My Life as a White Trash Zombie, by Diana Rowland
You might reasonably be tempted to assume this is a zombie book, but you might also be pleasantly surprised to discover that it is technically a mystery novel. Sure, one of the mysteries is how the lead character, Angel, was turned into a zombie but there is also a nice little serial-killer mystery backdrop to keep things light and entertaining.
Waking up in the hospital after a car accident, Angel finds out that she has been zombified by a benevolent sire (wait, that’s the term for vampire turners, isn’t it?) who has also conveniently arranged a job for her at the local morgue. This turns out to be extremely handy because she soon discovers that if she eats brains at least once every other day she becomes super-charged. But, if she misses a meal or two, she quickly decomposes into a more traditional Walking-Dead-type zombie with alarmingly little control over her brain-consumption needs.
During the course of settling into her new “life” style and working hard to avoid the Walking-Dead problem, she encounters cute cops, cocky morgue-workers, and a mafia-like zombie who is attempting to control the brains-market for personal profit. She also stumbles onto the mystery of who has been murdering and beheading local residents of her hometown.
The book is charming and fun, if not extraordinarily well-written. It’s a great little beach-read – don’t be scared off by the zombie theme. There are 5 or possibly 6 additional books in the series, but a scan through Goodreads suggests that this one is really the best of the bunch, so I think I will give the rest a pass.
Rating: Borrow it if you need something light to read on the plane. Trust me on the zombie thing.
Despite your positive review, the book lost me at the word “Zombie”…glad it is a “borrow”.
I was the same, and should probably have mentioned that I only read it because it was loaned/recommended to me by a coworker, and I like to read the things people suggest for me. Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised that it was more a mystery than a zombie apocalypse.
I might look for a copy before summer vacation. Something to read on the plane and leave behind. Just watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (while doing paperwork) so primed for light zombie mystery fare.