What Zombies Fear 1: A Father's Quest

When Victor Tookes went to work that beautiful spring day, he never expected to see a man eaten alive in the street in front of his office. After convincing himself that they really were zombies, he makes a trip from his house in Pennsylvania to his family home in Virginia, battling zombies all the way. His three and a half year old son was bitten on the leg, but doesn't turn into a zombie. Instead, he turns into something more than human.

Victor quickly discovers that everything he knew about zombies was wrong. Not all of them were mindless, uncoordinated, rotting ghouls; some of them were bigger, faster, stronger or smarter than when they were human.

A small percentage of humans are genetically immune to the parasite. Instead of turning these humans into mindless shamblers, they gain enhanced abilities. These new abilities will be pushed to their limits in their quest to carve out a safe haven to call home.

How will he keep his son safe when the world crumbles around him?

Review from Author Jacqueline Druga
Victor Tookes is an embodiment of every family man you know. He is average, Sponge Bob witty, works hard, and loves his family. Everything he does, he does for his wife and child. What started as a normal day turned no into less than a nightmare, when Tookes, only wanting his toasted bagel, witnesses the horror to the beginning of the end.

What Zombies Fear takes place right here, right now in this society. Tookes (As he is called by his friends) isn’t dumbfounded by the presence of rising dead, he immediately thinks ‘zombie’ like most people would. The first thing, and not the only thing, that I really liked about this book.

When I first started reading, I had to remember the synopsis, because I actually wanted to stop. Not ‘stop’ as in a bad thing, but because I was so drawn into the relationship between Tookes and his son, that emotionally, I didn’t want to see where it was going.

I was not let down.

The book is written in first person, and at times more journal-style than a first person narrative. Told by Tookes, the book takes the reader on a journey through Tookes’ struggle to protect his son and get to a safe place. Tookes has some knowledge of weapons and like a lot of guys, has to have that big off-road type truck that never gets dirty and blocks you from seeing to get out of a spot at your local grocery store. All of which, I took as metaphoric. The truck was more for show just as zombies were more fiction. Everything in the story is bigger than Tookes. It’s a learn as you go for him, survive as you can. He does it well with believable stumbles and fears.

Allmond does a superb job making this characters realistic and likeable. He builds the tension well.
Allmond delivers a fresh and, shall I say, ingenious take on an overwritten genre, going above and beyond what we expect from the dreaded creatures. He makes it more than just a zombie tale, he makes it suspense, mixed in with horror and thriller. Allmond does it all by staying true to the writer he is and conveying to the reader that he knows what it is like to love a son.

He doesn’t beat around the bush and you get caught up in his story, loving the characters, and wanting more. Guess what? There is more. What Zombies Fear is a series, and a heck of one at that.