Best Zombie Books

When it comes to zombie literature, undoubtedly one of the most famous books ever created in this genre is World War Z. Not only did it bring a lot of attention to the genre but also it made Max Brooks a world-famous writer. The book has held the New York Times best-seller positions for four weeks and was made into a blockbuster movie with Brad Pitt in 2013.

The author began working with the zombie theme in the early 2000s and published his humorous take on the zombie apocalypse in his book The Zombie Survival Guide. But in this book, things get a little bit more serious. The author drastically changes the tone of the narrative, so this book can be rightfully considered a horror piece.

The book doesn’t have a traditional structure and elements of the novel. It is also hard to highlight the main character of the story. The writer tells the story of the whole world through the eyes of survivors who witnessed the planet suffering from the mystical epidemy which turned a major part of humanity into the walking dead.

Brooks provides a detailed look at how the authorities of different countries face the threat of the deadly virus. For example, the American government fails to come up with an efficient strategy. As a result, numerous territories fall under the army of the dead. Israel, on the contrary, recognizes the real threat of the plague from the first days. The country goes in a full isolation mode and manages to protect most of the population. Cuba, thanks to its island position, also doesn’t suffer that much from the zombie invasion.

Korea, in turn, decides to move the people underground to an unknown location, so millions and millions of people disappear from the surface of the planet. Now, the survivors have to wonder whether Koreans stayed safe and untouched by the virus or there is a ton of zombies locked underground.

Are you looking for a zombie-centered series? If so, give This Plague of Days written by Robert Chazz Chute, a journalist who became a writer a try. The series includes five books, or five episodes, as the author calls them. For your convenience, the publisher offers you the first three installments collected together in one volume.

The main character of this story is James “Jamie” Spenser. He is not your average horror protagonist: he is an autist, so he has special needs and interests. The author provides a look into the mind of this boy who, alongside his family, tries to survive in a zombie-occupated world.

After more than half of the world’s population was killed by an unknown flu virus, it starts mutating and bringing people back to life. The plague quickly spreads from one continent to another. Through Jamie’s eyes, you will be able to witness how a pack of British zombies invade America. The survivors divided into small groups, desperately trying to find a way of how to fight the living dead. They unite as they hope it may lower their chances against the army of zombies wandering around. But as the story goes, the boy eventually realizes that those who stayed alive could be not less dangerous than those flesh-eating monsters. Looters and outlaws have no boundaries, and they will stop over nothing when it comes to saving their own skin.

Keith Taylor has a massive writing experience as he tried his hand in various genres under a few different pen names. And even though his other books were pretty popular as well, his true calling is post-apocalyptic fiction. You can see it for yourself while reading his trilogy Last Men Standing. It includes three books: Hunger, Cordyceps, and Vaccine, all of them collected in one volume for your convenience.

The main character of this series is Tom Freeman, an American citizen who faced the consequences of zombie invasion outside his homeland. He decides to run back home to the US, where there is still no infection and where he can return to the normal life, away from all this horror. But the truth may not be as promising as Tom wants since the horrific virus is following in his footsteps and the terrifying smell of the decomposed walking corpses invades his nightmares. As the disease progresses, millions of people are slaughtered, and there is barely a chance for salvation. All Tom can do now is to find enough food, supplies, and armor, lock himself inside and stay in.

But unfortunately, this doesn’t help. Along with the whole world, the USA has fallen. What makes things even worse is that there are people who try to use the catastrophe opportunistically rather than unite and protect what is left of humanity. And when it looks like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, a glimpse of hope in the form of the vaccine appears on the horizon. But it is only the end of the third book where the reader will be able to find out if the human race will survive or not.

If you are not a fan of post-apocalyptic zombie novels but you still want to read something about the living dead, we suggest checking out Night Chills by Dean Koontz. The magnitude of the tragedy in this book is way smaller and occurs on the territory of only one town. Yet, it doesn’t make the action less intense.

The main characters of the story are Paul Annandale, a widower who has lost his wife, and his two kids, Mark and Raya. Paul plans a nice family bonding and decides to take his kids camping in the quiet town of Black River, Main. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the fact that the town was chosen for a vile experiment. Scientist Ogden Salsbury and multimillionaire Leonard Dawson teamed up to create a horrific poison and added it to the town water supply system. Those who get under the impact of the substance can immediately turn into will-less mindless creatures with just one keyword. The experiment is related to subliminal advertising, and since the scientist and his rich partner have no moral ground, they make people do horrible things including rape, the murder of family members and friends, and eventually, commit suicide. This may lead to the extinction of the whole town, country, and, who knows, maybe even the whole planet at the end of the day.

Mark and his family are trapped in this horrible place, but he doesn’t want to give up. Even though it seems that death is the only cure, he tries as hard as he can to save his family from mortal danger.

Lora Powell managed to create a real page-turner about the zombie apocalypse that should fit the taste of all the fans of the genre. The First 30 Days is a horror story with elements of adventures and even romance all coming together in one exciting read.

The beginning of the book seems a bit slow and relaxed. The bad things start happening right of a sudden when the vaccination goes wrong. Instead of healing people, the vaccine actually starts turning them into the living dead.

Bri has been living a normal life before reports informed about the horrific tragedy. When the number of the dead began to drastically rise, it was clear that the old world had come to an end. Nobody was safe from this plague, including Bri’s roommate, who tried to eat her alive. Bri managed to save herself and hide in the bathroom. While sitting there, she finally was able to face the truth - the zombies were real and they were coming.

When it looks like there is no hope left, Bri gets saved by a stranger. They decide to unite against the flesh-eating monsters and try to find a shelter. Surrounded by the horror of death, they start getting closer and even develop romantic feelings towards each other. But on their way, they face another threat: there are other survivors out there, and some of them are not less dangerous than the living dead. Now, Bri has to decide for herself who she can trust.