Billed as “Fast and the Furious meets World War Z” I knew I had to read this. Z Heist by George S. Mahaffey Jr was a lot of fun, although I’m not sure how much F&F I would say that I saw in it. Action-packed though? Sure was!
World-building was solid, and a different take on Zombies in a world that has collapsed after the outbreak. The story launches us into the wastelands quickly from the opening, introducing basically everywhere we need to know about as well as a bit of history of what happened.
The characters while somewhat stock gave this a sense of movie nostalgia – The tough, older guy leader. The crazy one (aptly named Gonzo). The newbie. The sense that this could easily be adapted as a movie was palpable though, with plenty of action, blood, gore, and zombies at every turn.
The whole “heist” scenario left me wanting more though. Given it’s right there in the title, and the main trigger for the protagonists to go chasing the billion-dollar payday in the first place, the whole heist part was over rather quickly, and what followed was then the fallout. And to be honest, the “heist” was more just “stealing”, albeit they had to get through a zombie wasteland battling fire-tornados and such.
I’m a fan of heist movies (eg Oceans Eleven and the like) so I guess I had pictured a more intricate plot than what was delivered. But beyond that, what came next was fun. More characters, all a little left of normal; understandable after what they’ve been through.
The new breed of zombies gave this an extra kick that upped the stakes for the cast of characters. In the end, the threads of the plot were wrapped up where they needed to be and gave us a glimpse into what was to come in the series future. I’ll certainly be looking out for the next one, because… well, you’ll find out why when you reach the end.
The narration was solid but a tiny bit one-note. Gary Bennett did a good job, without any issues I could detect, but overall I found the characterisation not overly memorable. Nothing bad, per se, but not outstanding. Certainly not enough to put me off getting the next one if he’s also reading it.
I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I have not let this gift affect nor influence my opinions of this audiobook and have left an honest review.