After reading OUTPOST and JUGGERNAUT by Adam Baker, I started to consider his books like a weird drug. TERMINUS, his latest awesomeness, proved no exception.
TERMINUS is another story set in Baker’s world in which a strange disease has destroyed the world by turning people into zombies (OUTPOST). (In JUGGERNAUT, something of a prequel, it is about to destroy the world.) Nothing else ties the stories together other than the cause of the disease, its symptoms (turning people into ravenous zombies), and Baker’s trademark plot elements and style. I like that. It gives Baker as the writer a huge amount of freedom to engage and explore, while it gives me as the reader a sweeping view of his world.
Why are his books like a weird drug?
First, let me tell you about the euphoria. I love this guy’s writing. The staccato rhythm, the sharp pace, the tough characters, the impossible mission, the steadily escalating threat. He’s a brilliant thriller writer. The images he evokes are amazing. His books have the pacing of an action movie. He’s one of those guys who makes the zombie genre completely fresh.
Then there are the side effects. Baker’s characters tend to be extremely macho, including the women, and they also talk in the exact same way. The characters are instead differentiated by a thick layering of the superficial. The constant use of sentence fragments becomes more and more noticeable over time. This may turn some people off.
Finally, there’s the addiction. A few months after reading Baker’s books with a feeling of awe (and a little irritation at the side effects), I find myself longing for the next. I put aside Robert McGammon’s THE FIVE (which I was really enjoying) when I heard TERMINUS was out, and started devouring it immediately.
I wrote in my review of JUGGERNAUT that Adam Baker is an author to watch, and I’ll say it again. If you enjoy zombie books, you should give this guy a try. Maybe start with JUGGERNAUT (a sequel but really it’s a prequel), then OUTPOST, then TERMINUS.
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