Book Review: Torment, by Jeremy Bishop

When I saw this book, I read that it was a "controversial" novel.  I will say, even though this is a zombie story, that is in fact the case - there are definitely some disturbing elements to this story.  Let me first say that Jeremy Bishop is a pseudonym (pen name) for Jeremy Robinson, who is responsible for the Nemesis Kaiju series and the Jack Sigler Chess Team adventures (I have not read any of these yet, but Pulse is on my list to read soon, and I understand it might be made into a movie).

Now, let's get some of the story basics out of the way (you can glean some of this from the back cover).  A small number of people survive a nuclear apocalypse and then must fight for their lives in a world overrun by zombies apparently produced by the conflict.  You don't often have the words "nuclear apocalypse" and "zombie" used in the same sentence very often, and I'm not aware of any zombie stories that start with a nuclear war.  Usually it is something like a virus, or in George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, it was speculated to be radiation from Venus which was reanimating the corpses.

This book is unlike any other zombie story I've seen, in book or film.  The way the nuclear conflict starts is a frightening idea.  It reminded me of one of Tom Clancy's books where a plane is used to take out a joint session of Congress.  The start of the nuclear conflict in Torment is an equally frightening concept.

A small group that is with the President of the United States launches into space to avoid the nuclear devastation.  Upon returning to Earth, the survivors quickly learn that the devastated world is not what they expected, and from the moment they touch down they are running for their lives.

I won't reveal much more of this story, but I will say this.  The breed of zombie found in this story is immensely creative, horrifying, and unlike anything I have seen before.  The pace of the story kept me reading until the end.

I will say that I was not a huge fan of the ending, and I have to say I'm not entirely sure what happened.  Note that this is not necessarily a major strike against this book. I have read many books that I enjoyed until the very end (one that jumps immediately to mind is Stephen King's Under the Dome - the story was great up until the final resolution at the end, and I understand that I'm not alone in this assessment).

One other item that bothers me, but may not bother others, is the fact that the state of the world after the nuclear apocalypse is left as a mystery.  There is no scientific explanation for how the zombies came into being, or more specifically why fallout isn't a problem when the survivors return to Earth such a short time after the devastation.  Typically, these kinds of things are explained in novels - it is part of the story.  This isn't so much the case with movies, which have a much more restricted time period in which to entertain an audience, and there is a larger expectation that you will suspend your disbelief.

Even with these two relatively minor flaws, I still found this to be a very enjoyable read, although I would not put it at the same level as the other books I've read by Mr. Robinson.