An unexpectedly enjoyable battle run through zombie hell
I love all things related to TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it) and have been partial to zombie apocalypses since I first saw Dawn of the Dead way back in 1979. But truth be told, most of the glut of self-published TEOTWAKI books suck for a variety of reasons. As a lifelong soldier, intel officer, urban survivalist, and also a pastor who really does expect the Second Coming any-day now, I've always disliked TEOTWAWKI novels that are weak on the military stuff, lack plot, are full of unnecessary expletives or sexual content, use soap opera content to create drama, and are basically "implausible" -- which is funny because all speculative novels are implausible at a certain level. Thankfully, I've discovered WJ Lundy, a combat vet who always gets things right. The battle scenes are realistic and straightforward, the soldiers have feet of clay, the expletives are at the usual soldierly level, no soap opera situations, no gratuitous porno, and the whole things is rendered just plain PLAUSIBLE... at least to this old soldier.
Torment is basically a domestic war novel set in a post-viral infected zombie apocalypse.
The government tried to cover up the extent of the disaster by calling it a "civil insurrection" and sending in troops to secure the capitol.
SFC Gyles, his best buddy and one of his squad leaders, SSG Weaver, and their platoon from the Third Division has just returned from a rotation in Iraq when they are called out and sent to rescue a team of doctors trapped on the edge of civil unrest in Washington DC. Things go south pretty quick as the platoon discovers there is a lot more going on than civil unrest. The mission goes south as their company is overwhelmed by a raging horde of zombies with a rabies type infection that kills and then controls its host. The remnants of his platoon fly west where they join forces with a national guard unit and some small town policemen to protect a group of civilians who have survived the plague.
By the end of the novel, pulled by a sense of duty to his old unit and the knowledge that friends and family may still be alive back east, Gyles and a handful of his men (accompanied by Luke, a USMC Veteran who really knows his stuff), try to make it back to Fort Belvoir, the last known location of his old unit.
Along the way they find themselves rescued by a group of Marines holding out at a sanctuary they have created at an old industrial plant. The novel ends with Gyles and his men discovering the intentions of the Marines at the sanctuary to rebuild their forces and take back the world from the zombie horde.
It an awesome, shoot-'em-up ride. It's hard to believe it's part of an original, unfinished concept that WJ Lundy turned briefly into a novella. Thankfully he went back and finished this. It's a great read.
Lundy writes war novels better than anyone I know. I read Donovan's War a while back, one of Lundy's few straight up thrillers, and I am amazed at how fresh he keeps his battle scenes and his military characters. No clichés or stereotypes here... except for the old Army jokes... but those never change.
Two things I should hate about this book but barely got bothered by...
1. The tension and cryptic mission of the CDC Doctor Howard, Gyles rescues and drags around with him, is never developed. It should have played a larger role in the plot and the tension of the story. There is a hinted at conspiracy but it's not well-played... yet...
Because 2. This is clearly meant to be a part one, origin story for the Torment series.
I don't like the title "Torment" either. I was hoping the domestic war scenes would trigger PTSD or something in one of the main characters and give the book's title a double meaning. But if this is a new series, time will tell.
So, this is a fine book. 4.5 stars. I can't give it five cause it's not enough of a stand-alone novel to warrant that. But it's one of the more outstanding zombie apocalypse books I've read.
And WJ Lundy is definitely the best in the business for military fiction in the TEOTWAWKI environment.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!