A Russian plane releases a toxic yellow smoke over Aberdeenshire, turning anyone who inhales the poisonous cloud into a mindless zombie. Former Royal Air Force gunner Jason Harper tries to escape the undead, and get to his pregnant wife. Along the way he teams up with the resourceful, unpredictable, slightly unhinged, former heroine addict, and natural zombie killer, Imogen Prichard. With their foundling dog Sabre they slash and shoot and chew their way trough the hoards only to find themselves contained by The Fence.
The second book follows the trio as they’re forced back into the hot zone by the maniacal colonel, ostensibly to rescue survivors, but really it’s revenge on Harper for the botched assassination of a terrorist years before.
On the plus side, there’s a lot of action, and Bushwell’s style keep up the pace. The biggest problem for me was the trio’s efficiency. When killing zombies it’s all headshots and precision knife strikes. It ends up feeling little repetitive. You never really get the feeling there’s no escape. The stakes just aren’t there. Perhaps another book will add some depth to the action.