Cannibal Corpse, M/C

by Tim Curran

FOLLOWING A MAJOR PANDEMIC, THE COUNTRY IS IN RUINS. WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS A HELLZONE KNOWN AS THE DEADLANDS.

Here, bioengineered Corpse Worms rain from the blood-streaked sky, reanimating the dead. And here, atomic weapons have created legions of mutants, primeval monsters, and wild chaotic weather patterns.

Enter: John Slaughter. Hardcore outlaw biker. Blood member of the Devil's Disciples. A very wanted man. Captured by the army, the feds want him to lead a gang of his old bikers across the Mississippi and into the nuclear wastes of the Deadlands.

His objective: Snatch a high-level biologist who is being held at an old NORAD fortress by a paramilitary terrorist group. It will mean a raid into territory swarming with the living dead, mutations, and sects of psychotic survivalists... not to mention the Cannibal Corpse motorcycle club, blood enemies of the Devil’s Disciples.

His incentive: his brother is being held at a federal prison back east on charges of sedition. If Slaughter does not bring back the biologist, his brother will be executed.

The drawback: An ancient, diabolic evil has claimed the Deadlands and is in league with Cannibal Corpse. And unless Slaughter can stop it, it will pick its teeth with the last bones of the human race.




(Description from back cover of trade paperback edition)

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2012

About the author

Tim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Biohazard, as well as the novella The Corpse King. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, and anthologies such as Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and Vile Things.

For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.

Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.

Reviews

[Fabiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Piogge radioattive di vermi che fanno risorgere i morti, zombie, motociclisti, motociclisti zombie ed entità demoniache. Cosa volete di più?

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whatever undead novel you've read recently, it is nowhere near as creative as this read (IMO). As a fan of Sons of Anarchy, it was nice to read about bikers and their behavior during apocalyptic times. We're not using the "Z" word because Curran has taken another route. A more accurate word would be 'infected'. These people are infected by worms, changing them into necrotic-like creatures who can talk and reason. They still want to eat you, but they remember who and what they are. This read definitely has some twists and new ideas that will entice even the most jaded undead readers. Tim's writing is on-point with his mastery of descriptions and great usage of metaphors. It won't be hard at all to imagine the horror he has created.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

another excellent sorry by tim curran. I'm not a big fan of zombie novels but this one deserves 5 stars, it was a great story and no one can write like Tim curran. it dont matter what he is writing about he can make it interesting, and since I find zombies incredibly boring here is my proof of that.

[David Bernstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started out strong and finished without a let down. It's Curran going full-throttle all the way. The main character is a bad-ass who grows spiritually as the story moves along (remaining a bad-ass though). There are a lot of apocalyptic books out there. Some good. Some bad. This one's really good. It had a little of everything, from guns, action, bad-ass characters, creatures, villains, military, crazy experiments and adventure. This is one epic tale that plays out smoothly and is a whole lot of fun. Oh yeah, and it's base deals with bikers in a lawless, undead-filled land, but not your typical undead. Curran puts a new spin on them. If you like apocalyptic fiction, then grab a copy of this one now.

[Rade · Rating 3 out of 5]

After seeing this book everywhere and reading plenty of comments on how great it is and how Curran does a great job in tying everything in a nice little action packed bundle.

That being said, we are introduced to John Slaughter, an outlaw biker who basically does not have much of a personality besides he gets a hard on by killing other bikers and ending up in prison. Wash and repeat that for a while. I did not have any kind of connection to him. To me, and this might sound like an asshole thing to say, he could die or live and I would not care much either way. He was not that interesting, and his passe was not any better either. They are bikers and they don't care much about us normals, or citizens as they call us.

So the whole story revolves about them killing bikers, killing the horrible undead and having lots of fun. Curran, who is a great story teller, wrote pages upon pages of descriptive things for the various undead they encountered. At one point it got really repetitive that I could have skipped bunch of pages and still be able to tell exactly what is going on. There is just so many times you can say that the undead were rotting and their bodies were filled with oozing black goo before it gets a bit too annoying. Two things I don't like: if a character has a phrase they repeat all the time for no reason and when a description of something we know goes on forever (in this case, the undead and how they tend to look). We get it, they are nasty. Let's move on.

