Salby Evolution

by Ian D. Moore

One man holds the key to our future. One man holds the key to our extinction. The merciless Salby viral strain, sweeping across the country, spawns a new breed of predator. Simon Lloyd, borderline alcoholic, must vanquish the demons of his past and change his single-minded ways. Filled with resentment, he enters a world far removed from his own. He must choose to take a stand for the greater good or risk losing his estranged wife and children forever. Against overwhelming odds, unethical science and the prospect of eternal exile, the decisions he makes will shape the future of mankind.

350 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 2016

About the author

Ian works full time and owns his own internet based business. Having been writing short stories and poetry for many years his first published novel has just been released. The story of how it came to be makes for good reading... He was set a challenge by his younger sister Helen to write a zombie story for all ages, so he set to work using his mobile phone, originally tapping away between legal breaks or waiting to load/unload at his place of work, before posting directly to facebook for anyone who wanted to read. The first 40% of the novel "Salby Damned" was written that way, before it got to be too big. Then after much thought, he decided to turn it into a full blown published work, his first. The book took just six weeks to write and another four to publish and Ian has since written a short story collection book for children, just to see if he could. That book, The Amazing Adventures Of Ken Brown - Australian Wombat is out now. He lives and works in Selby, North Yorkshire but is originally from Birmingham, England having moved north many years ago.

Reviews

[Max Power · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Salby Evolution with high hopes having thoroughly enjoyed the first book Salby Damned by the same author. Expectation can be the mother of disappointment but if it is met, then you have found something special. Here Ian D Moore has used the clever word Evolution in the sequel’s title and it couldn’t be more apt. While I enjoyed the first book very much indeed, in this clever follow up, the author has offered up two important ingredients. First and foremost, he has literally evolved the story by going international with the plot, using new characters, developing the story of the virus itself and allowing himself the opportunity to move beyond the borders of the original in every sense. Here we have a more complex set up, there are multiple settings and timelines and while this requires a little more focus from the reader’s perspective compared to Salby Damned for example, the payoff is considerable. Secondly as a writer, there is a clear evolution which is an exciting thing to see. It means I will go back to Ian D Moore with enhanced confidence in his books. I am a fan of all things horror but to be frank I was wary of Zombie related books until Ian’s first instalment literally turned me on to the genre. Salby Damned got me hooked, I fear Salby Evolution may get me addicted. This is a splendid read, absolutely pick this on up. 5 stars for a great read.

[J C Steel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salby Evolution is the sequel to Ian D. Moore's debut novel, Salby Damned. Simon Lloyd, infected in the first wave of the SALBY virus, escapes aboard a cargo freighter hours before nation-wide quarantine goes into effect. His only companion is Barbie, another infected, rescued from a mall toy store. Between them, isolated at sea, they slaughter the crew of the cargo ship in an orgy of rage. However, unlike the other infected, Simon and Barbie don't die in the aftermath of their killing frenzy, but instead survive - altered, strengthened, and sought-after by their own government and every other.

This sequel work proved to be a much better showcase for the author's undeniable story-telling ability, with much of the extraneous detail that bogged down the initial book's plot eradicated. Simon is for the most part an unlovable but plausibly imperfect character, and the pacing of the action in Salby Evolution is faster and more compelling. Leavened with the occasional presence of some of the original Salby Damned cast, Simon and Barbie's flight across the North Sea and their subsequent adventures in Russia with the People’s Resistance Army pull in threads of military thriller to mesh with the classic zombie action, and tie up several loose ends from the first novel. Definitely an enjoyable read for thriller and zombie fans alike.

I received a free copy of this book.

[Senan Gil Senan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read and enjoyed Salby Damned, it was a forgone conclusion that I read this sequel. However, this is very much a standalone story. The opening chapters in this book were really intense and engaging and they provided enough background to sufficiently explain the circumstances which formed the backdrop to the first. You could pick up this book and easily follow the plot and storyline which takes you all the way to Russia and a completely new set of characters.
Technically, Salby Evolution is a continuation of the story, but I found it to be a very different book. It's better! An unusual split between telling a new protagonist's story in first person narrative, and that of the main protagonists from the first book which were told in third person perspective like the original. This was an ambitious writing project but the author pulled it off and it works well. Evolution is well written and has some lovely descriptive prose in it. The plot has a nice fast pace and it told a good story.
I have only two points of contention. Firstly, I was a little perplexed how Salby was the name of both the virus and the town where the contagion broke out. Secondly, when writing about the conservative Russian Federation, it seemed like the author was describing the former communist Soviet Union. There were a few references to political officers and mother Russia which took me back to the days of Brezhnev and I couldn't understand why the country seemed to be in a political inspired civil war. A Christian state versus Islamic state conflict would have made more sense to me. I think that a writer should think twice about bringing real world political views into a novel unless they are very intrinsic to the storyline.
Regardless, these were the only two issues I had with this book and neither of them would give me cause to give it less than 5 stars because it was a cracking good read.

