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Serial Killer Z #1
Serial Killer Z
For some, the zombies are a good thing.
The man who calls himself Marcus Black spent years hiding his true identity from the world, killing to feed the shadow that lives inside him. Now the dead walk the earth and he's just trying to survive.
With the dead a constant threat, Marcus is forced to suppress his true self and fight against the shadow that lives inside him. Losing that fight will leave him exposed and could cost him his life.
When he discovers an abandoned camp deep in the forest Marcus believes he's finally found a home. A place where he can once again unleash the shadow. Isolated. Quiet. Safe. It's perfect. Until the outside world intrudes and Marcus finds himself caught between the living and the dead.
Hiding behind a veneer of humanity, Marcus struggles to find a way to get rid of the new arrivals. But as his mask begins to slip, he discovers that he may not be the only one with a deadly secret.
Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping new horror series. Get Serial Killer Z today and face the dead.
The man who calls himself Marcus Black spent years hiding his true identity from the world, killing to feed the shadow that lives inside him. Now the dead walk the earth and he's just trying to survive.
With the dead a constant threat, Marcus is forced to suppress his true self and fight against the shadow that lives inside him. Losing that fight will leave him exposed and could cost him his life.
When he discovers an abandoned camp deep in the forest Marcus believes he's finally found a home. A place where he can once again unleash the shadow. Isolated. Quiet. Safe. It's perfect. Until the outside world intrudes and Marcus finds himself caught between the living and the dead.
Hiding behind a veneer of humanity, Marcus struggles to find a way to get rid of the new arrivals. But as his mask begins to slip, he discovers that he may not be the only one with a deadly secret.
Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping new horror series. Get Serial Killer Z today and face the dead.
272 pages, Paperback
Published June 15, 2018
90 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Philip Harris
34 books57 followersPhilip Harris is a speculative fiction author and video game developer. Originally born near Oxford, England, he now lives on the West Coast of Canada where he spends his days developing video games and his nights writing speculative fiction - anything from horror to science fiction to fantasy.
His first publication, Letter From a Victim, appeared in the award winning magazine, Peeping Tom, in 1995. Since then he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including Garbled Transmissions, So Long, and Thanks for All The Brains and James Ward Kirk's Best of Horror 2013.
He has also worked as security for Darth Vader.
His science fiction novel, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is a homage to the old Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials has just been released.
You can find free fiction and his blog at his website.
His first publication, Letter From a Victim, appeared in the award winning magazine, Peeping Tom, in 1995. Since then he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including Garbled Transmissions, So Long, and Thanks for All The Brains and James Ward Kirk's Best of Horror 2013.
He has also worked as security for Darth Vader.
His science fiction novel, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is a homage to the old Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials has just been released.
You can find free fiction and his blog at his website.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 18, 2025
This is a 4.5 🌟 read rounded ⬆️ to 5 🌟.
Another one to mark off my 2025 Goals, this one being a "Have The Book - TBR" item.
Another one to mark off my 2025 Goals, this one being a "Have The Book - TBR" item.
June 22, 2025
"Marcus Black" finds himself in the Zombiecalypse, he is on his way to find a safe place. A safe place to his liking where he can still live his special kind of life.
As he arrives at a former camp side, Marcus feels like he could set up camp for winter time, a time that will be hard to battle with all of today's amenities gone. The convenience that is a hot shower, a washing machine, grocery shopping, medicine, etc...
In his struggle with finding food but also with fighting his inner demon, the Shadow, Marcus needs to adapt to everything fate throws at him. No matter how sh*tty the situation gets.
Until it gets worse with the arrival of 3 strangers.
His beloved solitude gone, Marcus needs to play the nice guy and weave his way through more sh*t being thrown his way.
🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🐱👓 📚 🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🔖
I kind of liked the book, it was gory it was full of zombies and despite of my rating it was quite a page turner.
I didn't like the protagonist, Marcus.... but boy did I hate Lucy!!!
