by Robert R. Best
Library of the Living Dead Press
ISBN: 978-1453652688
Review by: Terry Morgan
Review posted 06/30/2011
Ashton Memorial, the second book in the zombie trilogy by Robert R. Best, starts with characters from the first book: Park, Angie and Angie's kids, Maylee and Dalton walking away from the now burning Lakewood Memorial hospital. They find the truck, start it and after a discussion, head toward Ashton. It is Ashton where Angie's brother Bobby lives and Park's twin girls Ella and Lori.
However, as the zombie outbreak continues, other horrendous situations are occurring. Ella and Lori's step-dad, Gregory, has bounded and gagged Lori at the zoo he runs, Ashton Memorial Zoo. Ella is in another part of the zoo not sure whether or not her sister or even her mother is alive.
The story intensifies when Angie, Parker and Angie's kids come to the zoo, along with all the walking corpses. It is now survival not just against the walking dead, but against each other and themselves.
The second in Best's zombie trilogy throws a punch. It is in this story we learn more about Parker, about Angie and what each of them will do when being pushed to their last limits. There is not as much action as in the first book, but, there is compassion, heartbreak and certainly a showing of what family really means when it comes down to the last days on Earth. With a striking form, Best does what many zombie authors fail to do, give the characters actual feelings and situations that would seem more realistic in a zombie outbreak if it occurred. And let us not forget the ending of this story is not only drastic, compelling but totally unexpected.
I look forward to the third installment in what I consider one of the best zombie series out there.
