Social elite zombies, lawyer vampires, wood nymph talk show hosts, prepubescent pigtailed reapers and various other bizarre characters come together in another very unique and at times (OK, most of the time) riotous mystery adventure…oh, and did I forget to mention a whole stable of Yeti strippers? Be prepared for off the wall humor that leaves no taboo subject alone as Mark Henry lets us drop in on the trials of life (or afterlife of sorts) of zombie Amanda Feral as she leads a very eclectic group of creatures in investigating a murder mystery that fell into her lap (or at least whats left of her lap). Think Agatha Cristie meets Shaun of the Dead meets Reality XXX Game Show…

Amanda has hit a low time in her life, cash flow is low, as in getting her car repo’d low and almost to the point that she might have to go to her mom, the vampire strip club owner, for help. When the very popular reality television personality and crooner, Johnny Birch, comes to her with an offer for her to participate in his next reality show, her boss gives her the incentive to accept his offer. The wood nymph was known for more than his show, Tapping Birch’s Syrup, and meeting him at her mother’s strip club after he had acquainted himself with one of the strippers just drove home the reality of the rumors about him. Despite her misgivings about the man, she needed the cash and agreed to be one of the celebrity judges for Supernatural TV’s latest reality game show, America’s Minions. Amanda would, of course, be their Simon.

Amanda’s life as a zombie was never a smooth sailing, but to make matters worse, before heading into the mansion that was to house both the contestants, the judges and the actual set the contests would be played out on, Amanda and her boyfriend Scott have a big fight and he breaks up with her. What was with her luck? Now no car, no boyfriend, no money and her BFF had somehow wiggled her way onto the set and hopefully onto Johnny himself, eeeeewh.

Now, stuck in the mansion with too many off the wall creatures to mention, (OK, to mention a few: a largess mature voodoo priestess, a crossdressing werewolf, a hairy yeti stripper…I did say only a few) there wasn’t much to do but dwell on dealing with the break up of her relationship with the sexy werewolf (OK, it’s not like he won’t take her back someday….. right?), and facing the possibility that not only would she loose everything she still owned if the television show didn’t pan out but she might also have to face going home to live with the parental figure Ethel (again eeeeeewh).

Amanda and Wendy have to come up with a few ideas fast when Johnny is found dead - possibly murdered - and they take it upon themselves to use said murder as part of their own show and see if they can flush out the killer on film, assuring them of a ratings winner, cash flow and the renewed celebrity status she was due. With a houseful of possible suspects that seemingly had a taste of Johnny themselves, suspects were plentiful, but when the players in the game begin to drop out because they had dropped dead themselves, the list gets narrower but the tension and suspense expand tremendously.

When Ethel’s brothel becomes another casualty to the mystery, the stakes get higher, and after a visit to the precious reapers and their recuperative day spa, the group focuses on flushing out the true killer and finding the truth behind the mysterious relationships Johnny Birch found himself entangled in before his death. In true murder mystery fashion, the culprit is revealed and Amanda and her friends capture it all on film, ready for the next really big reality show phenomenon or possibly becoming a reality television shocker when they become targets of the killer or killers themselves.

Battle Of The Network Zombies left me holding my side in pain…physical pain from laughing so hard that I think I tore something important. The book should come with warnings to wear a fat belt to hold in parts that might rupture from said laughing and that readers should have full control of their bladder at all times.

This, unfortunately, was my first taste of Mark Henry’s written humor;it will NOT be my last. I had been warned before that to read a Mark Henry book you would be committing yourself to a lifetime addiction to the brilliant, snarky, raw and sometimes blue humor, but I scoffed at that warning. I am now fully prepared to commit myself (no, not that way) to the addiction again and again. Mark’s footnotes throughout the book are more than an added bonus…they provide the reader with a true incite into the mind that brought us the amazing Amanda Feral. Do NOT miss this book, I repeat: Do NOT miss out on putting Battle Of The Network Zombies on your bookshelf forever as the written word within will no doubt stay with you forever anyway.

Book Stats:

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; Original edition (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758225261
• ISBN-13: 978-0758225269

To purchase a print copy of Battle of the Network Zombies from Amazon click here.

To purchase a print copy of Battle of the Network Zombies from Barnes & Noble click here.

Books in the series in the order they should be read:
Happy Hour of the Damned
Road Trip of the Living Dead

Battle Of The Network Zombies

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