Another thing that bugged me is the ending. It was over way too fast and the character of _____ was painted as ____ yet he came off more of a 80s movie villain that is ridiculous and will probably be defeated quite easily. I guess I am not a fan of villains who are more for a show and not much else. Don't paint someone as a sadistic unstoppable dead bastard if a character in a story can put him down with few gun shots (not saying that is how this book ends). It will end up creating a bad guy that is very forgettable.

With all that in mind, for what is worth, I will rate this book 3 stars. It did not blow me away, I don't think it had any big original ideas or character arcs, but it had its fun moments.

Will definitely read more books by Curran.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curran's other books with possible exception of the House of Skin have led me to expect more from the author. Subsequently this Sons of Anarchy with zombies story really didn't do much for me. As with House of Skin there is some incredibly impressive horror imagery and plenty of originality, which is always welcome, especially with the topic as beaten to death (the puns the puns) as zombies. What didn't work for me was the overwhelming potentially disproportionate amount of action, I don't like reading action, I seldom even watch action flicks. Not because the violence disturbs me, but because I don't find it particularly interesting to read about. Curran is a very talented writer and his action is as cinematically vivid as it gets, but to me reading should be more about things the reader cannot see, the thoughts, motivation, psychology, etc. There was also a certain uber testosteroney machismo as one would expect from a motorcycle gang crew that didn't really appeal. Pretty much the same thing that made me not particularly interested in finishing Sons of Anarchy. Didn't particularly care for the ending either, it's sequel ready, but doesn't need one. That sounds like I really didn't like the book, which isn't technically the case. There was some excellent writing and the aforementioned spectacular horrific imagery as well as some unbelievably disgusting imagery. It's just that it read like a book crammed with all these things, just as it was crammed with action, and I'm a fan of balance and portion control. Disturbing, interesting, authentic...sure, but not quite enough to engage and far from Curran's best. Reasonably quick read though.

[A.D. Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic novel! I read it in about an hour--that good!

Slaughter, the last free member of the Devil's Disciples, must roll across the country to save his brother, his club, and the world from deadly zombie-creating worms that fall from the sky.

It's a roller coaster ride. You know you shouldn't sympathize with a guy like Slaughter. He's a really, really, really bad dude. But he's loyal. And he finishes anything he starts--and that includes taking down the Cannibal Corpse motorcycle club and the mysterious man in the black hat with the unspeakable name. Slaughter knows his path will cross with the man who brings death, but until then, he's going to bust heads.

Slaugter's path takes him to a government compound where he is supposed to rescue the one scientist who knows how to end the worm rains. The dire warnings he has received along the way coalesce into an all-out brawl with zombies, zombies, and more zombies.

The story is high-octane, full of fire and fighting and explosions. Curran is an amazing author and rips the readers through Slaughter's dying world without any dilly-dallying. The writing is perfect, the story utterly involving, and the characters completely likable. It's a fun book to read? It's no holds barred and akes no prisoners. Nobody rides bitch with this book!

[Rosa Campanile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensione coming soon!

[Frank Errington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Curran's epic Zombie adventure is bloody, raw and violent. Mecilessly violent. Diabolically violent. You will need a strong constitution just to read the book. Do I need to say it's not for children or the easily offended?

The M/C in Cannibal Copse M/C is for motorcycle club. Hey, even with the cover, I didn't know that until I was reading the book. M/C mentality is central to the theme in this one, but due to the "Outbreak" times have changed.

Our protagonist, Slaughter, finds himself "longing for the good old days when you patched with a good club, pushed some blow and crank, took to the road on your steel horse with your brothers, and your enemy stayed down dead when you shot him."

Where Slaughter goes, carnage follows. It's unrellenting and if I have any complaint about this fast-paced post apocalyptic thriller it's that there are times when even I found it to be more than over the top. It's obvious Curran is not a beliver in the modicum - less is more.

Early on in the saga, Slaughter is given a chance to wipe clean his considerable record with what authority there might be left in the world, more important, he's given a chance to keep his brother from the death penalty. He is reunited with several members of his M/C DEVIL'S DISCIPLES and sent on an impossible mission to what's left of the NORAD site in North Dakota to attempt the rescue of the one woman who may be able to turn the tide against what has happened to humanity.

I have no idea how the author was able to continue to find new and increasingly disturbing ways to describe the images and scents on Slaughter's quest westward. He must have left his thesaurus in shambles along the way.

