****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I really really enjoyed this book. So much so I have to say its one of my two favorite zombie books to date (the other being Day by Day Armageddon, in case youre looking for perspective on what I like in a book). I think Ive mentioned in another review that I am coming off of reading either rather long books (500+ pages), or long series, or long series of long books. Tooth and Nail is a rather short book, and its been kinda tough for me to go ahead and spend so much on a book that will be a night or two read for me. What sealed the deal for me with Tooth and Nail was the part that said it was a "military vs zombie" story. I tried thinking of others like that, but this is the only one Ive ever seen (seems its usually the military thats the first to go, and the only survivors are people who dont know what a gun is, or you get a group of civilians with one spec-op guy who always gets whacked [bitten] in the first 20 minutes). So, Army takes on the evil zombie horde.. caught my interest, and boy am I glad it did. The ramp up to the outbreak is both unique and very intriguing, and it adds a completely different feel to it than most zombie stories. One thing that I had a bit of trouble with in the beginning, but thought added to the storytelling once I got used to it was that this story is written in "present tense". Im not sure if thats the right term for it, but instead of saying things like "Jerry thought about how tough it would be" and "Mary replied" its written "Jerry is thinking this is going to be really tough" and "Mary is replying". Its the first book Ive read like that. As I was reading the book, I couldnt stop talking about it. Or at least I couldnt stop talking about it when I was forced to stop reading it. One thing I kept saying (and I later read someone else use to describe it in a review) was that the story is pretty much 28 Days Later meets Blackhawk Down. And I dont mean that in a negative "he ripped off these stories" kinda way, but in a "this is flippin awesome" way. The book is wonderful cover to cover, but it is rather harrowing and more than a bit depressing. Its also gruesome and graphic but dont let that stop you from enjoying this excellent addition to the genre. There are a lot of books I would like to see made into movies, not only would I LOVE to see this as a movie, I think it would be perfect for an adaptation... Heres to hoping.
