Red Virus by Camille Picott

Welcome to the 1980s and the height of the Cold War.

The Cecchina family are a lovely Italian American family living in California, trying to make ends meet by running hunting trips on their two hundred acre property. Their daily worries concern apple prices (their main work is farming apples) and whether the kids get good grades.

They never thought they’d be fighting an invasion of soviets who have weaponized the zombie virus to take over the US.

This book had me at zommunist invasion. If the idea of soviets unleashing a zombie virus on unsuspecting Californians doesn’t make you want to read this book, perhaps you’re one of the Nezhit (undead) already.

I loved the invasion aspect to this book. Yes, zombies are scary, but solders with guns shooting your friends and neighbors is really scary too. It added another dimension to the book that I really enjoyed.

I also loved the idea of the weaponized zombies and the soviet’s immunity. I hope this is explored further in future installments of the series. While the idea of the military using zombies to fight their wars isn’t new to me, I liked how Picott handled it and, by making the aggressors immune, it took away the ‘hoisted by their own petard’ angle of most military zombie stories.

However, it was the Cecchino’s and their friends who made this book. Dallas, an abused teenager the family have taken in, has a great character arc and a realistic backstory. His best friend, Leo, the oldest son of the Cecchino family, has some interesting character development too, and I liked how his relationship with the woman who broke his heart panned out.

Unfortunately, a few niggles kept this from being a five star read for me. I know I’m being super picky here, and it’s not the book’s fault, but there were too many references to American football for my liking. I appreciate its importance to the book, but my eyes glazed over at some of the descriptions.

I was also disappointed that two of the characters jumped into bed after killing loads of people. I understand where the author was going, and it wasn’t at all explicit, but it’s a trope in a lot of tv shows and movies that irritates me.

I award Red Virus…