Book Review: A Thousand Miles to Nowhere
At its core, this is a dark, gripping tale of human survival. It's a story of human relationships, family. It produces feelings of holding on with every ounce of strength manageable. I have an image in my head of holding everything I hold dear over a cliff, sweating, hands tired and sore. I feel the rope slipping inch by inch, ripping into my palms - slowly losing everything into the abyss. That is how this book made me feel, the book conjured that image and I had to share it.
Yes, there is a zombie backdrop to this book but it is much bigger and better than just a zombie book. I appreciate the fact that the story takes place 15 years after the apocalypse. I, for one, don't need chapters and chapters about the event, the spread, how we got here. This one jumps right into the bloody muck. We are with a family. They aren't a family in a traditional sense, but time and the shared burden of survival has bonded them into one.
I think what I liked the most about the book was the author's ability to write me in and out of this sense of well-being. This sense of everything is going to be OK. I am having a hard time explaining this but that is how it felt. These characters and relationships, in the short lulls between the horrific and gory attacks and thus losses, pulled me in. I bonded with these characters, I cared about their well-being, and I believed at least a little bit in the chance that they could make it. I will equate it to the Titanic scene with the orchestra playing. The world was literally falling apart around these characters but I kept finding myself getting pulled into focusing on the music.
Let's talk a bit about the horror. Everybody knows that in these apocalyptic times the other humans are a threat far more villainous than the monsters. There is a scene that takes place in an abandoned police station. I am telling you. Seriously. I have not been this disturbed, this frightened by a particular passage of narrative in a while.
So here we are. The book lulled me into ideas of family and then shook me awake. It got me deep into human connection then shocked me back to the reality of the situation. It showed me beautiful aged love, then it shattered me.
Late in the book our characters run into an older couple, Bill and Cate. I loved them, loved their relationship. Especially Cate. That is the beautiful aged love I spoke about.
OK, I hate making grand statements about books after reading them. It's like telling a girl you love her after the first date. So I wait, I let the book stew. Reviews generally come 3 or 4 days after having finished. So I have thought about this, I have looked at the other books that I have read in the last 5 years or so. Here it is. This is my absolute favorite zombie sub-genre book that I have read. Not favorite small press zombie book. Not favorite zombie book of the last year. Ever. Ever. Ever.
This is my absolute favorite piece of zombie fiction. Ever.
Shook, shocked, shattered. Curfiss runs you through the gambit of emotions.
In my opinion this book steps past horror, it deserves readership outside the horror community. Off the top of my head I think of how McCarthy's The Road crosses those lines.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review by Well Read Beard
Twitter: @WellReadBeard
I received this book from the author for review consideration.
