Friday Book Report: Zombie's Don't Cry by Rusty Fischer

Written by Rusty Fischer and published in 2011 by Medallion Press, Incorporated; Zombie’s Don’t Cry is a science fiction teen novel.  In the small town of Barracuda Bay, Florida; Maddy Swift is your typical seventeen year old girl.  She has a best friend, but is otherwise relatively “invisible” to the rest of the high school crowd.  Until one fateful night turn her life upside down.

There’s a new boy in school, Stamp Crosby comes from Wisconsin and sits next to Maddy in Art class.  She’s already smitten with the boy, and when they bump into each other numerous times he gathers up his nerve to ask her to a party one night.  She sneaks out of the house to walk to the party but is unexpectedly struck by lightning.  When Maddy wakes up face down in a puddle, its hours later and she suddenly realizes her heart isn’t beating anymore.  She races home and does a few tests courtesy of the website, youmightbeazombieif.blogspot.com and realizes she’s dead; or rather, undead.  Now her self-absorbed best friend Hazel and the cute new boy that’s taken an interest in her aren’t the only things on her undead mind anymore.  While waiting for her order of lamb brains at the local all-night grocery store, she meets fellow students Dane and Chloe who soon realizes that Maddy is now undead just like them.  They become her guide into the new “life” of zombie and help her become acclimated to the zombie world and how to fit in with the Normals (living humans) and that there are indeed bad zombies called “Zerkers.”  It’s now up to Maddy, Dane and Chloe to protect the Normals from the Zerkers and prepare for battle at a Fall Formal that they won’t forget—as long as they “live” through it.

This book was one of those “Free Friday” selections from Barnes and Noble, otherwise I doubt I would’ve ever read it on my own.  It is definitely written more for teenagers, but I found I enjoyed it as well.  The first half of the book was great, it’s funny and humorous and the book doesn’t take itself too seriously.  I thought I’d be leery of Fischer telling the tale through the eyes of a seventeen year-old girl, but he actually does a really nice job with the tone, dialogue and language that a teenage girl would have.  His prose is witty and endearing and there were several instances where I found myself laughing through the first half of the book.  Maddy is your average teenage girl, and Fischer does an excellent job bringing Maddy and her new zombie status to life. 

But then comes the second-half of the book, and the tone completely changes.  It goes from silly and snarky and does a complete turn-around to try and make the book serious.  I understand that there has to be a big showdown between Zombie and Zerker, but the whole book awkwardly shifts from making light of zombies and becomes very solemn without the humor that made the book so charming to begin with.  I didn’t care for the shift of the mood of the book, but Fischer still does a good job with his new twist on the zombie mythology.  It’s different from the normal zombie genre and refreshing to a point.  Some of his secondary characters are underdeveloped (cute boy Stamp, for one) but his portrayal of Maddy is authentic and loveable. 

I’d give this teenage science fiction book a B-, I’d rate it higher but I didn’t care for the gear shift halfway through the book.  It’s laugh-out-loud funny in spots, and the new zombie twist is intriguing.  The ending is left open for sequels, and I’ll be interested to see where Fischer takes his zombies in later books.    There’s mild language and some zombie killing (of course), but nothing too hardcore and is suitable for teenagers aged 13 and up.   Fans of the zombie genre might get a kick out of this book, since this a new take on zombie’s and how they come to be - or, they'll hate that Fischer decided to create his own zombie mythology without paying homage to past zombie mediums.  I found myself in the former group, and thought a new take on the popular zombie genre refreshing and intriguing.