DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON by J.L. Bourne

Read by Jay Snyder

O.D.T.A.A.

This is my first foray into the literary realm of Zombie fiction. Here we are given a dispassionate, matter of fact diary account of the Zombie Apocalypse. It was touted as the best of the Zombie stories yet written. Told strictly through diary entries of a survivor, who remains nameless throughout. The account is nearly devoid of emotion. Unlike another famous horror written in the form of diary entries, Bram Stoker's DRACULA, this book downplays all feeling, all emotion, all relevance to the human condition.

Never are we given any attempt at an explanation as to how the Zombie plague works. Maybe that is in book two; if so I'll never find out. No explanation as to how these starving, decomposing damned things can have the energy to scream and chase the living months and months after their last meal. The matter of fact day by day journal presentation is an attempt at realism so the supernatural explanation is never suspected. No, we are to just sit back and endure the repetitive explanation of one Zombie encounter after another. There is only so much interest that can be generated relating the attacks of mindless Undead creatures who have lost the capacity to think or even to use fine motor skills to open door knobs. The listener who enjoys this book would have to have a real affinity for the whole Zombie concept to relate to such a story.

This novel contains no dialog. It is completely related by a first person narrator, and as a result the characters never take on animated life. The population of the novel has the feel of an assembly of character sketches and do not endear the listener to the story. They are mere place-holders, leaving much to much to the imagination. This is fiction for those who desire mindless relentless open-mouthed, hands outstretched, foot-dragging, Zombie-like action. It is one damned thing after another. It would help to actually be a Zombie to enjoy this book.

Jay Snyder is now associated permanently in my mind to this story. He has a rich reverberant timbre to his voice, that I would appreciate reading other material. Like it or not, his is now the monotonous voice of Zombie fiction. It was Jay Synder's voice that I heard for hour after living dead hour telling me how one guy managed to escape death over and over again persued by the hungry, screeching, limping Zombie hoards. Jay Snyder gives a passable reading that is probably appropriate to the tone of the novel. But the longer I went into the book I kept wishing for some sign of life, for some feeling, some human emotion, some reason to care. It never came. And, as unfairly as it may seem, Jay Snyder is to blame. Kill the messenger.