A zombie shambles into a woman’s apartment. Her body is found later, torn, ripped and with her head missing.
Hunter Gamble is the zombie’s lawyer and doesn’t think he is responsible for the crime. This is the set up for Atticus for the Undead.
If, like me, the name Atticus immediately makes you think of To Kill a Mockingbird then you are exactly right. Harper Lee’s famous legal drama in which Atticus defends a black man accused of raping a white woman during an era of racism and oppression.
In America there has been a great Unveiling. Zombies, werewolves, vampires, mages and even witches are real. The politically correct name for these people is “Arcane” and terms like supernatural are seen as insulting.
Huge sways of the population are not cool with this. They’re still adjusting to a world where their neighbour might be a zombie, who succumbs to the hunger rage, and bashes down their door. Yet these Arcanes – well, most of them – are still people. They’re sentient, intelligent and capable of love, fear and pride.
John Abromowitz has a “supernatural legal drama” with Atticus for the Undead. The action cuts between zombies in the mall to lawyers leaping up to object to leading witness statements. It’s a strange mix – but it actually works.
It works because this geek is used to reading about zombies, witches and vampires. It’s the legal aspect of Atticus for the Undead that is strange and alien to me, and that’s the world that the main character Hunter Gamble helps us with. He’s a defence lawyer for the Arcane. It’s a dangerous job.
Abromowitz gets the legal ratio right. There’s certainly enough courtroom drama in Atticus to keep the legal plot front and centre. There’s not too much legal minutia though. I’m reading this book, after all, because it’s full of the paranormal.
A zombie shambles into a woman’s flat. She’s then found dead, brains missing, blood everywhere. Do you think the zombie is responsible? Hard to imagine otherwise – and that’s one of the reasons why Atticus for the Undead works so well. It challenges your own perceptions.
There’s plenty of twists and turns in this tale and by the end of the book we’ve reached an end. Atticus for the Undead is one of those books that finishes in a dovetail. The end’s the end but it also feels like a beginning. Sure enough, Atticus for the Undead is just the start of a series and the next, Identity Theft, will hopefully help tuck in some of the threads left untucked by Atticus.
Overall; I’m rather surprised but I actually enjoyed a legal drama. John Abromowitz’s successfully create a niche for zombie courtroom thrillers.
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