REVIEW: The Church by: John McCuaig

Plot

Sam, a typical Londoner, is not having a good day. Zombies are running amok through the neighborhood, he just had to kill his newly-turned wife, and the church where he has taken refuge is being run by a demented Reverend. What’s a guy to do?

Review

After reading THE CHURCH, I had to sit and ponder what I had just devoured for a bit before I could adequately crank out my thoughts. I let things marinate for awhile. When I finished it, I don’t think I cared for it much, but after further pondering, it began to grow on me. There were things about the book that I really liked, and an equal amount of stuff that either fell flat or just didn’t work. The book is a classic example of a mixed bag. Let’s run down the list.

First, on the positive side. In the Reverend who runs the Church, McCuaig has created a perfectly evil cretin who you despise more and more with each page. A man of iron clad conviction that runs the Church like the commandant of a concentration camp. This is a man who won’t think twice about tossing anyone who disobeys him over the wall to become brunch for the zombies that wait just outside. Often, the most unsettling horror in a Zombie apocalypse is not the zombies themselves, but the evil that man can do to their fellow man. McCuaig hits the ball out of the park here.

Characterization was another strong quality. Sam was a suitably torn hero. He reacted the way any of us readers would in that horrible situation. His character arc was believable and satisfying. I rooted for Sam to succeed, which isn’t always the case in z-poc novels. Your story is only as good as your protagonist, and it works here. All the supporting characters work as well, and the aforementioned Reverend bears repeating as a very chilling, believable, and vile human being.

The dialogue was simple and nothing fancy. There was nothing that really jumped off the page and demanded your attention. I was ok with that. Sometimes, simple and plain works best. The violence was suitably strong and the Gore was adequate.

Storywise, this is where the book begins to waver. The narrative, while passably smooth, sounds like its being written down by the story’s hero, Sam, in a quasi-journal mode, almost like you are hearing the story over a few pints down at the pub. The narrative is fast. So fast, in fact, that it detracted from the flow of the story. Not much is ever explored in depth. Some people might like the slick speed at which the story careens from page to page. I, personally, would have preferred just a bit more detail. A bit more meat on my plate, if you will. Everything just felt a tad rushed.

One of the biggest issues I had with THE CHURCH was there just wasn’t enough zombies. The first part of the book takes place almost entirely within the walls of the church compound, and it isn’t until the action progresses outside that the zombies really come into play. There is a lot of time spent indoors or inside the compound where the zombies are merely background noise. McCuaig does pick up the zombie tempo as the story moves ahead. There is a sequence at an abandoned hospital that is inspired, but because the narrative moves so fast, its done and over with very quickly, and whatever tension the story was going for dissipates quickly.

Overall, THE CHURCH is not necessarily a bad book, but it really doesn’t stand out at all either. It’s like the literary equivalent of light beer. It goes down smooth and fast, but it doesn’t leave enough of an impression to linger for very long afterwards.

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