Area 187: Almost Hell Book Review

By David Brown "In the year 2007 an accident at a clandestine U.S.Government facility in rural West Virginia releases several test subjects infected with a necrotic virus. Within weeks the U.S.
military and the Department of Homeland Security are forced to declare the bulk of the state
under quarantine. Defensive lines are fortified and nothing is allowed in or out, damning those missed in the short period of evacuations to a living hell and locking away the real truth of the virus' creation. The government transfers the responsibility of maintaining the quarantine from the military to the Department of Homeland Security, which christens it "Area 187".
Suits and claims are dismissed under anti-terror legislation as the rest of government scrambles to cover their involvement in the original project, distancing themselves and their re-elections.

Seven years pass.

Homeland Security enforces a total news blackout on all things Area 187, and as with other disasters before it the bulk of America is more than willing to move on. Conspiracies continue
to thrive outside the now-immense defensive wall and fortifications, and mercenaries known as "grave robbers" regularly slip in and out of the Area, stealing valuables and taking contracts to bring back specific items for well-paying customers. Our story follows Josephine
Terrell, a television reporter and John Heath, once an Air Force search-and-rescue team leader that escaped the Area after five years of fruitless searching for his wife, as they risk their lives from both the dead and the living inside Area 187 to rescue a group of survivors.
Josephine is looking for the story of the century, one that will prove living, breathing Americans still await rescue inside the Area and that Homeland has been covering up their existence. Heath joins her mission after he sees what may be his wife, Eileen, in a video message from the survivors. Personal rivalries, government conspiracies, and a simple man's promise weave together with death incarnate to follow their every step as they make their way through a blasted, nightmarish landscape full of the hungering dead. But the peril offered by the mindless corpses behind the wall becomes second to the danger presented by the living beyond it..."

This is the synopsis for Eric R. Lowther's book Area 187: Almost Hell, and let me tell you, if this alone isn't enough to get you excited, then you are not a zombie fan. The book starts out following a new recruit who is tasked to enter the forsaken known as Area 187 in order to fix a tower. Needless to say the talk that his superior, Lieutenant Colson, gives in which he describes the area and its dangers lets you know the action that this book holds. The prologue does a nice job of setting us up for the sense of bleakness that will encompass you as you read.

From here on we follow the aforementioned Josephine Terrell as she searches for John Heath. Upon finding him, she is quickly pushed aside due to her seemingly nonsensical claims until she shows him a video containing a woman that looks like his wife. That is when she finally believed and he chooses to take her into the area to get the story of her life. Wrought with dangers unimagined, she prepares and their journey begins.

I will stop here so I don't ruin anymore of the story but needless to say it is one that keeps you entertained from the first page right up to the last. Lowther has a writing style that exudes forward momentum. You are never at a point where you say to yourself " I wish this was going by quicker." Everything about his style leads you to connect with the characters and as events unfold you will go through their emotional journeys simultaneously. These characters feel like they are people you would see in your life and that lends to a lot of the joy in reading this book, you can really find yourself beside the characters.

With the world as it is today there is no reason to think that conspiracies don't happen all the time (maybe not to this scale). The sense of what if, really shines through here and you want to keep reading to see what will happen as the pages turn. We all want to believe that we will survive an apocalyptic virus or plague like that of zombies, but we must ask a few questions.
What if you woke up and found yourself stranded amongst the dead ? What if you knew the government would never come ? How would you survive ? Who would you reach out to ? Ask yourself all of these questions and then go pick up this book now. You will not regret this read.

If you are interested in winning a copy we here at Zombies and Toys will be giving away one, just send an e-mail with your name and address to area187@zombiesandtoys.com and we will draw a name at random at the end of the month. Good luck !