Here's a great quote from Cannibal Copse M/C that provides a nice synopsis of the story. "...here in the Deadlands a few days could be an awfully long time. In a few days you could meet a crazy old Indian barbecue king who could tell you wild tales about a Skeleton Man and you could trip your brains out on peyote and have visions and hold court with Black Hat and face down a town full of zombies only to be taken prisoner by the Red Hand and be forced to fight against a giant wormboy only to barely escape a worm rain and hook up with a neurotic young woman whom you begin to feel protective of only to see her dragged off by mutants. And then there was always the bit about the woman squeezing out worms and becoming some kind of f___ing seer. Yeah, a few days in the Deadlands could be like a lifetime of revelation and pain and horror."

Not the great American novel, but if you're looking for pure escapism, it's tough to find better.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, this one is still free in their kindle lending library. I any case I found it to be a nice diversion from the horrors of everyday life.

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Curran's "Cannibal Corpse M/C" is a wild ride across an apocalyptic America overrun by worm-infested zombies. The star of the book is the aptly-named John Slaughter, president of a biker chapter called the "Devil's Disciples", who chocks up a body count almost as high as the number of hamburgers McDonald's has sold as he travels the country. Slaughter's a strong anti-hero type who given plenty of character by Curran.

The book plot lines are born from "The Stand" and "Escape From New York" as Slaughter and members of his Disciple gang head west to "The Deadlands" to save a scientist (and his brother) who may have a cure for the disease taking over the country. As the group heads west, they encounter enough different types of creatures and situations to keep the reader moving swiftly through the novel. Curran has a vivid imagination and this book is not for the squeamish. Veteran fans of the zombie genre' will find enough new here to keep them turning pages.

The ending seemed a little rushed and predictable, but not enough to detract from a solid story. All in all, this is a fine addition to a genre' that becoming too crowded with entries.

[Matt McRoberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool zombie story. The biker angle was interesting enough and tho I usually don't like "intelligent" zombies, they worked for the story that Tim Curran was writing.

Good book.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent biker-zombie-apocalypse book. Kind of like one of those movies you would have snuck into or seen on a late-night cable station. It's the classic tale. Guy gets kidnapped by people in power. Sends said guy on a rescue mission to free a scientist. They give him a handful of his biker buddies to go on the raid. Do all this and you get a clean slate and your imprisoned brother to boot.

Lots of action and gross-out descriptions of worms in faces and body parts eaten away by all manner of things. It does get a little dull in the middle with our biker going out alone and meeting a junkyard Indian and going on a vision quest. This whole part off the book just slowed everything down and made it much longer than it should have been. It picks back up and gets going again, though.

[Patrick D'Orazio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Curran’s Cannibal Corpse, M/C is a wild ride into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with John Slaughter, Pittsburgh Chapter President of the Devil’s Disciples, leading the way. He is the last of the free members of his motorcycle club, one of the 1%ers that commits everything they have and everything they will ever be to the patch they wear on their sleeve and what it represents. The world has ended, or so it seems, and the dead have risen from the grave. Strange rains filled with mysterious red worms have infected much of the population, turning them into something that resembles zombies, though this crop of the undead are pretty unique. They crave human flesh, but they continue to have some semblance of the minds they once had. They are evil, semi-demonic puppets that not only devour but gleefully torture the living. The western half of the U.S. is a wasteland of the dead now, with what remains of the country under government control a sliver of what it once was. The dead rule, along with the barbaric living militias like the Red Hand and the mutants that were created after nukes were dropped to stem the tide of the dead. Into this wasteland heads John, who has too many people chasing him and too much desire for the freedom of the open road to remain in civilized territories. At least until members of the military catch up with him and put him on a mission he can’t refuse. They’ll free some members of his club that are in prison to ride with him into the wastelands where they need to save a biologist who may have a cure for the plague that has caused the rain of worms to fall.
Cannibal Corpse, M/C is definitely not your typical apocalyptic zombie tale. The author seems to know quite a bit about biking culture and John’s rough demeanor and loyalty to his friends kept this one entertaining from start to finish. John is almost fearless, almost ruthless, almost like his club’s name would hint at: a disciple of the devil. He kills without remorse, he is brutal, and he is vicious, but there are hints of his humanity as well that sneak through during this story that made him an interesting character and someone who you can find just palatable enough to root for when he is dealing with the hell on earth that surrounds him. While the story starts out as more or less an adventure tale that takes place on the open road, it becomes something more dark and sinister with every page. I didn’t expect the twists and turns that came about, especially in the second half of the story, but found them intriguing nonetheless.
Where things bogged down for me with this saga was in the hyperbole the author uses to describe things, especially in the latter half of the book. Not only is the gore in Technicolor 3D, which is in and of itself not a bad thing (in fact, for the gore hounds out there it is probably a big plus), but many of the details of the story are over described in lurid detail, distracting from the narrative in some ways. I don’t consider this to be a major issue with the story, because it still read fast and easy and I was compelled to finish this intriguing story, it just felt like the descriptions went further than necessary in several instances.
Despite this minor gripe, this was a fun, entertaining apocalyptic tale. If you like your zombies traditional, this one probably is probably going to be hard to swallow, but it is worth checking out even for the zombie “purists” out there, because Slaughter is a fascinating and entertaining anti-hero and a one bad mutha.

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently won this book through Goodreads, so I felt duty bound to read and review it.

As things go, Tim Curran is a middle of the road author. That isn't a slam, being a middle of the road published author is far beyond was a couple HUNDRED million people in the US will ever achieve.

The other books of his that I have read, "Hive" and "Dead Sea", were derivative works. While I can certainly see some influences in here (such as a touch of "Damnation Alley") I chalk that more up to the genre than outside inspiration. So...

Starting off I should've known this wasn't going to be great. Anytime a book has a cover that looks to have been done by a high school art student, I normally don't expect good things. Zack McCain's cover art is SO BAD that it deserves its own comment here in the review.

The premise sounds great. An outlaw biker, riding across a zombie infested wasteland, on a mission from the government...a mission that he cannot refuse. This sort of anti-hero forced into the mold of hero is a common theme in popular fiction these days and, when done right, it can be wonderful.

The book tries to portray itself as a horror novel mixed with an adventure story. It comes off like Mack Bolan meets the Return of the Living Dead. It is neither frightening, nor adventurous.

Now, in fairness to Mr. Curran, he tackles the main character with his usual zeal. The character is a little flat, but fairly believable. What sells the lead (John Slaughter) is all the discussion about outlaw bikers. To me, it helped reinforce what he was gong for. I have very little complaint with the main character.

Every other character seems to solely exist to interact over a total of five pages (either spread out or all at once) and then to die. There is no time to build any attachment to ANYONE in the book, and so the deaths are lacking in any sort of impact.

Then there are the "zombies".

Now, the premise here is that these strange, red, worms of unknown origin infest bodies (living or dead) and animate them. What we end up with is certainly NOT what I signed on for when I excitedly entered a contest for a Tim Curran Zombie novel.

Sure, they are "runners", I can deal with that. They are also highly intelligent, talkative, weapon using, and sometimes psychic. Oh, and they can feel pain.

You heard me.

The "zombies" would be described in detail, but it all just ran together into one long description of pus, black bile, and maggots.

A rather ham-fisted supernatural connection is thrown into the book, but it cannot save the story...nor does it make me yearn for the hinted at sequel. If this was the first Tim Curran novel I had read? He'd be on my list of authors not to read. As it is, I KNOW he can do much better than this book.

In the end, the ONLY saving grace for this mess is Tim Curran himself. As I said above, he's not a GREAT writer. He's no Lovecraft, Heinlein, Asimov, etc. He also doesn't pretend to be. His gift is his writing style. Even in this book, he kept me turning the pages for the three hours it took to finish it. His writing style itself is inviting and accessible. I just wish that I was speaking of a better example of it.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Tim Curran's other work, and this book did not disappoint. While I feel that zombies in general are over played as of late, I liked the spin Curran put on this story.

The basic premise of this novel is that an apocalypse of sorts has occurred; this one takes the form of "worm rains". These worms not only re-animate the dead, but kill the living and re-animate their corpses as well. Add in some mutants, headhunters, and death goddesses and you have yourself a combination that cannot be beat. The government has been able to curtail this catastrophe out east, but the western United States has again become a wild frontier where the dead far out number the living.

