Bones: The Complete Apocalypse Saga

Bones #6-8

by Mark Wheaton

When mankind is visited by Three Great Apocalypses, the only thing standing in their way is a feckless but loyal, easily distracted yet occasionally ferocious German shepherd named Bones, a one-time cadaver dog with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. This is his story.

In BONES, our hero must battle a plague of dangerous parasites that brings the dead back to life with the goal of destroying the planet. SHEPHERD finds Bones delivered to earthquake-devastated Los Angeles to hunt for survivors only to run afoul of armies of rage-driven rats and birds emerging from the rubble. And when mankind reaches its final hour and a pocket of surviving Indians are all that's left of humanity, it falls on Bones to save the species before civilization is wiped out forever in ALPHA.

Three Apocalyptic novellas of nature run amok, three interwoven stories that feature a German shepherd at the center of the things, three stories with so much action you might just explode reading them.

Includes prequel short story, MONGREL.

Praise for Wheaton's FOUR NAILS IN THE

"Remarkably character-driven...Wheaton convincingly showcases his talents as a writer of horror prose, taking his time to craft characters who are thoroughly fleshed out and engaging without holding off too long on the suspense...proves here to be a quite gifted storyteller undeniably worthy of an interested reader's time and attention." - Michael Compton, Fangoria

"Genuinely twisted and engrossing...may just leave you shaken for days." - Jessa Sobczuk, Rue Morgue [referring to Sunday Billy Sunday]

"This is muscular, original fiction that marks the debut of an exciting new voice in the speculative/dark fantasy genre." - Michael Rowe, editor of the Queer Fear anthology series and co-author of Triptych of Terror

"His tales are visceral, intellectual, and often grisly, but Wheaton never forgets that touch of humanity and wry humor which allow true horror to cut that much deeper to the bone." - Ken Plume, author, There's a Zombie In My Treehouse

"Wheaton's writing is haunting. Days, weeks, even months later, you will find your mind returning to his worlds. Stephen King is no longer my only addiction." - Todd Farmer, screenwriter, Drive Angry

"Four Nails in the Coffin is a shotgun blast to the brain. In a good way." - Gary Dauberman, screenwriter, Swamp Devil

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Thriller, Apocalyptic, Fantasy

334 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2009

Reviews

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to complete the complete omnibus of Bones adventures but could only find an email copy of this one which is parts 6-8, and focuses on Bones part in three apocalypse events. The book takes the form of three novellas, which all focus on a different apocalypse event that Bones is involved in.

1) A marine biologist discovers new species to bring back to his lab, unaware that his sterile lab equipment has been used by several people who failed to clean up after themselves. This reaction between the specimen and these chemicals starts a horrific outbreak. Bones and his handler Billy have been called to a junkyard to find a missing woman but as they leave the scene, there is a car crash that kills a couple of people and Bones is puzzled to find a dead man rising out of other car and coming after him. He flees back to the other police at the junkyard to find a zombie apocalypse beginning. Now Bones has to try and help the surviving humans in the area survive until the authorities get everything under control.

2) Bones is living wild in the mountains when the military find him to embark on a new mission-to go into the disaster zone of Los Angeles to find any survivors of a massive earthquake that has killed millions of people. He is given to a new handler Elizabeth but they become seperated when a second deadly earthquake hits the area. Bones ends up with another group of survivors who are looking for a way out provided by a few military officers on a rescue mission...but the rats and birds in the city have become sick and are looking to attack anything that is moving in the city.

3) A full apocalyptic virus has wiped out most of the population of the United States with only pockets of humans who are slowly grouping together for survival and security. Bones is on a mission of his own, to get back to his original owner Lionel in the house that they once shared together but he comes into contact with a group of survivors who need his help when a roving band of deadly dogs are attacking all the humans in the area. Can Bones help them to survive? Will he then be able to continue on his final mission to find Lionel?

The POV of this book features seeing things through the eyes of Bones, and getting an idea of what a dog might be thinking as the events unfold around him. I liked seeing that for a change. We also follow the adventures in each book of the humans that Bones comes into contact with. I totally love Bones-he's a tough police dog and is brave in his defence of any humans that need his help. I just want to adopt this furry guy! I enjoyed his adventures especially the first one with the zombie mutation disease. The third was the lesser of the stories as I didn't like some of the characters in it but overall it was a good read.

