Surviving Sin City

“We arrive in Las Vegas where two closeted men from different continents collide in the very epicenter of the zombie explosion. Kaleb Pierce, a young twenty something pizza delivery boy is not unfamiliar with the seedier parts of Vegas. He carries a Glock in his glove compartment and definitely seems to know some fairly shady characters whom he loosely calls, “friends”. He lives with his mother and brother, Pat, and his family is blissfully unaware that he is gay and that is the way Kaleb prefers it, for now. Across town, the carefully prepared survivalist, Cooper Lockwood is trying to enjoy his holiday despite the fact that he left his lover back in England after finding out the man was cheating on him.

However, in Cooper’s twisted perspective, it was all his fault that Ewan had cheated on him and then left him because you see Cooper refused to come out of the closet and live openly with his boyfriend. When all hell breaks loose and these men are thrust into the madness that becomes a violent and scary nightmare whose main casts consists of a type of thinking, planning “super zombie. This encounter leaves both finding that others discovering they are gay is the least of their worries. In order to survive, they are going to have to throw their lot in together and hope that they can “get out of Dodge” before they become someone’s next meal.

Surviving Sin City evoked memories of film noir and those deliciously wonderful detective movies where the scruffy, hard bitten detective is a genuine good guy who meets and falls for the very person he sets out to help. Kaleb was written in a way that he is wise beyond his years yet with a sweet vulnerability that flashes onto the page occasionally like when he finally comes to terms with the fact that his own mother became a zombie and was killed. Coop, on the other hand, is a misguided stoic who struggles with just a bit of self-loathing and tons of guilt. In his mind, his breakup was all his fault, his desire to remain hidden the factor that “made” his boyfriend cheat. Both these men are wounded warriors, who rise above their own petty differences to not only help each other but save the few loved ones they can. Along the way, walls come down, and just a hint of a possible lasting love comes in as the story closes out.

I really enjoyed these charactersâ€"this story. They were complex and the plot never pandered to the idea that all would be insta-love for these guys, instead, the mere idea that love could possibly blossom was introduced and then respectfully mixed in with a very realistic fight against death. The super zombies were just plain creepy and the headlong flight that carried Kaleb and Coop to find Kaleb’s brother Pat and rescue him left me breathless. This was a taut, well written horror story that wasted not one word in the telling.”

JesseWave Reviews