After the Dark Times of the zombie apocalypse, treatments have been created to control the zombies. The world resets itself. People who are bitten can be saved, but at a price. They are no longer technically human, after all. They are zombies. Sub-Zs, or Sub-Ys depending on their condition. The mindless, shambling masses are good for doing the world’s manual labor, but even the higher-minded Sub-Ys who can think and act are robbed of their dignity and their status. They are forced into jobs that, at best, they are highly overqualified for and do not meet their personal needs, or at worst, are insulting, debasing positions.
Resurrection X is a story of class struggle that keeps the reader clutching to its pages like a zombie latched on to its victim. It reminded me of They Live and Night of the Living Dead and how the best zombie books are about social struggles. The conduit for this struggle is the main character, Lisa Goudard, a strong-willed state inspection worker who holds zombies in the lowest regard and sees nothing in their civil liberties movements. After she is bitten and becomes a zombie, she sees things differently. This is good for the NAAND, the National Association for the Advancement of Non-Dead. Lisa Goudard is a fighter, an Erin Brockovich of the zombie apocalypse (with at least a hint of Ann Richards who won’t stop until her life is returned as close to normal as possible.
Changing the world is not an easy task. Lisa Goudard becomes involved in the political world of this post-Dark Times Texas, where the politics are roughly what you would expect. Hypocritical politicians and religious zealots wage a political war to keep Sub-Zs and Sub-Ys oppressed with lower wages and poorer jobs. Dan Hatchell excels at interlacing these more global machinations into the horror genre without feeling like the book is just hitting the high notes of horror. In that way, he reminds me of a Southern version of Stephen King, who also has written about the horrors of politics and leadership. Unlike King, who has a more upfront literary style and voice, Dane Hatchell’s voice is quieter and less obtrusive. He lets the story do the talking.
It is easy to write a book about zombies. Thousands have been written, but few stand out when so much ground has already been treaded. Dane Hatchell has revolutionized the genre and made them new and fresh while harkening back to the genre’s roots. I have rarely read a book that made me so interested in its characters and its final outcome.
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