I'm not going into details about the plots of each story as that would ruin it for everyone else. If you love dogs and apocalypses you might want to check out Bones if you can get a copy.

[Greg at 2 Book Lovers Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you read a lot of post-apocalyptic books, you are always on the lookout for that book that brings a little something different to the end of the world. Bones does exactly that. Bones is the main character and point of view for this triple post-apocalyptic book….and oh yeah, he is also a police cadaver dog. That’s right, the end of the world is from man’s best friend’s point of view!

I have to give props to Mark Wheaton for coming up with this concept in the first place…Who comes up with these things? The story itself was well done, there are three semi-interconnected apocalypses and Bones plays an integral part in each one. Mark Wheaton did an excellent job of describing everything from the dog’s perspective. I guess you could say that he unleashed his inner dog.

The book was paced out very well with the three parts. Certain sections would just start to get a little old (ie: The dog jumps and snaps the spinal cord at the neck) and then he would move on to the next part. Part one was the weakest of the three, but he made up for it with parts two and three. In the later sections there were some excellent, strongly developed characters, and as a reader I could develop a connection to them.

Bones is a great book if you’re feeling a little OZ’ed (over-zombied) and want a different perspective on the whole thing, but it is a bit of a niche book. Overall, I did enjoy the story and the characters.

I would give this book 3.5 Stars.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It gives a different perspective than most books, while still maintaining a realistic sense. The character building is perfect. Everyone comes and goes, but it feels like you've known them for a very long time. The book is not short on action either. Just when you feel like things couldn't become more intense, the situation escalates exponentially. I may be a bit biased. Bones is a veteran police German Shepherd. I had a German Shepherd that was a police dog as well, so I related to this story very well. The author captures the perfect spirit of a loyal and tenacious police dog. I suggest this book to anyone!

[Joanne Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trilogy contains 3 stories about Bones, a police cadaver dog and how he makes his way through 3 apocalypse like happenings. While maybe not the best book(s) I ever read I never lost interest and you will want to stick it out to see what happens to Bones in the end. The 'trilogy' contains a prequel called "Mongrel" which is a story of Bones when he was younger and on the police force. I enjoyed it too and would read any others if they come along.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those, "OMG, I need some sleep but I can't put this book down..." books. If you're a dog lover, zombie hater, a hopeful Los Angeles earthquake survivor or just like a good 99.99% pandemic, these books are for you. But mostly if you're a dog lover...

[R Terry Hadaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting approach to apocalypse fiction, and the story line is very good. Greatly enjoyed the portrayal of "Bones'" personality. However, the read, is, at least to me, spoiled by the lack of editing and proofreading. So many simple problems of grammar, syntax, punctuation, etc. Is this simply a result of some rush to print? Why would that be? Am so disappointed to see the degradation of publishing quality apparently brought about by the whole shift to digital.

[Cynthia L Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting as an end-of-days/zombie story. However, I did not like the ending because it just stopped in the middle of the story.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The zombie apocalypse from the point of view of a cadaver dog with the police. This was great! He's such a good boy!

[Laura Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of apocalyptic and dystopian stories so I knew right away I wanted to read this book. I also like it when there is an animal featured and Bones, the cadaver dog, has a starring role.

He isn’t your ordinary search and rescue dog. His first owner saw something feral in Bones and trained him accordingly. And this comes in handy for many of the survivors he encounters on his journeys.

There are three stories with a new threat to humanity in each one. From zombies that morph into something deadly strange, to rats and birds that mutate and hunt us, to the most unlikely of threats, mans best friend.

You’ll follow Bones as he progresses through each story, hooking up with different groups of survivors and lending his canine smarts to each threat.

Now and then the dog encounters people who have heard of him and he even reunites with his beloved owner at one point. But as one disaster follows another, Bones travels further and further from home.

As the years go by and the world struggles to survive extinction, Bones has a new goal, one that will take all that he has if he’s to accomplish it.

As you follow Bones, you’ll meet all kinds of people, some good, some not so good. That’s to be expected when people are thrust into life or death situations.

