The Final Cut by Craig DiLouie

ZING Communications, 2021

ISBN: 9798782486884

Available: paperback, Kindle edition (Amazon.com )

This is the final of a three book series, I have not read the other two, titled Infection and The Killing Floor.  While this book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, it is recommended that you read the others first for full understanding and enjoyment of the story.  

We all know that zombie stories are like the undead themselves: just when you think the trend might finally be over, along comes another one.  Thankfully, The Final Cut bucks the usual zombie storylines and clichés, carves a path of its own… and does it well, breathing new life into what has become a stale genre.

In The Final Cut, the culprit for zombification is an organism from space, known as Infection, that has managed to infect most of the population. Here’s what makes the story fun: not everyone reacts the same way, or goes through the same Infection.  Some people have it for days or months before they go nuts and become killers…and some have learned to live and adapt to Infection, becoming almost superhuman but NOT becoming crazy.  That’s one of the best points of the book, the “zombies” are a mishmash of types.  Some are mindless, some can talk and reason, some are evil, some are more or less good– the variety helps keep the story interesting.  

As for the uninfected humans, besides survival they are focused on two things: finding a cure for Infection, or finding a way to wipe out all those Infected, and ending the plague.   There is still a semblance of a US government working on a solution in the book.  The author throws some interesting moral dilemmas to the characters: which makes more sense?  Go the easier route and blast everything to pieces to save the few left and take the collateral damage, or try the harder but preferable route of finding a cure?  The “ends justify the means” idea poses tough decisions for some of the characters, such as the need to test a possible cure on human subjects… but no volunteers.  Is capturing unwilling people to use ae guinea pigs justifiable, when your goal is saving people?  The author does a great job using these situations, without sounding preachy.

In any zombie novel, there will be violence and gunfights somewhere, and in that area, The Final Cut delivers the goods.  Tanks wrecking things, .50 caliber machine guns shredding zombies and creating carnage, plenty of pitched firefights– there’s enough to keep the entertainment level high.  Overall, this is a thinking person’s action/excitement novel and worth the read, even if zombie stories usually aren’t your thing.  Recommended (after reading the first two, that is)

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson