In the Nevada desert, a game of hunter and prey is about to begin as a band of survivors seeks to capture a creature of nightmare. Failure will not only mean their deaths, but the murder of innocents...
With his superiors wiped out by the plague, MAJOR BEEMAN finds himself in charge of the Facility, the top secret base where the Omega Virus began. He has the command he’s always craved, and he’ll ruthlessly protect it from anyone he perceives as a threat. Beeman has eliminated the Army Rangers sent there as protection, taken hostages and sent the Nimitz survivors on a suicide mission. But now he has left the Facility vulnerable…
THE QUEEN has awakened from her bizarre sleep of transformation. Bigger, stronger and infinitely more deadly than ever, she has gathered the dead to her lair to unleash her greatest power, that of creation. She will not assemble a mere pack this time, but instead give birth to a legion of Hobgoblins. And her ultimate goal is not one of simple annihilation…it’s revenge…
Released from her captivity as a test subject, SKYE DENNISON and her friends have been given an ultimatum; bring back the Alpha Female or your families will die. Accompanied by FATHER XAVIER, ANGIE WEST and others, Skye heads into an apocalyptic Reno, a city infested with the dead and ruled by something far more diabolical. Her mission will put her on a collision course with the Queen, where only one can survive…
As thousands of ravenous Hobgoblins spill into the streets, good and evil will face off in an epic showdown that could well seal the fate of mankind.
John L. Campbell was born in Chicago, lived all over the U.S. and attended university in both North Carolina and New York. His novels include the zombie apocalypse series, The OMEGA DAYS Novels. All have been Amazon bestsellers, and book one, OMEGA DAYS, remained on the horror bestseller list for 17 weeks. Book five, THE FERAL ROAD, released in November 2016. In addition, Mr. Campbell is the author of two collections of horror and suspense, a novella based on actual events, and under his pen name ATTICUS WULF he released yet another novella and the supernatural/historical thriller, A JUDGE FROM SALEM.
In 2013 his short fiction piece COURAGEOUS LITTLE PHILOMENA'S WONDROUS BAIT was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and in 2014 he served as a juror for the Bram Stoker Awards. A member of both the International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, Mr. Campbell is active on the horror and comic convention circuits, and is represented by the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency in New York.
He resides in New York with his family, where he is continuing his work on the OMEGA DAYS series, as well as other projects.
The sixth book in John Campbell's "Omega Days" series arrived almost three years after the fifth one, and although I had to remind myself about the individual backstories of several characters in the large ensemble Campbell has developed to carry his zombie apocalypse saga forward, Campbell's plot quickly carried me along. In this entry our rag-tag community of survivors have to contend with two major threats: (a) the monstrous, mutated "Red Queen" who has built a small army of "hobgoblin" super-zombies; and (b) the evil Major Beeman, who commands a military facility in the Nevada desert where most of the group is being held captive.
While it's not the best entry in this series, I think "Red Queen" offers more than enough to satisfy fans of zombie fiction, and this series is notable for setting a high standard in the genre for plot and characterization. Campbell is a good writer who knows how to interweave multiple story-lines, manage a large set of characters, and create suspenseful situations that keep you reading.
Nevertheless, "Red Queen" did leave me wondering whether Campbell is losing interest in the "Omega Days" series, or whether something else is going on in his life. He published a non-series novel in the fall of 2017, and he's maintained a very low profile since then. He hasn't posted anything to his Twitter or Facebook accounts since late 2017 and hasn't updated his web site since early 2018 (not even to add "Red Queen" to his list of books). Thus far "Omega Days" is an open-ended series that could easily continue so long as Campbell keeps producing good stories, and like the previous novels in this series "Red Queen" ends with an eye toward the next book. Will there be a next chapter? Only Campbell knows the answer to that question.
This was a thrilling addition to the zombie series by John L Campbell. The addition of the mutant red Queen made each encounter terrifying and exciting.
Waited a long time for this book. Did not disappoint. Non-stop. A real page turner. Great series by John L Campbell. I HOPE there is yet another coming.....
To refresh my memory, I re-read the other 5 books before starting this one and I'm glad I did. Also, these books are actually good ones to re-read, compared to a lot of other horror/zombie series. For starters, while some fall along the wayside over the course of this series, most of the core people are still around and were FINALLY reunited in the 5th one, only to be torn apart again at the start of this one. Sky continues to mutate and gets even more badass in this one as she grows talons (could have done without the awkward romance though). The Red Queen and Hobgoblins also amp up the horror since they're like Resident Evil end bosses.
I somewhat groaned at the end of this one since it does involve another cliffhanger, but I guess to be expected since the whole series does this. After being split up so much, it was fun to have the whole group finally together but will have to wait until the next book to see what they do next.
Campbell's imagination goes into overtime in this latest installment of his series. It will be interesting to see where he takes it next. There are no happy endings in this world he's created. But I look forward to more action, well drawn characters and a new array of bad guys to fight. Good luck to those who survived.