Each story presents a different threat and while mother nature adds to that, it’s ultimately man’s stupidity that brings about their downfall.

I couldn’t choose a favorite story. Each one was as good as the next. The author took from nature, added in human culpability, and it all made sense. These things could happen.

There are many characters and I’m glad I didn’t get close to most of them, as this is an apocalypse and a lot of them don’t survive. One death in particular, a woman who survived through so much, was so horrific and sad. Be prepared for sudden death and it ain’t pretty. The author spares nothing in his descriptions, and, while I’m not the squeamish type, his ability to help you visualize the scenes will make you flinch.

I liked that the author put the prequel at the end of the book. I was still wanting more about Bones and the short story gave me some additional background and more of the hero dog.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. There were 9 stories in this with each one focusing on a different case in Bones live. Bones is a police dog, trained to sniff out dead bodies but he is just so much more than that. His police handler who trained him from a puppy, officer Lionel Oudin, we find out in tale no. 5 gave him additional training.
In the first tale Bitch we find out just how much of an independent dog Bones is. He decides that a little dog named Bitch needs help in taking out a group of drug dealers who murdered her master. He runs of from his handler, Billy Youman at the scene of the crime and then we find out just how lethal the big German shepherd can be. He finds his way back home about a day or so later. This is typical of bones I found, allways protecting others. In the second story, Hellhound, he does the same, but this time it's protecting a young girl after his temporary handler dies. I liked the other dog in this, that it was an evil dog. It could get in your head and make you commit murder. The way that this ended was good as well. There was no happy ending for that little family.
Cur was about dog fighting, and in this I liked that there was more of Billy in it. It was fun at the beginning reading about how Bones ran rings around him at home by escaping out the flat window, but then being the highly trained dog he is.
All these stories are really well written with characters that you can like. Bones himself is great not a dog you'd want to cross though.
Things change for him in the last 3 stories though. He ends up having to live rough which he manages to do well until the end of the second apocalypse one were he ends up on his own in L.A.
This omnibus is a large book at over 700 pages, but as its broken up into 9 stories doesn't have to be read all at once. It's definitely well worth reading though.

[Jenessa David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ideally, I'd give this book 4.5 stars instead.

The 'First Apocalypse' is what initially drew me in and in the end did not disappoint. Bones is a cadaver dog dealing with the zombie apocalypse and the fact that these corpses he's used to finding are suddenly getting up and trying to eat him. It's a superbly unique idea, and then add on the fact that these aren't your average zombies and they have a very interesting origin story. Just awesome.

The next two apocalypses were slightly less interesting, but still made for a great read. The weakest by far was the third, involving a plague that wipes out most of mankind and leaves everyone's pet dogs reverting back to their wild instincts. Unfortunately there seemed to be many factual errors in this part. For instance, the author describes a female Rhodesian Ridgeback dog as 200 pounds muscle. However, Rhodesian Ridgebacks only get up to around 80 pounds and that's in males. There's just some weird inconsistencies, however it's definitely still an interesting story.

Other reviews mention that characters come and go very quickly throughout the book, however it is important to remember that this is Bones' story. Don't get too attached to anyone else!

[Sato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book so much. I expected zombie-like apocalyptic story, and so it was, but it's quite unique in that the story focuses on a Shepherd dog named Bones, who helps and leads people to survive the disaster. He is so clever, brave and friendly that every dog-lover would love him.

I also liked the crazy idea that the zombie-like creatures would "mutate". The intermediate "stages" were very weird and horrific, even funny, although I felt the final stage was less thrilling.

The only difficulty for me was the writing style, which seemed rather casual (or maybe modern?) compared to other a few English books I had ever read. I sometimes struggled with interpreting long, a little complicated sentences. No offense, I know it was simply because of lack of my English skills.

Anyway I fell in love with Bones. I will continue to read other two sequels later.

[Luana · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining series of horror/disaster vignettes with a very talented (if not always very bright) cadaver dog at the center. The protagonist Bones is often more of a throughline into the stories of other characters, but Wheaton excels at giving you a derpy dog's POV when Bones gets to shine. The author's three-pronged vision of the apocalypse is fascinating as his cold cynicism mingles with thoroughly researched trivia of all sorts. Bones' final moments are real tearjerkers for dog-lovers, but it's weird to me that the collection includes a prequel story of the dog as a pup guest-starring on Sons of Anarchy. It's a fun story, but it diminishes the final moments of Bones' life in the previous one.