She was insufferable… and I have the feeling the Author made her that way, so that we could be more compassionate with Marcus and his weird quirks in which I don't want to delve deeper. ;)
Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention Alex. I thought he was a good guy! I liked him most of them all, to be honest.
________________________________________
All in all, I thought the book was written well enough. It just ended too aprubtly for me, so I give it 3.8 🌟, which I will round up to 4 🌟 here on GR and on Storygraph.
As he arrives at a former camp side, Marcus feels like he could set up camp for winter time, a time that will be hard to battle with all of today's amenities gone. The convenience that is a hot shower, a washing machine, grocery shopping, medicine, etc...
In his struggle with finding food but also with fighting his inner demon, the Shadow, Marcus needs to adapt to everything fate throws at him. No matter how sh*tty the situation gets.
Until it gets worse with the arrival of 3 strangers.
His beloved solitude gone, Marcus needs to play the nice guy and weave his way through more sh*t being thrown his way.
🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🐱👓 📚 🔖 📚 🔖 📚 🔖
I kind of liked the book, it was gory it was full of zombies and despite of my rating it was quite a page turner.
I didn't like the protagonist, Marcus.... but boy did I hate Lucy!!!
She was insufferable… and I have the feeling the Author made her that way, so that we could be more compassionate with Marcus and his weird quirks in which I don't want to delve deeper. ;)
Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention Alex. I thought he was a good guy! I liked him most of them all, to be honest.
________________________________________
All in all, I thought the book was written well enough. It just ended too aprubtly for me, so I give it 3.8 🌟, which I will round up to 4 🌟 here on GR and on Storygraph.
June 11, 2024
This book was… interesting 🤔 the premise was already a little ehhh to me but it was made worse by actually reading the book 😂 turns out the whole idea is just as nonsensical as it seemed it would be to begin with 🤷🏻♀️
This book is definitely wild, so if simply wild does it for you then go for it! You’ll probably enjoy it! I just couldn’t get past Marcus being such a lame ass bitch… like I’m supposed to be convinced that ol boy is out here surviving and before this he was a functioning member of society AND killing people who were alive… nah, he’s too weak and dumb 😮💨 dude said "the tetanus vaccine was missing from the kit" (fist aid kit)… umm 🧐 and he’s literally about to piss his pants constantly! He’s just straight up unconvincing as a killer 😂 and the whole zombie aspect of this book was neither here nor there for me just because it’s almost always the same with zombies 🤷🏻♀️
This book is definitely wild, so if simply wild does it for you then go for it! You’ll probably enjoy it! I just couldn’t get past Marcus being such a lame ass bitch… like I’m supposed to be convinced that ol boy is out here surviving and before this he was a functioning member of society AND killing people who were alive… nah, he’s too weak and dumb 😮💨 dude said "the tetanus vaccine was missing from the kit" (fist aid kit)… umm 🧐 and he’s literally about to piss his pants constantly! He’s just straight up unconvincing as a killer 😂 and the whole zombie aspect of this book was neither here nor there for me just because it’s almost always the same with zombies 🤷🏻♀️
March 9, 2022
This is the second book in this series that I have read, and I have enjoyed both of them. To me, these books are the written equivalent of a blockbuster summer movie- there may be some miniscule plot holes, but the book is so good you just gloss over them in your rush to see what happens.
Not for the squeamish not for children. I could hardly wait for my free time so I could continue reading this story. What a concept- think Dexter meets The Walking Dead. Very well written. Look forward to reading the others in this series.
If you have read others of my reviews, you know that I disdain profanity, vulgarity and other forms of word trash as lazy, unnecessary and offsetting. Give me enough early in a book and I generally won't even finish it. This author mostly avoids that trap and falls into the "Gone with the Wind" category of dropping one or two bombs near the end. Unfortunately, the two he dropped in this volume was the most hated word trash- blasphemy. This is why the book got 4 instead of 5 stars.
