Book Review: Dust

By Sandy Amazeen Sep 5, 2010, 18:26 GMT

What happens between death and life can change a girl. Jessie is a zombie. And this is her story... Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. After she was buried, she awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Now Jessie\'s part of a gang. They fight, hunt, and dance together as one-something humans can never understand. There are darkplaces humans have ...more

Turner turns the typical zombie tale around by telling the story from a zombie’s point of view and it’s not pretty. Fifteen year old Jessie died in a car wreak and for reasons unknown, rose from her grave as a zombie. She joins a local gang of zombies who have banded together for hunting and safety and there, learns that zombies have been around for ages hunting hoo meat as they call humans. For ten years Jessie is content with the group, learning the rules of survival, coming to care for the members while entertaining no love for their iron fisted ruler Teresa. That situation changed when Teresa came back from one of her many unexplained absences smelling different. Soon, others of the group smelled different and no longer enjoyed the spoils of the hunt.

Eventually Jessie, accompanied by her boyfriend Joe and a handful of friends begin a quest that will lead them to unexpected revelations at a time when evolution itself seems to be playing a hand in humanity’s future.

With the graphic, gory details of ongoing petrifaction, this is not for wimps. Don’t even think about letting youngsters read this as Turner goes into stomach churning descriptions of zombiism. The zombies are completely aware of this process right up to the time they turn into dust. While the story does focus on the details of everyday life as a zombie, there is also a mystery to be solved hence this turns into something of a quest for answers. Very different and definitely dark, Turner is prone to longwinded dialog and descriptions that tend to weigh the story down but it is still an interesting perspective that most horror readers will enjoy.