[Seekordsiis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gory, grisly and stomach-turning as well as tragic and, above all, inventive. Excellent post-apocalyptic book, A+ descriptions of very different characters´ reactions to inhumane circumstances.

Will surprise one in a BIG way already after the first pages, with an unexpected plot wist, and get even crackier as the story rolls on. Definitely more of a horror than a zombie book, and most surely not "classic" zombie lit. I´d say that the begining of the apocalyptic story (zombies!) is maybe the weakest, but the rest has an amazing feeling. I would recommend the book even to those who are not fans of the zombie genre.

[H.L. Reasby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. As an animal lover, and an owner of a German Shepherd, I definitely connected with Bones. There were many times that even though I knew there were further stories with Bones in them in the book, I was genuinely worried for Bones' safety.

**The editing in the third novella and the final short story get a little rough, so perhaps the author might go back and do another pass on them sometime. It didn't hugely impact my enjoyment of the stories, but it did jar me now and then.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had reviewed this book collection when I finished it a couple months back, but there it was on my to Read list, when it should have been finished. At this point, all I will say is that the main character is a dog, and you observe the end of the world (Zombie Apocalypse) through his eyes in a number of stories that intertwine together. The end of the book was quite poigniant and made me tear up a bit, which does not happen in a book for me typically. If you have owned a dog, then you will understand what I mean when you read that part.
Nuff Said!

[Randy Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cadaver dog with the Pittsburg Police Dept, a German Shepherd by the name of "Bones" is at the center of three Apocalyptic interwoven novellas and a prequel short story. All are fast reads full of action as this brave dog saves those he is able to. These are stories of a hero dog in a world gone mad. I understand there are other novels out there about the dog character named Bones and I plan to read every one. A dog lover must read.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three novellas then a very short novelita at the end. Quick reads of various apocalyptic settings, some connected. Insight into the mind of a police-trained dog, its skills, interaction with its handler and also bad guys. Contains episodes of violent gore, some stories had quite a lot of characters to follow. Not quite page-turning. More entertaining if you read one novella, then let it sit for a while before moving onto the next. Otherwise, you might get dog tired.

[Michael Roper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read and I did really enjoy that most of the story was form the view of the dog which offered a different outlook on something that could have been run of the mill. I did feel that some parts where a little unsurprising though and I did wise it was a little longer to give the characters more time to developed.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading an apocalypse story with the main character being a dog. Wheaton did a good job developing the stories and I liked how he took the now much used (but still loved) plot of zombies and turned it into something of his own. There were a few spots where typos popped out at me, but they were minor and I was able to still enjoy the story.

[Jim Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book

An apocalyptic store with a dog as the main character. The idea when I read it was well executed. All the stories tie together and I loved it. I would recommend this to others. If you like end of world stories and like dogs th ok s is for you. Well written good character development.

[Roxi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A post apocalyptic story, mostly seen through the eyes of an amazing German Shepherd police dog. A brilliant perspective on an "end of the world" zombie and animals gone wild narrative. A great read.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book, really pushes the zombie genre and introduces us to a fascinating perspective--that of a canine struggling to survive along with his human brethren. A big thumbs up for dog fans and zombie fans alike. Great writing and a fantastic premise!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this new take on an apocalypse survivor is a really fresh and interesting take on the genre, it all needed a fire editor to fix some sentence structures and condense the material. Therefore, the plot was good, but the writing could have been better.

[Ruth Casey May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

Great read!

This a good dog story combined with a disaster, lots of action! I liked this story so much I'm going to have to read his other books. Hope he writes more abou Bones, or even another dog survivor!!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent dog story!

What a unique and multifaceted story! The main character being a dog, surviving an apocalypse. Even though it was a rather gruesome story, it had me crying at the end.

[Charles Hallett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly fun horror novella. Very fast read.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book and didn't want it to end.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freaking awesome, could not put it down. Great if you enjoy mystery/scfi/horror all in one!

[EG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. Hard to put down. I really enjoyed it.