by Stephanie Barnett

Enter for a chance to win a copy of Dead Love. Instructions at the end of this review.

What’s some of the few things that humankind has always fought and killed for? Money, power, and love of course. The battle of Troy was fought over a woman; men killed for her. Is it any different nowadays? Life isn’t complete unless you have something like love to fight for. Life and love, it goes together like peas and carrots, you can’t have one without the other.

That’s where the true conflict in Dead Love, by Linda Watanabe McFerrin, lies. How can someone love someone who isn’t really alive? “If I had it, I would treasure it and worship it. I would never let it go.” – Clement

We first meet Erin Orison, the only daughter of American Ambassador Christian Orison, at the Narita Airport as she touches down for the first time ever in Tokyo. To Erin it was odd that her father had called her to Tokyo, since he had spent all 18 years of her life trying to ignore her existence. Once in Tokyo, she was supposed to have an audition with a choreographer named Hiroshi Nakamura, who with one word could make or break her career in dance.

Little did she know that the audition was just a ruse to get her to Japan, so the real plans could be set into action. After a time partying and living on her father’s dime with her “bodyguard” and lover Ryu, all hell breaks loose, literally. Ryu, a Yukazu mob member is charged with “killing” the naïve Erin. But things don’t go as planned. Instead of being used as blackmail against her deceitful, crime lord father, Clement, a real life Ghoul, tries to turn her into a Zombie, HIS Zombie using secrets he learned from a Haitian witchdoctor.

To his surprise, his plan would not turn out as he thought. Instead of a dependent, mindless, controllable Zombie, he is stuck with a half girl-half Zombie freak. Thus starts Erin’s Journey across Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Malaysia from normal girl, to Zombie-girl, to Ghoul’s girl. Will Erin ever be free of a crazed mysterious, crime filled world? Will she ever be able to break free of the Zombie feelings controlling her?

Clement, the obsessed Ghoul, tries to show Erin his true self, but it’s a little difficult to show someone your true self when it’s hidden behind a rotting corpse.

Not often have I been able to say that I actually LIKED a Zombie thriller, but in the case of Dead Love, I can honestly say I did. At first when I picked up Dead Love, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was it going to be a thriller, a horror, a comedy, or a love story?

Well, it’s all four, put together masterfully into an original novel unlike any I’ve ever read — a book that at times horrifies you, compels you, shocks you and keeps you intrigued and coming back for more until the last page. Dead Love is a book that is honestly unlike any book of our time. Full of Japanese references, Dead Love is in a category of Zombie book all its own.

To enter to win a copy of Dead Love, simply email KRL at life@kingsriverlife.com with the subject line “Dead Love”, or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen next Saturday.

Check out our interview with the author of Dead Love, Linda Watanabe McFerrin.

Stephanie Barnett is 17 and a contributor to our
Teen Talk section. She is a senior at Reedley High School who plans to attend Fresno State next fall and become a music teacher. At RHS she is in band, drama & an officer in NJROTC.