World War Moo

April 13, 2015
The zombie onslaught continues in this off-kilter sequel to Apocalypse Cow, which sees most inhabitants of Great Britain, humans and animals alike, transformed into rage-fueled monsters by a brain-destroying virus. When English journalist Lesley McBrien gets wind of a plan to utterly annihilate the British population, she tries to expose it but only ends up in trouble. Teenage refugee Geldof Peters joins a mercenary team sent to extract his mother from hostile territory, and nothing goes according to plan. The interim British government considers taking drastic measures to preserve its own existence—such as using weapons of mass destruction on England. The story is entertaining, but readers expecting a raucous laugh riot may be surprised to instead find dry British wit (“Extreme cases aside, the virus seemed to have translated into more arguments, a lot more sex, and an inability to queue. They’d become Italian.”) that occasionally veers into pure zombie horror.

April 1, 2015
The stakes are raised when opposing forces threaten all-out war in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. Scottish journalist Logan (Wannabes, 2014, etc.) returns to the gore-filled world portrayed in his debut, Apocalypse Cow (2013). This is very much a novel about getting the band back together, at least those members of the motley crew who managed to survive the first go-round. To recap, a botched attempt to create a bioweapon created zombie cows in Britain in the first book. Now the outbreak has spread to humans, though the zombies it creates are more Invasion of the Body Snatchers than traditional monsters. "Extreme cases aside, the virus seems to have translated into more arguments, a lot more sex, and an inability to queue. They'd become Italian," Logan writes. Journalist Lesley McBrian's bestselling memoir of survival lands her a gig with the New York Times. She soon discovers a plot among the American, Russian, and Chinese governments to initiate "Operation Excision," which intends to eradicate the infected Brits, along with aid workers, with a one-two punch of nerve gas and neutron bombs. Lesley and her source are duly kidnapped and dumped back in Great Britain. Teenager Geldof Peters travels from Croatia to Scotland under the protection of mercenaries hired by his grandfather. Young Ruen Peat has come under the protection of Fanny Peters, a social activist and Geldof's mum. Fanny and her people have discovered that although they're infected, they've been able to fight off the effects through meditation, dope smoking, "combat yoga," and sex. Finally, the U.K. prime minister, Tony Campbell, has decided that if there's any threat to his country, he'll use his last intercontinental ballistic missile to spread the disease worldwide. If it all sounds slightly bonkers, it is-but Logan's unique combination of bombastic action sequences, off-kilter characters, and wild-eyed scenarios should please fans of speculative fiction and horror alike.

May 15, 2015

England is still blockaded to prevent the spread of the zombie virus unleashed in Apocalypse Cow. The British government in exile and U.S. war hawks want to nuke the British Isles to ensure that the disease doesn't become a global pandemic, and Prime Minister Tony Campbell has remained in London, trying to convince the rest of the world to look for a cure rather than a nuclear solution. Meanwhile, the infected (both bovines and humans) are living their lives, slightly more prone to violent fits of rage but mostly harmless unless they sense an uninfected nearby. VERDICT It's nice to revisit the characters from the first book, including spotty, awkward teen Geldolf and his militant vegan mother Fanny, who is leading a movement to educate the infected to conquer their urges through mental discipline. While not as wildly funny as its predecessor and lacking some of that book's tension, this is another pleasant pick for those who appreciate their horror with a laugh track.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
This sequel to the very funny Apocalypse Cow (2013) follows the traditional sequel format: much of the story of this book is taken up with finding out what the principal characters of the earlier book are up to now, reuniting old friends and enemies, and answering questions raised in the earlier novel. In case you're wondering, yes, the situation has become a lot worse. The plague that turned animals into zombielike eating machines has crossed over to human beings, and there's the very real danger that the plague will spread outside of Great Britain and into the rest of the world. The military wants to nuke the country, just to be on the safe side, but others are pleading for the time to find a cure. Logan proves that Apocalypse Cow wasn't simply a book-length mad cow joke (although it might have started that way); the sequel is just as much fun as its predecessor and just as cleverly constructed and written. Fans of zombie comedy (a thriving subgenre, perhaps surprisingly) should definitely check this one out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)