Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry. © 2008 (re-printed in January 2010) Kensington Books. ISBN 0-7582-2522-9. Paperback. Horror/Zombies. 336 pages. $6.99 US. [ Purchase ] Source: review copy.
Amanda Feral is shallow, stone-cold bitch. Unless she’s got a few drinks in her–then she’s just a shallow bitch. I’d never hang out with her but then I’m sure she’d never hang out with me either. But there’s one thing that does make her interesting. Amanda Feral is a zombie.
Yep, a shallow, bitchy clothes-horse of a zombie.
I’ve never read a book where the protagonist is a zombie. How could you possibly have a zombie protagonist when all zombies do are shamble around and munch on humans, nary a thought process to be seen? So I know you’re wondering the same thing I was: How in the world can she be a zombie and not only string enough words together coherently to be bitchy but coordinated enough to dress herself? But it turns out there are TWO types of zombies! Those who are made and those classified as mistakes. The made zombies can hide just like other supernatural creatures, hence our lack of knowledge of them. All we ever see are the mistakes–the shambling cannibals of countless movies that we know and love. (Okay, maybe not everyone loves zombies, but I find people who don’t to be highly suspect.)
Amanda is obviously a made zombie, though she had no idea what was going on at first. Apparently some people WANT to be zombies. Go fig. So while she’s busy figuring out the ways of the supernatural world, one of her new friends, Liesl Lescalla, goes missing. (I won’t spoil the fun of what type of supernatural Liesl is. I was amused. Course, her name does remind one of a stripper in a dirndl, so maybe you’ll figure it out.)
So Amanda decides she needs to find Liesl, which means she starts to play detective. (It’s a good thing she’s a partner in her advertising firm because the amount of sick days she takes could really add up.) Navigating the perils of the supernatural world, she finds all manner of things, including a werewolf and other shape shifters, a supernatural bowling alley, and even a 12-step program. Oh, and a woman who might possibly be the Devil herself.
Mark Henry’s created quite the vision of supernatural Seattle, hip and trendy. It could almost be a supernatural New York (sorry, reviewer bias). Any kind of supernatural you can imagine is there and probably some you can’t as well. (Yeti can be fairly good at holding doors closed, though that shouldn’t be a surprise.) It’s a fun and snarky supernatural adventure. As an extra bonus, there are footnotes scattered throughout the book. If you enjoy the supernatural genre, definitely pick up this book.