Not for the squeamish not for children. I could hardly wait for my free time so I could continue reading this story. What a concept- think Dexter meets The Walking Dead. Very well written. Look forward to reading the others in this series.
If you have read others of my reviews, you know that I disdain profanity, vulgarity and other forms of word trash as lazy, unnecessary and offsetting. Give me enough early in a book and I generally won't even finish it. This author mostly avoids that trap and falls into the "Gone with the Wind" category of dropping one or two bombs near the end. Unfortunately, the two he dropped in this volume was the most hated word trash- blasphemy. This is why the book got 4 instead of 5 stars.
October 11, 2022
Well written, but I couldn't connect with the main character. The idea about how everything started was great, the scenarios everything happened as well, but I couldn't like Marcus. I got he had problems to be part of groups, but he could use that in his favour. He did dumb decisions many times, and I couldn't get how he survived all book with all bad decisions he made. He had opportunities to be in a better position to be safe and to keep his dark side going as well, but he always made the wrong choices. The gore part was great, with a lot of descriptions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2018
Great zombie series
After reading the prequel, Infection, I knew I would
read the series. A disturbed man guided by a inner
demon to kill, easily with zombies, but the urge to
kill the living also is strong. And what experiments does
he do with the zombies he captures? Then there are the
other survivors. Motives abound.
A very exciting take on the zombie genre, can't wait to
see where Marcus goes next! And who, and what , he
meets next!
After reading the prequel, Infection, I knew I would
read the series. A disturbed man guided by a inner
demon to kill, easily with zombies, but the urge to
kill the living also is strong. And what experiments does
he do with the zombies he captures? Then there are the
other survivors. Motives abound.
A very exciting take on the zombie genre, can't wait to
see where Marcus goes next! And who, and what , he
meets next!
April 29, 2020
Gore a plenty!
Apart from being tense waiting to see what Marcus would do next, trying to understand his thinking (not possible), there is the issue of the real yuk value of things like flies and maggots. And so much death, both first and second times. The action is breathtaking all through the story. And gory, very gory.
Apart from being tense waiting to see what Marcus would do next, trying to understand his thinking (not possible), there is the issue of the real yuk value of things like flies and maggots. And so much death, both first and second times. The action is breathtaking all through the story. And gory, very gory.
March 12, 2021
I was a tad dubious this would all into the predictable grr argh Zombie yarn. I was unsure and then when the character was forced to interact with other survivors, it became quite intense. He had to keep them away from telltale revelations of his killer status. What I liked was I wasn't sure whether I wanted his secret to be discovered or not.
August 14, 2021
This is a unique and intense take on zombie apocalyptic adventure/thriller series. Philip Harris shows how much he loves a good zombie tale and he has mastered the creative ability to write what he loves. Awesome character and world building is employed. This is book 1 and I am definitely looking forward to reading book 2.
Read via Kindle Unlimited
Read via Kindle Unlimited
September 22, 2018
Great book with a twist of Zombies.
August 1, 2021
zombie series.
A seriel killer works for a lab where
Coma patients are experimented on and turn into zombies.
The zombies escape
A seriel killer works for a lab where
Coma patients are experimented on and turn into zombies.
The zombies escape
August 11, 2024
Not sure?
I’m not sure what to write. I’m left thinking, “what did I just read?” Intriguing to see where it went, wild where it did go. Well written with descriptions etc just the story was absolutely mental. It’s a book I probably won’t read again and yet I won’t forget 😂
I’m not sure what to write. I’m left thinking, “what did I just read?” Intriguing to see where it went, wild where it did go. Well written with descriptions etc just the story was absolutely mental. It’s a book I probably won’t read again and yet I won’t forget 😂
October 19, 2024
I gave this 3 stars because I felt it was lacking something that I couldn't quite pin point. HOWEVER, this book was very well written! I could picture everything playing out in my head which is rare for me. Serial killer meets zombies in an interesting way and the book had a cliff hanger ending that was both enjoyable as an end all or intriguing enough to continue the story.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews