Shadow of a Doubt

Z is for Zombie #3

by Catt Dahman

ith a safe place to live, the survivors of the zombie apocalypse should have it easier, but supplies have to be amassed, people have to be rescued, and forgotten skills have to be relearned before winter comes. On one side, a group tries to rebuild and make a better world as they gather around Zane, a bright child who is full of positive energy and promises of hope. In the opposing camp, a dark child with a withered face and one eye leads an army of violent men who have refined torture, cannibalism, and slavery to an art. Both sides know that soon they will face one another in the ultimate battle for what is left of the world. Beth accidently uncovers a secret about the zombies that changes everything they believed before and makes the survivors question how far they would go to keep a loved one alive and under what terms? While one survivor slowly loses his hold on humanity, another plots to keep her world under control, and a third fears not only death now, but birth as well. They thought they knew each other; they thought they understood the new rules of the world, but in every action and thought, there is more than a shadow of doubt.

182 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2012

About the author

catt dahman is now under contract with Severed Press publishing house for the 9 Z is for Zombie books.

catt dahman has been writing for more than 30 years, has taught in public schools, private schools, home school, and college. Her B.S. and M.S. degrees are from Texas A & M. She is a native of North East Texas, has lived all over the US, (and tries to claim Jamaica as a second home) but is currently back in the Fort Worth, Texas area where she lives with her husband, David (a retired Marine), son Nic, cats, a ferret, and dog. She has also been a public speaker, artist, director for a charity, dabbled as a PI, and more. When not working, she enjoys SCUBA diving (PADI), reading, ruining movies for her family by pointing out mistakes, collecting Tarot card sets , playing Legos with her son, and growing herbs. She now writes full time, working on a zombie series of nine books, short stories, horror, splatter punk, thrillers, vampire books, and westerns.

Reviews

[Mark Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third novel in Catt Dahman's epic Zombie series continues where book 2 left off and manages to keep up the high standard set by the previous installments. The survivors of the Zombie attack on the derelict hospital, where a group of them had been hiding, gather together at the abandoned religious compound they have come to call Hopetown; distraught at how many of them were lost in the evacuation. But even having found an apparent sanctuary, their work is still cut out for them.....

First, they need to clear the entire compound, including outhouses, of Zombies - no mean feat when some of your people have no previous combat experience! Then they have to start building their new community and learn how to begin anew - with limited resources and no reliance on any of the technology they might have enjoyed before.

And all the time, the forces of the Reconstruction Army, gather in the North; beginning their own New World Order and planning to kill and maim anyone who stands in their way of creating a much darker and more sinister future....

Once again, this novel is very character-driven with a few new twists and plot revelations thrown into the recipe just to mix things up a bit! It all works very well and this latest installment continues to build on the slowly expanding and highly believable world that Miss Dahman has created but if I had one complaint, it would be that this latest book felt a bit too short and was all over a bit too quickly for my liking. In some ways though, this is a good thing because it leaves the reader desperately wanting more!

There are a couple of new angles introduced in this volume, including a very new and novel way of passing on the infection that will have all men crossing their legs, and I look forward to seeing what Miss Dahman has in store for us in the future! What is certain is that a big confrontation is on its way and it looks as though in this new world, it is not just the Zombies mankind has to fear....

If you love Zombie fiction, then you are going to love this! And if you haven't picked any of this series up yet, then why are you waiting?

[Denise Keef · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series because one book ends and the other picks up where the other ended. The action never stops and my favorite characters keep fighting on to find peace and safety in this crazy world. We have now come to know that we have two groups that are surviving…the good being the US Militia in the south and the evil being the Reconstruction Army or RA in the north. Both are organizing their people for what both sides know is coming. One heck of a battle! This story is nerve wracking because I never know who will live or who will die…no one is safe in a world filled with man eating monsters whose only reason for being here is to pass on the virus! This is definitely a series where you find yourself turning page after page and then downloading the next book to continue on in this zombie infested world! If you haven’t started this series by the talented Ms. Dahman then you are missing out on one heck of a good read! I would recommend that you start with George's Terms: A Zombie Novel (Z Is For Zombie) which is the first book in this series.