‘Closure. Limited’ And Other Zombie Tales’ – Max Brooks (Duckworth Overlook)

Page Count: 124 Pages.

I will never say no to a zombie book so when I saw this one the other day, in the Greenwich Oxfam, well, you know ;o) It’s been a years since I last read ‘World War Z’ but it has stayed with me (and I actually liked the film, it wasn’t that bad…) so the prospect of reading more stories from that setting was definitely an appealing one. And maybe that was my first mistake, don’t make assumptions before you’ve read the book Graeme… I’ll explain in a minute.

Now, this would be the paragraph where I normally copy and paste some blurb but ‘Closure, Limited’ is so short and to the point that it is literally very much the title on the cover; a collection of zombie tales, a couple from the ‘World War Z’ setting and another couple that aren’t but are included here anyway. And that’s what you need to know before reading this book, if you’re a fan of ‘World War Z’ (the book) then only half of this book is really for you.

That’s not to say that this book is a dud, far from it. ‘Closure, Limited’ and ‘Great Wall’ are superb reminders of what made ‘World War Z’ such a compelling read, an example of what humanity did to itself, whilst pulling itself back from the brink of extinction, and a sweet little example of just how adaptable we can be as a species. One minute, we’re fighting zombies and the next? We’re using them as a form of therapy. ‘Closure, Limited’ is the perfect reminder that Brooks not only knows his zombies, he also has a pretty good grasp on how humanity works as well. And the finality of it’s ending has you asking all the right questions.

And then you’ve got the other two stories in the collection.

On their own, ‘Steve and Fred’ and ‘The Extinction Parade’ are entertaining reads but the problem is that they don’t come anywhere near the other two stories in terms of quality. I liked the way that ‘Steve and Fred’ is actually two zombie stories for the price of one but it felt like it wasn’t so much a short story, more like a few passages that had been taken from a longer work. And I would have happily read that longer piece but what we were left with here didn’t work for me. The best zombie stories all have a feeling of hope about them, ‘Steve and Fred’ had none and I was left wondering what the point was.

I liked the idea behind ‘The Extinction Parade’ and thought it was executed well here. As a story though, it really felt out of place next to the other three stories and that killed the mood for me. The really annoying thing is that I can’t tell you why as I don’t want to spoil it! ‘The Extinction Parade’ is worth reading, it just doesn’t sit well in this collection.

‘Closure, Limited’ And Other Zombie Tales’ is a real ‘half and half’ book then. I liked it but you could have swapped ‘Steve and Fred’ and ‘The Extinction Parade’ for two actual ‘World War Z’ stories and the collection would have felt a lot more cohesive for it. Your mileage will vary though, it really does depend on what you’re hoping to get out of the read...