Pain by Harry Shannon

Ah, zombies. I think this is the current hot ticket in horror, right up there with teenage vampires. I wish I knew what it was about zombie stories that fascinates me so much. Is it the swarm of hopelessness, the fight for survival, the inevitable apocalypse? Whatever the reason, I will admit I’m a sucker for a well told zombie story.

Pain by Harry Shannon is one of those stories. From page one, things are moving and happening. He introduces the characters quickly and efficiently, revealing bits of their back stories and personalities as the chaos happens around them.

This isn’t your typical “apocalypse” type story, where a zombie plague spreads throughout the entire world. The setting in Pain is just a small town, ordered to evacuate for reasons unknown to them. A small cast of characters wall up at a doctor’s office, where they fight through the night for survival. I thought some characters might have been a little cliche. I’m thinking specifically of the cheating couple. However, we have a man who makes his living as a clown, and he has hemorrhoids. I thought this was the most original character I’ve ever seen.

Zombie stories are very hit or miss. Some are awful, while others just passable. There’s definitely a vibe of “seen it” with zombies stories. But Pain is unpredictable with an interesting cast of characters.

Strengths:

• Zombies!
• The characters are all well defined, and I rooted for several of them.
• Plenty of action. Most of the story is the siege on the doctor’s office.
• Satisfying conclusion and explanation. Most zombie stories leave everything a mystery. Not this one.

Weaknesses:

• Plenty of formatting issues, at least on my Kindle. Different characters’ dialog on one line. Entire paragraphs indented.