From the Publisher
Praise for UNDEAD"Fast, furious, freaky, funny, and seriously sick." CHARLIE HIGSON, author of the ENEMY series"A hilarious and lively mix of cunning, bravery, and tomfoolery...Bobby's narration is spiked with wit and perceptive snarkiness...First-rate fun." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL"McKay plays her tale for maximum snark...humor and action keep the pages turning...Blood spurts; entrails drag; body parts shed; hearts (living ones) throb it's all good, gory fun." KIRKUS"The typical school-centered zombie story is given a fabulous reboot in McKay's debut novel...The perfect balance of humor and horror...will have readers alternately biting their nails and snorting with laughter...A fun, pulse-pounding addition to the zombie genre." VOYA"Fun to devour." BOOKLIST"Loved the black humor. Think SHAUN OF THE DEAD in the Scottish wilderness." THE BOOKSELLER UK
School Library Journal
12/01/2013
Gr 6 Up—This book picks up six weeks after the final events of Undead (Scholastic, 2012). Roberta, the 15-year-old reluctant but capable heroine, wakes up in a military hospital in Edinburgh, her head shaved and criss-crossed with scars. The hospital is teeming with zombies. In minutes, she is reunited with two of her classmates from the first novel: mean-girl Alice and geeky Pete. Together, they want to rescue their missing pal, Smitty. Told from Bobby's point of view, the story taps into the teen mind-set with acuity. In between fighting matches with hoards of the undead, she and her crew worry about crushes, personal appearances, and relationships. For instance, can Bobby trust the clues left by her mother, who may or may not be dead, and who may or may not be in cahoots with the pharmaceutical company that leaked the zombie virus? Grisly fight scenes, narrow escapes, and encrypted messages play off one another at a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it pace. In addition to fighting the zombies, the teens stay one step ahead of the government agents who are trying to capture Bobby so they can study her virus-resistant DNA. The intensely gory interactions between the kids and the zombies (including undead cows and one undead goat) are foiled by Bobby's touching and funny soliloquies. This book has it all-action, adventure, suspense, engaging characters, and a smidgen of romance. One whizbang of a read.—Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC
Kirkus Reviews
2013-08-15
The undead are shambling all over Scotland in this bitingly funny sequel to Undead (2012). The last thing Bobby remembers is fleeing the zombie apocalypse in a school bus full of nascent undead. She wakes up in a top-secret medical facility fairly teeming with zoms. With her are snotty Alice and geeky Pete, along with strong and capable Russ, the only survivor from that fateful school bus. Missing is Smitty, the maddening boy she lost her heart to in the first book. Following cryptic clues left in her cellphone by her scientist mother--the one who formulated the zombie-creating concoction in the first place and the person who may have the key to its cure--Bobby, Alice, Pete and Russ break out and flee, hoping to find Smitty and Bobby's mom and, possibly, safety. Punctuated by many zombie battles that have almost a Keystone Kops feel to them for all their undeniable menace, their escape is fueled by desperation and snark. The kids carp at one another constantly (the mutual hostility between Bobby and Alice is particularly fizzy), and Bobby's narration maintains the razor's-edge balance between humor and horror. "Oh, fudmukker," Bobby remarks, as they try to flee Edinburgh by rail. "Zoms on a Train." A gleefully revolting romp, it ends on a cliffhanger; here's hoping it'll be resolved soon. (Horror. 14 & up)