'Clickers vs Zombies' – J.F. Gonzalez & Brian Keene (Deadite Press )

I've had a great time making my way through the 'Clicker-verse' but all good things have to come to an end and that's where this review finds me (until my next re-read). You know when you binge on a whole series all at once and then you're done and you literally have no idea what you are going to read next because what could possibly be as awesome as what you've just read? Yep, that's me right now.

I've got a few ideas but while I sort myself out for my final day of work before the Christmas break, what could possibly be more cool than a book about Clickers? The answer is in the title above...

In the aftermath of a devastating tsunami and a series of undersea earthquakes, hordes of Clickers swarm onto the California coastline, slaughtering everything in their path. As the attacks spread to other parts of the world, humanity fights back, unaware that a second foe is about to emerge - Ob, the leader of a supernatural race of beings known as the Siqqusim, who have the ability to possess and reanimate the dead.

Now, Earth faces an invasion from not one, but two enemies - the mindless and hungry Clickers, and the evil and equally ravenous zombies. Both groups have only one goal in mind - the total extermination of the human race. But what happens when these two forces meet...

CLICKERS VS. ZOMBIES - No matter who wins, mankind loses...

The answer is simple then and perhaps the only place left to go after you've trashed most of America in book two and threatened the world with the arrival of Dagon in book three. Do a soft reboot in a parallel world and fill it full of the Siqqusim, what's not to like? It's an approach that works on a number of levels but almost doesn't, just when the book really feels like it's stepping up a gear.

When Conan was asked what is best in life, he could have easily given Clickers fighting zombies as his answer. And what happens when a Clicker dies? You've got Clickers fighting zombies... and zombie Clickers! This makes for some amazing fight sequences, all in the spirit of what made the first three books such fun to read; the biggest, pulpiest horror that you can find and written by two guys who just love what they're doing. You can't help but get a buzz off all of that and it's just glorious. It's a little bit of a shame then all this sometimes means that the human survivors get a little bit of an easier ride than they should have done. This is understandable when you're a monster fighting what's in front of you, you're not going to notice the humans sneaking past. I just thought, sometimes, that the humans got off a little lightly because of this although, to be fair, Gonzalez and Keene more than make up for this right at the end. Talk about a face off... It was more than appropriately climactic.

As a long time reader of Brian Keene's work, and frequenter of hs website, it was a real joy to read through 'Clickers vs Zombies' and spot the names of favourite characters (familiar faces in a slightly different world). In particular, it was just great to meet Ob again, the wise cracking-est villain since Freddie Kruger, and also to see Mike Lombardo meet the zombie cow. Seriously, there was a zombie cow, how good are Gonzalez and Keene that they will throw a zombie cow into the mix and the reader doesn't even think, 'hang on, that's just daft...' You just go along for the ride as you know it's going to be a good one.

'Clickers vs Zombies' only weighs in at 288 pages but there's so much going on that you'd be forgiven for thinking there were twice that. Gonzalez and Keene (I'm not even going to try and guess where the line is drawn in terms of one finishing writing and the other picking it up) make good use of that space writing with an energy that rubs your face in the viscera while powering the plot along so you have to work to keep up. One minute, you're watching a boat being capsized by a zombie shark, the next minute you're walking in the footsteps of two Black Lodge agents who are trying to save what's left of the world. It's just relentless and that is exactly what is needed for a book like this.

'Clickers vs Zombies' could have made things harder for Jim, Rick and their families but that's a tiny quibble given the rest of the book and just how good it was. What we've got here is another strong entry in the series and (although this wasn't the aim) a book that signs off the series in just the right way. I loved it and if you like Clickers, zombies and/or zombie Clickers, you'll love it too.