Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry review

Rot and Ruin is the newest book by Jonathan Maberry, author of Patient Zero and Dragon Factory. This is a completely different book from Patient Zero and the Joe Ledger books.

First off let me say that this book is considered young adult. I had no clue and it doesn't really matter but after the fact it makes since. Unlike so many zombie books out there this is as much a coming of age book as much as about the zombies.

As I started reading the book it all seemed REALLY familiar. Then I realized why. This is based on or is a continuation of a short story in The New Dead Anthology that I reviewed earlier.

The book follows the maturation of Benny Imura after what is referred to as "First Night" or the night that the dead rose. Benny lives with his older brother Tom whose is a bounty hunter out in the Ruin, which is anything beyond the gates of their home, Mountaintown.
Without giving away much else we are introduced to several other bounty hunters including Charlie and The Motor City Hammer. Throw in Gameland, Nix and zombies and you have quite a story.

Maberry has the ability to make you see what he is writing. As I said with Patient Zero the scenes he wrote I literally saw in my head. Maberry is so extremely vivid with his writing.

Some of the places I have found list this as Benny Imura #1 and if that is true I'm cool with that. These characters have legs. I want to know more about Benny and Nix and the Ruin. Also I wouldn't argue with knowing more about the experiences from First Night that we learn throughout the book. Perhaps even just a book about First Night, even if it is a series of short stories, would be interesting.

As a fan of any book with zombies I enjoyed this for a different reason. This coming of age story felt real in a world that couldn't (well hopefully couldn't) be real. I started off reading a book about zombies and finished a book about a young man becoming a man. Not the kind of story I went looking for but a story I enjoyed. Maberry has become one of my favorite authors. Be it Benny Imura or Joe Ledger or perhaps yet another character that I will connect with, I can't wait for his next book.

Pick this up. As always follow this link to Barnes and Noble and pick the book up for your NOOK or order the book. Even better, as I always say, go support your local book store!