It presents a fresh view into this genre and I could not put it down. They have the hunger of the zombies, but they have enough humanity left to not start mindlessly attacking humans or the remaining human members of their squad. I loved experiencing the apocalypse through their eyes. The Spetznaz team are a highly trained group of special forces soldiers, but even that doesn’t stop them from turning. Once the virus/agent is released there is no turning back and the true horror begins. These are fast turning, fast moving zombies and the chaos unfolds at quite the pace. In a very populated area they unwittingly release a biological agent and the zombie apocalypse begins. We follow a Russian Spetznaz team as they travel to New York with no idea of what their mission might be. Thinking, intelligent zombies who hunger for human flesh but can control themselves.

Not only is it very much about zombie/human conflict, and not only that, our main characters become zombies themselves. Therefore I was over the moon with Spec Ops Z. I am especially happy when it is more focussed on zombie/human conflict rather than the human/human conflict many books fall into. I generally tend to love zombie books because I’m such a huge fan of the genre. And that I will consume any and all zombie books I possibly can.

I make no secret of the fact that zombies are my favourite horror monster by far. Somehow holding onto their identities amid the mindless monsters, Scorlenski and his squad of zombie commandos set out to return to Russia. …and awaken to a city overwhelmed by the walking dead, even now spreading across the globe. When Vadim Scorlenski and his elite Spetznaz squad are sent to New York at the height of the Cold War, they’re told it’s a ‘training exercise.’ They discover, too late, that the ‘practice’ chemical weapon they’re carrying is all too real. A handsome new re-issue of a high-octane military-SF, as Russian Spetsnaz commandos are turned into zombies in ‘80s New York.

Spec Ops Z by Gavin G. Smith