Caught in the middle of this is outlaw biker John Slaughter, a man who would die for his club and his beliefs. The government catches up with him and offers him a deal he cannot refuse; save a high level government scientist that is being held hostage out west and his record will be expunged and his brother will be saved. With little choice but to comply John and his boys are soon headed out west on the ride of a lifetime. Nothing this outlaw biker and his club have previously experienced will prepare them for what lies ahead. I don't want to say anymore about this journey as it could spoil it, but suffice to say it is an epic one filled with violence, death, and destruction.

This book was highly entertaining, and I enjoyed the originality that Curran brings to the apocalypse. His descriptions of the disintegration of civilization and the horrors it entails are second to none. If you are a fan of Curran's other works you must pick this book up ASAP! It would also be a great first introduction to his work. I highly recommend this book!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bikers versus zombies. It's pretty easy to make that interesting. The good thing about this book is it's also unique and very memorable. It's a creature feature, hell-ride, and shamanic vision quest all rolled into one big fattie. If you are looking for FUN FUN FUN, then get on your bike and ride into this dark fantasy world. John Slaughter, our anti-hero, is a bit of a mindless, hedonistic bruiser but he learns a thing or two about taking care of others and following his own intuition while riding his hog into the monster-ridden western half of the United States. This was really a five-star read for me most of the way but towards the end I had to roll my eyes a couple of times. Just a couple, though. It's still an awesome book and I think more and more people will dig it as the years pass. Give us a sequel, Mr. Curran. Oh, and a couple more things . . . there's a badass, scary villain on this effed up journey. You don't want to miss this ghoul. He's a nasty old creep with big teeth and a big hat. Also, I want to mention that while reading a description of one of the zombies, this one an obese woman, I almost threw up where I sat. It was that gross. That's a stinky-good recommendation there, folks.

[Lucia C. Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non sono sicura del perché, ma scrivere questa recensione non mi riesce facile.
Consiglierei questo libro agli amanti del genere? Assolutamente!
Mi piace così tanto da dargli cinque stelline? Ecco, no, è un buon libro, quasi ottimo, ma in qualche modo non riesce a convincermi al cento per cento.

Trovate il resto della recensione qui: http://silently-aloud.blogspot.de/201...

Nonostante sia un tantino infodumposo, il romanzo si legge in modo scorrevole.
Originale l'idea dei vermi, mi è piaciuto come Curran ha inserito la milizia e il colpo di scena poco prima del finale, sono rimasta piacevolmente impressionata dalla capacità dell'autore di includere così tante storie in un unico contenitore e da come poi è stato in grado di gestire i vari personaggi.
Il finale mi ha un pochino delusa, l'ho trovato quasi telefonato, mi aspettavo di più, viste le buone premesse.

[Silver Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non sono sicura del perché, ma scrivere questa recensione non mi riesce facile.
Consiglierei questo libro agli amanti del genere? Assolutamente!
Mi piace così tanto da dargli cinque stelline? Ecco, no, è un buon libro, quasi ottimo, ma in qualche modo non riesce a convincermi al cento per cento.

Trovate il resto della recensione qui: http://silently-aloud.blogspot.de/201...

Nonostante sia un tantino infodumposo, il romanzo si legge in modo scorrevole.
Originale l'idea dei vermi, mi è piaciuto come Curran ha inserito la milizia e il colpo di scena poco prima del finale, sono rimasta piacevolmente impressionata dalla capacità dell'autore di includere così tante storie in un unico contenitore e da come poi è stato in grado di gestire i vari personaggi.
Il finale mi ha un pochino delusa, l'ho trovato quasi telefonato, mi aspettavo di più, viste le buone premesse.

[samantha williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck yeah!

If you like badass bikers and zombie gore goodness, you need to read this 🤘 Not only were there killer zombies but some amazing demon mythology as well...but I wish someone could explain to me if Curran is a fan of death metal because I'm curious if he got the title from the legendary band that shares the same name?

[Darcy Leerhoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of this book. Well written but I just didn't like the plot and characters.

[Horror Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metal as hell and great as hell-been a long time since I tore through a book so fast

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Cannibal Corpse, MC, author Tim Curran gives us a new twist on the zombie apocalypse theme. It's the not too distant future and rains of parasitic worms have infected a large chunk of the country. Most survivors have been pushed to the safe zone on the East Coast, but for John Slaughter, the last free member of outlaw biker gang the Devil's Disciples, the freedom of the Deadlands is worth the danger. That is, until the government picks him up and forces him to embark on a mission that he's not expected to ride away from.

