle
Period: 21st-century
165 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: death, violence