John Hornor Jacobs

This Dark Earth is a zombie novel. Yes, let's get that out there right away. And you know what's coming next too, right? "But it's not like other zombie novels!" Well, that's not true entirely, from a zombie standpoint it's pretty much like every other zombie novel, but what separates This Dark Earth from the horde is the writing, and the characterization. Both are beautiful! Sadly, I am not going to do this book justice in this review, so forgive me.

I've sat her typing, deleting, and show more retyping this paragraph for several minutes now, attempting to summarize the characters. I can't, at least not accurately. Lucy is a doctor who witnesses the outbreak as it happens at a hospital. She's fiercely analytical, but once the direness of the situation sets in her primary focus is getting to her family. Knock-Out is a trucker, a tough-guy exterior with a soft heart, who has a more emotional outlook on the events in the book. Gus is Lucy's son, who is just a 10-year-old boy at the start of the novel, but has a mind for survival and an uncanny way of coming up with ingenious solutions to apocalyptic problems.

The book naturally details the trials of surviving a zombie apocalypse, but it's so much more. It subtly exemplifies the devolution of humankind, even as they slowly reclaim technology piece by piece their way of life constantly spins backwards, which may sound true for most zombie novels, but the author's way of going about it is certainly unique, though I won't spoil any of it here.

My only complaint is that the book isn't longer. Yes, it's one of those. I desperately wish it was 400 pages. Or 700 pages. Maybe 1,000 pages. Seriously, I could have stayed with the characters for that long, and I must admit turning the final page was a huge letdown, simply because I knew I would no longer be spending my afternoons with the characters. He did a terrific job of getting me attached to them, and I just wish there was more. Pretty remarkable, for what could easily be mistaken as just another gory zombie book. show less

I'm not sure I'd have stumbled onto this book if not for my book club choosing it, but I'm so glad they did. This is one of the more satisfying horror reads I've read in some time, and everything came together perfectly while still offering surprising reveals nearly from start to finish. The beauty of the book is twofold, first coming by way of Jacobs' elegant, straightforward prose shifting between long, careful description and shorter, simpler prose when that's simply all that's required. show more Knowing when to wax poetic and when to let straightforward language do its work, each to best effect, is an art form in itself, and Jacobs has mastered it. The second beauty here is another tug-of-war, but this one between realistic scenes and simple human relationships and what can only be described as horror--i.e. gore, violence, and the supernatural having their way in a fantastically plotted horror novel.

When you add in flashes of humor, an appreciation for out-of-the-way spaces and characters, jazz, and the occult, you have one wonderful book. I can't wait to look up more of Jacobs' work. show less

"Grab your headknocker and get ready for some wet work in the murderhole."

A zombie novel, with nuclear apocalypse to boot. The zombies are pretty gross and well, they're zombies--they just keep coming. There is lots of head-bashing and limbs falling off and guts squirting everywhere. Many of the survivors are pretty bad as well: slavers, rapists, torturers, idiots. Things seem very bleak and hopeless, but this is the apocalypse after all. If it's not zombies that get you, it's radiation show more sickness. I myself would put a bullet in my brain.

So what sets this apart from the bazillions of other zombie novels? First, it has an unusual structure. It is a novel, but the chapters read like stories, each one describing a specific incident and told from a different point of view, although they are connected by characters and proceed along a linear timeline starting from Day 0.

Second, I thought the characterization was very well done for this type of novel. Each character seemed unique, nonstereotyped, flawed, and relatable. The varying perspectives kept the story fresh, and it was a fast and entertaining read. But still, zombies. I may have had enough of them. show less

I have just finished the first story called The Sea Dreams It Is The Sky. It's about this young literature lecturer in Spain, she is originally from a fictional country in Latin America called 'Magera'. Magera is under a dictatorship, and her parents were among those who have been 'disappeared'. While out one day, she meets this older man who it turns out is the missing Mageran poet Avendaño. From there, a series of events leads her back to Magera in order to deal with the tragic history of show more her country and her own past.

First off, the plot rings close to home because I am from the Philippines, where we also had/have the phenomenon of 'desaparecidos'. Thousands of people - students, activists, civic leaders, ordinary citizens were disappeared by agents of the state bent on fighting the supposed scourge of communism. This had its heyday in the 70s and 80s during the Marcos dictatorship, but this pattern of 'enforced disappearances' has continued in the succeeding administrations up to the current one under Duterte.

The integration of the supernatural with the mundane, as well as the quality of the prose reminds me of Clive Barker's works. Surprisingly, I did not expect how good the action/fight scenes would be. I feel like this novella would make for a really good movie. Overall, it is a tightly-written supernatural tale against the backdrop of a horrific political reality. show less