Zombie 411: This is, at least nominally, a zombie novel, but the zombies in Cannibal Corpse bear little resemblance to the typical Romero-style undead. They reanimate after death as carriers of a parasitic worm, and they eat humans, but they're not mindless killing machines. They essentially come back as evil versions of who they were in life. It's all handled really well, but if you go in expecting a typical zombie apocalypse tale, you may be disappointed.

The good - It's hard as hell not to like a book about an outlaw biker going up against an army of the undead and a creepy supernatural boogie man. Curran seems to know his biker terminology and mindset (mine is limited to what I've heard on Sons of Anarchy, so take that with a grain of salt). Slaughter is a great lead character with just enough issues and baggage to avoid being a clichéd hero, and his journey westward is a fantastic ride. It's almost like a tour of Dante's The Inferno. The whole blood-drenched vision quest/suicide mission/revenge assault comes together really well, and while the various supernatural elements - zombies, rival bikers, worms from...somewhere and of course the demonic Leviathan - almost seemed like overkill, it was so easy to get caught up in the story that it didn't matter much.

The not so good - Curran goes out of his way to describe the sight and smell of his monsters in great detail. It paints a very vivid picture, but there were times when the hyperbolic descriptions bogged down the flow of the story. I think that if Curran had dialed that down by about half and focused more on developing his supporting characters - many of which had a lot of potential - this would have been an even better book overall.

Like I said, this isn't a typical zombie novel, but it is an effective supernatural horror story. The scope of the story, the buckets of gore and the pace of the action remind me a lot of Robert McCammon, especially Swan Song, so if you like that style you will want to check this one out.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cannibal corpse was a disappointment for me. It begins with a fantastic fighting scene and continues with an exciting description of motorcycle club member life in a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies. However deeper you go into the book more annoying it becomes. Final road trip in zombie driven wasteland with ideas slightly stolen from somewhere else (The Stand) is final nail the coffin. The narration of the audible audiobook is excellent, but it is not worth a steady decline in quality and atmosphere as the book progresses.

[Thomas Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Sons of Anarchy, Mayans MC, and The Walking Dead. This book is loosly similar to all 3. Even though Walking Dead doesn't have talking zombies. Book was really good, sorry talking zombies is just not my thing. Zombies are supposed to be unintelligent.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published 2012. So what is Cannibal Corpse M/C? Guts and blood and worms and...did I mention Blood? The main character is Slaughter. Nuff said.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of the old Deathlands, James Axler books, but with this a weird, glorified version of 1%ers. Good fast paced read though with a wormy twist on zombies.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of your thoughts concerning zombies, motorcycle gangs, atomic wastelands, and the apocalypse, you'd be hard pressed to find an author as downright talented and under-the-rader as Tim Curran. Is his fare for everyone? No. I'd argue that most of his novels and novellas are for very few (or the one of us brave enough to admit how twisted we are) and while this is a shame (I would like to see what he could be capable of with a more tame and mass market variety story), there is no denying the hidden wonder that is Mr. Curran.

I've read almost all of Curran's books (minus "Skin Medicine" and his cowboy novels) and aside from "Dead Sea", "Cannibal Corpse" is probably his best work. And that is saying a lot. After all this was the same guy who wrote the insanely epic, 666 page "Resurrection" and "Biohazard", not to mention the "Hive Series" and a ton of shorts and novellas. It's always a high mark to try and beat previous attempts, but Curran delivers and "Cannibal Corpse" is yet another insane story to add to his already massively enjoyable library.

Where Curran shines is his never ending ability to find new ways to describe things, usually in words and ways that would make even the most hardened stomached coroner cringe. You can open up this novel, place your finger down, and pretty much come across any number of paragraphs that are both disgusting and oddly beautiful. I'll save you the trouble and just find one for you myself, so sit back and enjoy Curran's talent of the grotesque:

"He walked out into the labe and there was a zombie standing amongst the wreckage, a woman...or something that with the general form of a woman, a pulping, bioplasmic, gangrenous, fleshrot mass of female anatomy that was glistening and dripping, alive with the swollen vermicular motion of dozens of glossy green hoses that snaked out from between her legs and pulsed from her belly like slit bowels. They erupted from her tits, filled her mouth and eye sockets and grew out of her head in creeping, pulsating ropes like the snakes of medusa. They were parasitic and jelly slimed, a peristaltic crawling mass with tiny barbed mouths that pissed a cabbage-green milk as they infested the hobbling necrotic husk of liquescent decay."

