If you all remember, I fell in love with a book called Drop Dead Gorgeous by Wayne Simmons. I said in my review for that, as well as many posts and comments over the past year+, that I would recommend it to horror and non-horror fans because it was just that good of a story.
Wayne Simmons has done it again. His second offering is another zombie-ish story called FLU...
Simmons goes out, in Belfast again, and weaves a story with fully formed characters that you will end up loving or hating or both. And like the first book, there were characters I hated, then loved, then hated again. I can't say that I outright hated anyone in this story and there were a few that I felt such a connection with that I cried at times. (don't get me wrong, I had some moments of laughter as well- whether or not Simmons intended humor). I was also caught by surprise more often than I would care to admit.
When I write a review, I try not to spoil the story for anyone, especially since the book is still so new. But, I will say that this one is a bit more gory. There are some fantastic descriptions. A few of the characters that I really, really loved didn't meet the end the way I had hoped. But that's how Wayne Simmons tells a story.
I don't know what else to say, really, other than I simply love Wayne's style of writing. He tells a story and he lets us care about the characters. I suppose the generic way to say it is that FLU is "character-driven". To me, it sounds like a weak definition. I love the way he writes the story, the way he describes people, places, emotions- just every single thing about the way he writes. He doesn't throw big, fancy words around to impress. He writes the way most people speak and in those instances where the "big fancy" has to be used, it makes sense. There's nothing false or forced. There have been stories I've read where the writer just didn't seem to "get inside" the character they were writing about, almost as if Jane Austen were trying to write the words for Vin Diesel. Wayne can capture the character in a soldier, an innocent, a rebel, a man, a woman, even a child.
I read this novel in two sittings (I stopped only because I HAD to) and in between my starting it, pausing, then finishing it, I would chuckle to myself when someone would sneeze or cough. "Is it the FLU or is it hay fever?" My kids got a little tired of the joke.
So, if you like zombie, horror, or just plain old good story-telling, I recommend you pick up FLUby Wayne Simmons. And if you haven't yet, pick up Drop Dead Gorgeous, too.