[Frank Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the end of my review of Salby Damned I said I was looking forward to reading the sequel. Did Salby Evolution live up to the promise? The answer is “yes”, with a few reservations. As before, there is a complex plot involving the principle characters from the original. Whereas Salby Damned was set in Yorkshire, England, the action has now taken on an international flavour, with an outbreak of the deadly virus in Russia. The infection, we learn, was transported to Russia as a result of the attempt by an infected Yorkshireman and woman to escape by stowing away on a Russian ship in Hull.

The virus, in its original form, was fatal to all who contracted it except for a fortunate few possessed of a rare blood group. In those it has evolved, enabling them to survive. Simon and Barbara, the two stowaways, are among this group. In Simon, the author has created a conflicted character, estranged from his wife, a slave to the bottle and ruing his failure as a husband and father. Whether because of the virus or through his experiences in the conflict that erupts following his arrival in Russia, he, too, evolves in terms of his personality. It is the development of Simon's character over the course of the novel, and his ultimate redemption, that makes this book special. So does the idea of casting a Russian billionaire as one of the good guys.

My reservations? They concern the evolution of the plot. With events taking place more or less simultaneously in several different locations, the author has created a problem for himself. Juggling these events, making the duration of each sequence match up so that the various threads come together at the right time and place, is a tricky feat to pull off. There were too many times whilst reading Salby Evolution when I found myself distracted as I wondered how all the action taking place in one situation could be fitted into the time available between earlier and subsequent events.

Despite that, I constantly wanted to keep turning pages to find out what would happen next, how the various situations would resolve themselves. That resolution is, on the whole, satisfactory. The ending to Simon's story is beautifully realised. The tying up of loose ends for the other characters at the end reminded me of one of those fly-on-the-wall documentaries about public servants responding to emergencies which end with a brief summing up along the lines of “Joe recovered from his injuries and now runs a successful business; after 3 months in rehab, Mary overcame her addiction and is now the proud mother of twins.”

[John Hennessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second story in the Salby trilogy is a true evolution. I really liked the first story, but Salby Evolution is a far better tale, that takes the reader from the outskirts of Russia to the North Yorkshire area where Salby (Selby) takes its name.

What sets Ian D Moore's zombie thriller apart from others for me is how well written it is. That may sound like a necessary element, but I have read books that had a good story and decent characters, but were sometimes lacking a structure in terms of the story itself.

Here, the author takes another gamble with a first person narrative, before switching to third person. Throw in different timelines and, in the hands of a lesser writer, the result could have been a bit of a hot-potch.

I'm actually a fan of books that switch POVs, that challenge the reader to keep up with timelines. Any critics of this style are welcome to their opinion, but I like this style personally.

Fortunately, Salby Evolution picks up at the same pace as its predecessor, so while I enjoyed the action pieces, especially in the early scenes when Simon encounters his first zombie, I enjoyed the character emotions and their subsequent developments as real people.

This tale should appeal to readers of any age. For younger readers, they will enjoy the zombie encounters. It's suitably bloody but never over the top. For readers of the author's age (like myself), we can appreciate the issues of marriage and divorce elements that are presented quite brilliantly in this book.

Once that scene is set, and we understand the MC's motivations, some of the scenes are to be expected in how they play out, but that's part of the fun. It's also possible that readers can enjoy this one without reading Salby Damned (Book One) first, but I think you'd be missing out.

Overall, Salby Evolution is a fantastic rollercoaster of a tale. Expertly written, beautifully crafted, with a story that simply pulls you in. It's a book that despite a lot going in my life at the moment, I read it from start to finish within three days.

I will be around for the final installment.