See what I'm talking about? And that is just one of many (and I mean MANY) examples within these pages. Curran is a modern day Shakespeare of descriptive horror. Find me anyone who can write such detailed work of gruesomeness and I swear, I'll give you something. Like a dollar maybe.

If the gross descriptions don't do it for you, then maybe the general storyline will. I hate giving away too much in my reviews, so let's just keep it simple and say it's about a motorcycle gang taking on a world populated by zombies and worms that fall from the sky. Really, that's the basic premise. Sounds kind of silly I know, but Curran (and maybe Carlton Mellick III) are the only is the only author capable of not only coming up with such a crazy idea, but executing it as well. And execute he does! Like "Biohazard", Curran sure knows how to craft up a horrifying post-apocalyptic world. There's zombies, worms, mutants, explosions, and enough violence to keep any jaded fane (like myself) sated and occupied. Curran even makes us somehow root for the main character, Slaughter, even though he is murderer, thief, and a motorbike thug. The only thing that held me back from finishing the book was work and my commitments to other, less guilty pleasure novels.

So why not 5 stars then if I loved this one so much? Well, even though I enjoyed the story and how well it moved along, I have to admit, I wasn't a huge fan of the "Leviathan" thing. I guess it kind of worked into the general story and in retrospect it made sense, but as in most of his novels, Curran has to have some cosmic reasoning or side story dealing with demons or spiritual beings to make the story make sense. You could almost call it his "Dues ex Machina" of sorts. I wish that just once he would write a book that didn't include these bizarre reasons for things, kind of like his novella "The Underdwelling".

However, all in all, it's hard to argue that "Cannibal Corpse M/C" is not a great read. It's a guilty pleasure, grindhouse, pulp-y sort of novel. One that doesn't take a lot of thinking or asks too many questions. I've said before in another review of Tim's works, "it's a shame that the guy isn't more recognized and praised." And I still feel that today. The guy can write a mean book and I wouldn't have it any other way,

[Kimmo Makinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Curran has become one of the top horror fiction authors of the new millennium. "Cannibal Corpse, M/C" is too gruesome and visceral to become a mainstream hit, but for horror fans it delivers ... and delivers with a blast. While the reader may think prior to actually reading "Another zombie outbreak? Again?", Curran avoids the most obvious pitfalls and adds to the genre rather than copy and paste things we've heard and seen ad nauseum.

While Curran explored and expanded Lovecraftian writing style in, say, "Hive" and "Hive 2", his more direct, visceral and even blunt style used here in "Cannibal Corpse, M/C" is far better suited - it feels and flows much more naturally than when he explores the styles of days far gone.

"Cannibal Corpse, M/C" comes highly recommended to horror fans. It has elements of contemporary zombie fiction, supernatural thriller and of course the elements adherent to outlaw biker culture. The depiction of events is extremely bloody, visceral and gory and Curran does not shy away from describing everything and anything. While not nauseating to me as it is, I must warn the more fragile potential readers to approach with caution.

[Thom Brannan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mix Damnation Alley with a healthy dose of Day of the Dead and this is what you get to start. Things take a different, more supernatural tone later on, but I think that's a good place to start.

Like other works I've read from Tim Curran, this is full of hyperviolence and kinetic bloodshed, with more than a touch of nihilism and anarchy. It's just the right blend, and I don't know if I'll ever get tired of it, to tell the truth. It's neo-noir on a motorcycle, it's zombie shenanigans with a unique slant, it's the end of the world as we know it. It's a great read!

[L. Shosty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book, especially after reading the preview. However, the tough-as-nails style in which it's written becomes so overwrought with attempts at cheap gross-outs as the book progresses, you forget sometimes that you're reading a book written by an adult and not a pimply kid who's just discovered masturbation. The plot and pacing, which starts great and is indeed reminiscent of seeing a mash-up Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead (as some other reviewer has described it), drags in places, setting up a climax that fails to impress.