I got World War Z by Max Brooks as a Christmas gift and needing a break from the drudgery of The Mysteries Of Udolpho, I devoured it in a week. For me, that’s fast and always a sign of a good book. I found it an entertaining and prophetic piece of popcorn fiction.

The story is told through a series of interviews with people who were at different moments and places during the great zombie outbreak. There is no central character, though there are recurring characters who had a hand in the outcome as important scientific, military, or political operators. Because each interview is only a brief couple pages, the pacing is quick and fresh. We bounce around the entire arc of the war from whispered beginning all the way through full-on apocalypse to finally rebuilding and aftermath.

I found myself completely absorbed in the opening third of the book. That is always my favorite part of a zombie story.

• The news channels covering a “mysterious case of rabies.”
• The ambulances screaming around the corner.
• The first zombie lurking at a sliding porch door with someone inside saying something like “hey man, you lost?”

Those little moments build tension with that “oh shit, something is going down” feeling. This book had all those great moments like that.

A standout chapter is the famous Battle for Yonkers. This chapter has a lot of fanart made of it. There’s even a fan made movie rendered with Arma video game mods. Manhattan has been given up for lost. The military baits the millions of zombies to come north through the narrow strait of Yonkers where the Army awaits. It’s a realistic look at how a military battle between the living and undead armies would happen. The answer is disastrous of course.

The author is Max Brooks, son of legendary comedy film director Mel Brooks. This book is not a comedy though, it’s more of a horror mockumentary. If you look at Brooks’ bibliography you can tell he’s a zombie head. One of his early published titles is The Zombie Survival Guide. In World War Z Brooks takes all that knowledge and theory and lays out the most realistic and detailed outline for a zombie apocalypse. Brooks explores every angle from regular people trying to survive, to an army grunt at Yonkers, and even to someone stuck on the International Space Station.

Sprinkled throughout the book are fact checked appendix notes. When an interviewee says something not true or misinformed according to the rules of the book, the author makes a note in the margins. Just as in real life not every recollection can be 100% accurate 100% of the time. I liked that, it lent a degree of believability.

It doesn’t rely on cliches or overt gore. There are heavy scenes and some that nearly made me cry that I still think about. It was such a realistic vision that a couple times I briefly forgot it didn’t happen. And yet by the end there had always been this belief in the human capacity to overcome. Finally, the movie starring Brad Pitt has absolutely nothing in common with the book, other than there’s zombies. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s a fan of zombies or military tactics and looking for a road trip read.