Happy Goat Horror

London is in turmoil following riots and the Trafalgar Square Massacre. A doctor in a big East End hospital, already hard hit by government cutbacks and increasing social unrest, starts to get reports of something having happened at All Hallows church . . .

Then, the first of the injured, including policemen and soldiers, start to be brought in, but the nurses and doctors on the day shift still can’t make sense of what the victims are talking about. Soon their resources begin to be overwhelmed.

Some of the injured begin to ‘change’ and soon the hospital, like so many other buildings throughout the city, is on lockdown. But as things grow increasingly chaotic outside, for those trapped within the old hospital building, both staff and patients, things quickly become infinitely worse as the dead return to life and stalk the corridors in search of flesh.

Dark bleatings, my shuffling tribe! Well well well…lookie here at Mark Morris just strolling in with this 5/5 zombie novel, set in the Zombie Apocalypse universe created by Stephen Jones. (For context, I have rated only a handful of books a full 5/5 this year so far).

It’s the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, and we get to enjoy it from the uncomfortable front row seats of a hospital. Truly, is there a greater location for such an event?

We follow several characters, and I enjoyed all of their paths, but my favourite sections were about Cat and Carlton (an unlikely pairing, and they reminded me, in the best way possible, of two characters from Attack the Block). This whole novel is just balls-to-the-wall carnage, bloodshed, screeching, and people getting various bits eaten off. Oh, and there’s also those horrifying red insects, but I’ll let you read the novel for yourselves to find out what that’s all about…

Of all books set in this universe, I still stand by what I said when I described Alison Littlewood’s offering (Acapulcalypse Now) as the story with the best carnage. However, Mark Morris offers up his own talent writing in this field, and that’s his absolute ruthlessness. If you think there are certain types of patients that he won’t take out in a grisly fashion, think again. If you think any particular wards were off limits in his mind when he was deciding where to wreak havoc, just bin off those ideas because he didn’t give a single f***. I don’t want to give spoilers and I won’t, but enjoy this censored sample from the notes I took while reading:

“Holy shit – I can’t believe he took out the whole (censored) ward. That savage!”

“Jesus Christ, he took out (censored) too.”

Mark Morris – and I say this with the deepest respect – is a bloodthirsty maniac. He did the thing that’s common in zombie films, but lesser spotted in novels, and that’s going full massacre. Total annihilation of almost everyone in the book. Where other novels offer you a safety net, even in zombie narratives, Mark just waited, clutching the end of the rug, ready to rip it out from under you. With gory gusto, I might add.

I am thoroughly impressed, had a brilliant time reading this book, and applaud it.

Obviously, I recommend it to horror and zombie fans, and I hope you all love it as much as I do! If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: HORROR HOSPITAL

MARK MORRIS

Bleeeeat!