The book takes place after the Zombie apocalypse has occurred. The zombies emerged only a short time after the first real super-heroes began to pop up. Now most of the population is dead, the government is in hiding, and the zombies have all the remaining survivors living in fear.
In Los Angeles, the few super-heroes have gathered together what survivors they could, and built a fortress out of the remains of Paramount Studios, which they have dubbed “The Mount”.
The heroes do what they can to keep the survivors safe. They scavenge for supplies, maintain what order they can, and try to help people forget the horror that the world has become.
The world won’t forget them though. The remnants of one of the LA Street gangs has built their own society and taken back some of the streets of LA. They welcome survivors, as long as they adopt their creed. Those who disobey are thrown into one of their zombie pens. They cook over fires and have no electricity, so they want what the survivors in The Mount have. They have no way to defeat the heroes though, or do they? Some of the heroes were taken by the zombies and have returned as powerful undead machines with an unquenchable taste for human flesh. The Street gang has a few, but how can they control them?
Some of the heroes you’ll meet:
Stealth: Beautiful ninja-like woman who is the true leader on the mount. She is smart, sexy, and can silently kick-ass. She’s not zombie proof though, and why won’t she take off that hood?
Gorgon: He can drain the life force from people with his eyes to power himself up to super-human abilities. Zombies don’t have life force…
St. George: The closest thing to Superman. He can’t be hurt, except by another super-power. He is the co-leader of the survivors on The Mount. Will his ideals and refusal to make the hard choices doom them all?
Zzzap: Barry is wheelchair bound when in human form, but can convert to pure energy with all the power of a nuclear reactor. It’s hard to talk when in energy form, you don’t need to talk when you can fire a blast of energy that can destroy a building. Midnight controls the darkness though, and he’s a zombie.
Cerberus: When encased in her Battletech-like armor, Danielle is the most powerful hero of them all. All that armor needs power. What happens when the power runs out?
The premise may sound comic book like, but it is anything other than that. The book is hard-hitting and gritty. The heroes are real people who are struggling to survive and keep as many people alive as they can. I was hooked right at the beginning. The book is tense, and builds up to an excellent climax with surprises that kept me on the edge of my seat. It is my favorite horror novel since World War Z. It was a listen that I had a hard time turning off. The plot builds and keeps you guessing. I want a graphic novel, I want a movie, I want a GAME!
Peter Clines has just recently released Ex-Patriots, the sequel to Ex-Heroes, that I am really looking forward to. I just finished Ex-Heroes today and just had to let everyone know about it.
Ex-Heroes is published by Permuted Press, who I hadn’t heard of before but have a cavalcade of horror novels. I already ordered both of their Cthulhu Unbound novels and I will report back on those.
Ex-Heroes is available on Audible as an audiobook for $17.95, or as a paperback on Amazon for $13.95
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