Book Review - The Rage Plague by Anthony Giangregorio

The Rage Plague

The folks at Permuted Press were kind enough to send me another review copy, this time from author Anthony Giangregorio. Permuted has such a wide range of interesting new authors that I couldn't pass up a look at another novel from their selection.

The Rage Plague is Giangregorio's attempt at a zombie novel, but the monsters in the book are only reminiscent of zombies in the way that they are enraged by a virus, causing them to want to kill (and in many cases, eat) their victims. The virus is spread through the air, but it turns out that some people can be immune, and our plot centers around a group of people who band together to try and stay alive for as long as possible. Their leader is Bill, a fifty-something man who does what he has to do to keep safe. He's gruff but a durable man, one who comes up with ideas when they're needed without much hesitation. A perfect person to lead everyone out of the carnage of Chicago, in which, at the beginning of the novel, they are stuck on top of a school roof.

It's not as easy as it sounds, though, since Chicago is infested crazies. It's not only the Changed that Bill has to worry about, though, because he soon realizes the mental strain that the whole situation has on the ones around him. They soon escape the roof, only to find themselves running from a plane about to crash. This leads them to an abandoned lab, and located behind it, a military base. Is it a godsend? Nah, because the military takes Bill and his group to an airport where they try to run some "tests" to figure out what is causing the immunity to the virus. When they say tests, they mean dissections, and Bill soon realizes that the military is just another gang that they have to stay away from. To make matters worse, there is a Changed person in Chicago who still has control over his body, and he is creating a pack of crazies to kill every normal person in the world.

It's bad news bears for our protagonists throughout the entire novel, which is a good thing, because the book is so fast-paced the reader will be flipping through pages in no time. The action barely quits, and when it does, it's mostly for some important backstory which leads us right back into the tension. The prevailing mood of desperation is evident through the whole journey and quite strong, so much so that it feels almost as if the survivors are going through so much to only end up dying anyway. For some, this might be a turn-off; they might say, "Why read the book when the inevitable will happen?" I feel, though, that the futility of the whole situation brings out the real terror in the novel, and fills the reader with a great sense of dread.

It's always hard to stay away from nods towards other zombie films, however, and The Rage Plague is reminiscent of scenes from an amalgam of movies. The school rooftop scene feels a lot like the remake of Dawn of the Dead, on top of the mall looking out at the hundreds of zombies infesting the parking lot. There's also a distinct 28 Days Later allusion, especially with the virus causing anger-like symptoms in the crazies. For Giangregorio's book, it doesn't really hinder the reading to have these images in the reader's head, but it does feel very familiar. It's not a bad thing, because Giangregorio has a lot of creative ideas that help to negate the genre cliches, but it does emphasize the fact that the use of zombies has become a loaded idea.

As I said before, Giangregorio has brought some cool ideas to the table here. One of them is having a fully conscious "zombie," which I've had the idea of for a while but haven't seen implemented. Here, the conscious zombie commands an army of the crazies against any normal human, giving us a misanthropic tone that stands out among the many other motifs. The book tackles humanity's own cruel tendencies, but this idea has been done so much that it's refreshing to see a change in themes. 

There's also a segment about building pipe bombs to use against the survivors' attackers. What an awesome idea! Use the stuff you have to build something useful instead of trying to scavenge for bullets. This gives the characters a real feeling instead of having everyone aimlessly wander around, pretending like they know what they're doing but instead internally cowering in fear. 

In fact, the characters are developed well, especially for how many there are in the narrative. Bill is obviously the most relatable, although he does have a tendency to be a dick. This is truthful, though, and I respect that. He has a smattering of good and bad inside of him, and he feels more three-dimensional because of it. The rest of the characters are significantly flatter than Bill, even the conscious Crazy, but each of them gets their own little turn at exposition. It's effective and keeps the plot moving without having to stop and develop each character fully.

One of the problems I had with the plot, though, was the fact that the conscious Crazy seems to have a bigger part in the rising action than he does at the climax. I expected that the group would have to face off with him at the conclusion of the story, but instead, each group goes their seperate ways, and Bill's group doesn't even know that this conscious Crazy exists. I felt a letdown here, because it was as if this was a huge tease.

Another thing that was cause for concern was the fact that the beginning and the end of the narrative resemble each other a lot. In both parts, Bill and the survivors are escaping from a horde of zombies on a rooftop and outrunning an explosion. The events seemed way too similar, and if they were meant to be, it didn't do anything flattering to the storyline just to hint at the desperate repetitions of their lives. I wanted to see the novel do something new at the end, rather than doubling back on itself. 

The Rage Plague is a good portion of zombie fun which doesn't do much to raise the bar for the whole genre but doesn't seem to intend to. Giangregorio throws us right into the mix and then extracts us back out, and in a way, it's very fitting with the overall tone of the book. It's a short read, but a pleasant one. It's difficult to put down, and though we never learn what happens to this group of unfortunate people, it's somehow satisfactory - maybe it's best not to know the details, good or bad, in this land where extreme measures must be taken.