[Rebecca Bryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first in the Salby series over a year ago and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. If you’re not into zombies, don’t worry, neither am I, but these are well-grounded, a result of biological warfare, and so inherently believable. It was the topic of fracking – a criminally-insane practice to my mind - that first drew me to read Salby Damned and I found it an engrossing story.
Salby Evolution, book two in the series, takes the story to a whole new level when the biological accident explored in Salby Damned becomes an international incident and Russian sabres are rattled.
Salby Evolution is well-written, the plot is gripping, complex and fast-paced, the characters flawed, believable and well-developed. Moore’s attention to detail betrays a military background and gives a fascinating insight into the diplomatic and military arenas. An engaging aspect of the novel was the story of Simon, a key figure in the mutation of the Salby virus. Told in the first person, Simon is a man haunted by his past inadequacies as a husband and father, and it’s easy to empathise with his pain.
Simon’s evolution as a man recognising the truth of his feelings, threads hand in hand with the evolution of the virus into a new and potentially deadly strain the Russians want to get their hands on.
I did find combining first person and third person points of view in the same novel a bit strange to begin with, because I wasn’t expecting it, but don’t let that put you off. It actually works extremely well. In fact, it works brilliantly. I’m looking forward to Salby Generation, which I believe will be the final book of the series. It will definitely be on my to buy list.
get this one at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salby-Evolut...

[Eric Lahti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian Moore managed to accomplish something most writers in the zombie genre fail to do: he added new life to an overwrought genre. For a while, the world was flooded with zombie stories and they all basically told the same thing. The dead rise and kill the living and it all gets very tense and dystopian. Blah, blah, blah, shotgun. Blah, blah, blah, horror. Moore has taken this outlandish thing - a zombie outbreak - and dropped it squarely into a very believable real-world scenario complete with soldiers and governments and maniacal mad-doctors. Honestly, it's a cracking good read that adds enough twists to zombie fiction to make it worth reading again.
You can read the entire review on my blog at:
https://ericlahti.wordpress.com/2016/...

[P.A. Rudders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although intertwined with the first book of this ongoing series, Salby Evolution reads extremely well as a stand-alone instalment, though in all honesty, personally, I would still highly recommend reading Salby Damned first to enjoy this one to the full.

In book one the story was very much a localised one, concentrating on how the authorities would deal with a combined ecological stroke biological 'accident.' In this second instalment, the story naturally expands to the international repercussions of what could easily have escalated into the sort of zombie apocalypse only previously imagined in wild speculation.

The action switches from the UK to Russia, where characters who were central to dealing with the first Salby virus outbreak have been drafted in to help deal with a possible new outbreak. 

This new chapter starts with two main storylines, one which quite seamlessly follows on from just a few months after the first book finishes, but with sufficient references to the past to bring new readers up to speed while providing a subtle recap for those who read book 1 first. As the story progresses, the original characters diverge to cover different aspects of the story i.e. determining if the virus has spread, has it changed, tracking down possible new carriers of it, as well as dealing with other parties equally interested in the Salby virus. Secondly, we have what I would regard as the main thrust of the story, an offshoot from the original outbreak but threatening a future one, initially running parallel to the original Salby virus outbreak of the first book but gradually catching up and converging with other threads of the ongoing story here.

I did think a little way into the book that perhaps the author had been slightly over-ambitious in the scope of the sequel with everything that was going on, the switching of perspectives and slightly different timelines but he skillfully drew all the different elements into a complex but extremely well-constructed story.

I was impressed by the way the author handled the varying stories and sub-plots, some featuring several characters from the first book and written from a third person point of view, consistent with the writing style of that book. In another, the reader is introduced to a couple of new characters but from the first-person perspective of leading man Simon, a stark contrast to Nathan, the leading man, and hero of the first book; Simon in comparison is a bit of an anti-hero, older, not the same sort of macho character and having many more flaws and personal demons of his own to contend with but still proving his worth nonetheless.

The switching back and forth between these different threads worked surprisingly well, especially the way in which the different timelines and stories converged in their relevance to the overall picture.

I was pleased that this sequel also paid homage to book 1 in that we were treated to a few more encounters with victims of the virus i.e. the 'Deadheads' - they served as a timely reminder of the surreal and terrifying consequences of the Salby outbreak - but the author didn't try to rehash them for any sort of dramatic effect but instead took the story forward, and in new directions; what started as a surprisingly intelligent and believable zombie outbreak in book 1 (but with a small 'z' I'd say),  has moved slightly away from that concept and evolved instead into an equally intelligent but more complex thriller, again throwing together some of the same elements - cutting-edge bio-engineering, viral infection, and a military interest in the virus, but this time adding manevolent scientists, political ambition, and the threat of world threatening consequences - and like any good thriller, some nice twists along the way (particularly relating to Simon but some other good ones too).

