Synopses & Reviews
The sickness struck everyone sixteen and over. Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters, and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups who are hungry, bloodthirsty, and not giving up.
DogNut and the rest of his crew, in search of the friends they lost during the fire, set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?
Review
No YA zombie book out there approaches the ick factor reached by Higson's The Enemy (2010), The Dead (2011), and this gooey third volume. The plague of "sickos" has dwindled enough that Higson's primary focus is now the power grabs occurring between the surviving tribes of teens holed up in the Tower of London, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and the Natural History Museum. Higson's savviest move is making the goofy 15-year-old DogNut our hero: he is the stark opposite of most brilliant, brooding protagonists. And for those who just want to see a zom "poking his tongue into the eye socket of a severed head," well, there's that, too. - Daniel Kraus--Booklist
Review
3Q 4P J S One year after the disaster that turned all adults into diseased cannibals, London's surviving kids have found ways to protect themselves from the Sickos. Micro-civilizations have been created in secured locations like the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. Many still wonder, though, what may have happened to the siblings and friends that they were parted from on the route to safety. A group of ten kids, led by DogNut, a tough sixteen-year-old, decide to leave the relative security of their home at the Tower of London to seek out friends and siblings. The journey takes them through a dangerous path that leads them not only into deadly Sicko territory, but also into a struggle amongst the surviving groups of kids, fighting for power in the heart of London. Unfortunately, they discover that the Sickos are gaining new skills and have begun to work together and now, only the luckiest will survive. The third book in Higson's terrifying zombie series will continue to enthrall horror fans. Less adventurous readers, though, may want to ease into the genre with a less graphically violent world. Higson's readers soon learn that, while the action is non-stop and the world-building is well done, characters may be killed off at any time, so attachments are often cause for despair. Genre fans, though, will be happy to immerse themselves in a world where danger lurks around every corner, and gruesome, grisly deaths are frequent and heart-stopping.-Jessica Miller.--VOYA
Review
PRAISE FOR THE ENEMY "The Enemy grabs you by the throat . . . and bites off your ear. It's kids versus zombies and no one is playing nice. The action--and boy, is there action--takes us through a London transformed by the unexplained illness that has turned every adult into a shuffling, drooling, kid-crunching machine. Bonus: zombie royals. Sheer fun."--Michael Grant, author of the Gone series
Review
PRAISE FOR THE DEAD ". . . Higson delivers an action-packed summer read."--Kirkus
Review
PRAISE FOR THE FEAR "The third book in Higson's terrifying zombie series will continue to enthrall horror fans."--VOYA
Review
PRAISE FOR THE ENEMY "...the action is of the first order-Higson writes with a firestorm velocity that inspires to the sweeping reach of Stephen King's The Stand."--ALA Booklist
About the Author
Charlie Higson is an acclaimed comedy writer, producer, actor, and genuine James Bond aficionado. He is the author of the adult thrillers
Full Whack and
King of the Ants; the internationally best-selling Young Bond series:
SilverFin, Blood Fever, Double or Die, Hurricane Gold, and
By Royal Command; and four books in the Enemy series.
Charlie is a fan of zombie movies and believes that we shouldn't try to prevent young people from experiencing fear, because it helps prepare them for later life. When writing
The Enemy, he kept rachetting up the action and description in an attempt
to frighten the pants off his ten-year-old son. He lives in London. Follow him on Twitter at:
twitter.com/monstroso.