Book Review: The Infection by Craig DiLouie

The day started like any other for Ethan, a teacher at the local high school. He stood at the chalkboard, trying in vain to capture his students' interest in the current math problem, when the screaming started. First outside the school, then in the hallways and finally, one student in his classroom began screaming, dropped to floor in horrific pain. Thousands fell to screaming then into comas. But no one expected what happened days later when the screamers began to wake up.

A small band of survivors -- those who weren't affected by the screaming or managed to outlast the violent Screamers -- trek across Pennsylvania, hoping to find one of the refugee camps set up by the government. Along the way, the group encounters hordes of Screamers wanting nothing more than to pass on their infection, and nightmarish creatures far worse than the Screamers.

Craig DiLouie's The Infection takes an interesting slant on the traditional zombie tale. These "zombies" don't fit the normal mode -- dying first then re-animating with an unquenchable hunger. Instead, the Screamers lapse into comas only to re-awaken and wreak violent havoc, with the specific intent to spread infection. They aren't decomposing, their joints stiff with rigor mortis, the ability to move hampered by withering muscle tissue. The Screamers are strong, quick and nasty. Throw into that a mixture of bizarre, Cthulu-like creatures whose mysterious appearance coincides with the waking of the Screamers, and you have one terror-filled tale.

As for the survivors, at first they all come across as the same: shell-shocked, trying to understand how and why their world has become unhinged, doing what they can to maintain some level of control. As they story progresses, more of their personalities and personal histories come to light, allowing each character to grow as individuals as they become a new family of sorts.

It's a great story, filled with all the gruesomeness and monster madness that zombie and horror fans will love, mixed with good stories of man struggling to keep his humanity and his will to survive. Highly recommended.

The infection
by Craig DiLouie
Permuted Press
ISBN: 978-1-934861-65-3
trade paperback, 289 pgs.

received book from publisher

Image from 28 Days Later Analysis.