Not only does this sequel expand upon the first instalment, the quality of writing itself has evolved and improved too - I gave the first book in this series a five-star rating but with the proviso that I thought it fell just short of that at maybe a 4.7 to 4.8 on account of a slight over-emphasis on military terminology that might slightly confuse a non-military reader. In this book though I think the author has got the balance exactly right.

A first-rate book both in its own right and as a sequel, and indeed as a prequel to some as yet unknown conclusion, a very easy and solid five stars for me!

[K.J. Simmill · Rating 5 out of 5]

They had thought it was over. The SALBY virus had been deactivated, and those infected had returned to their lives, mostly. There had been losses, causalities, and things would never be the same. They had no idea of the looming disaster, nor could they have imagined that one person, infected by the original virus,, had escaped before the UK was quarantined. But even so, on a freighter like the one he had stowed away in, given the virus ultimately killed the host, any infected should have been long dead before it reached dock. But that was not to say there wasn’t a problem. The freighter was bound for Russia, and inside, the infected wasn’t just a man, and the virus didn’t affect him in the same way it had the others. All sights focus on finding this man, he could tip the tides of the civil war, and once Russia has been won, then targets would move further afield. A tactical game of chess is underway, the victor will decide all.

I really enjoyed this book. It is written in alternating tense between the first person perspective of Simon Lloyd and the third person perspective of other plot essential characters. You will find yourself immersed into a tense world of conflict and war as opposing forces play a tactical game of chess, each hoping to gain the upper hand. It is well written, engrossing, and difficult to put down. We see the return of familiar character’s from Salby Damned, and the introduction of a vivid new cast.
Before reading this I re-read Salby Damned, which has undergone some updates of its own. I have to say it was brilliant reading them back to back, but the books themselves are self-contained and can be read without prior knowledge. A thrilling read. I read this on Kindle Unlimited, but just had to purchase it to add it to my permanent library.

[Robert Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a zillion run of the mill zombie stories..but SALBY EVOLUTTION is not run of the mill. The book is not the same tired and worn out plot with the normal blundering crowd of empty headed zombies. The characters are more than gouls and have depth and understanding. The story line is original and not so complicated you get lost. The novel is able to stand alone without reading the first book (SALBY DAMNED). If you enjoy scary, original, zombie tales this book is for you. Never a dull moment...always a new twist.

[Tom Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Salby Damned, was a good read and as a debut novel gave a clear insight to the author’s style. I believe in Salby Evolution, Ian D Moore has created a credible and action-packed sequel.
Many of the characters in this tale were featured in the opening story which creates continuity, but new names on both sides of the fence have been brought onto the scene, and the introductions are done well. The action steps quickly from the UK to Russia, which opens up a host of possibilities for the tale.
The author has taken risks with this second book. Point of view is changed regularly, but is signposted to avoid confusion. Military and civilian personnel of different nations are thrown together, while this is further complicated by politically opposed factions becoming temporary allies.
A few minor issues jarred me, which is why I’ve rated 4*, but it wouldn’t serve any useful purpose to highlight my personal misgivings.
The imagery and the choreography of action are created with care. The dialogue, especially between the military is often humorous, and is as brisk as the action sequences. There are hints of romance, regret, and new friendships born among the fast-paced sequences, which allow the reader to take a breath.
In summary, this is not a run-of-the-mill ‘story of the un-dead’. It is a good action-based tale which hits the ground running, so if you enjoyed Salby Damned - pick up Salby Evolution.
***

[SheReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew. I did not expect that. I loved Salby Damned and had no idea how a second book could come out of that because the story seemed too over. Boy, was I wrong. This one is even better. Mr. Moore found a way to continue such a great story without making us feel like he was dragging it out. This is enough of it's own story to stand out there among the great books, while still giving us some of the characters we love and the incredibly complex and fascinating conflict.

I don't want to give much away so let's just say that the Salby virus was not contained as well as they'd thought in the UK. This means our favorite doctor and army sergeant still have work to do. But they aren't the main characters. Their purpose is to support the story driven forward by the man who can save them all. Before getting into Mr. Moore's work, I'd never before read a book that alternated between first person and third person. I didn't think it could be done effectively. Not only does he do it effectively here, but I can't imagine this story any other way. It enhances it tremendously. We see the happenings through the eyes of our leading man, while still getting other pieces of the puzzle. Just outstanding.

I was lucky enough to read this in paperback and it is just a gorgeous book from cover to formatting. This is definitely a book you want on your bookshelf instead of your kindle.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I love the plot and just like the first book love the characters and it is a fast paced read. Can't wait for the next book in series