Short Take: “No Easy Hope,” James N. Cook

Pros: Interesting characters
Cons: Somewhat slow
Rating: 3 out of 5

Unlike many recent zombie apocalypse novels, James N. Cook’s No Easy Hope (Surviving the Dead Volume 1) takes the time to give the characters some depth and originality. I wouldn’t say they sparkle, but at least they come alive. It’s interesting to be following a lead who was a financial analyst as opposed to a hunter/survivalist/etc. In this case he had a friend who taught him what he’d need to survive when the time came, and then he passed that on to others. I love that they basically have a survivor’s manual printed out from the information collected by someone who saw the whole thing coming.

Things are a little slow, but not too much. It’s about what you’d expect from a zombie tale that’s trying to give you a taste of the usual parts: survivalists, fighting the zombies, and fighting off some bad guys. It’s a decent balance.