State of Decay by James Knapp – review

From the back cover:

They call them revivors–technologically reanimated corpses–and away from the public eye, they do humanity’s dirtiest work. In the near future, where a never-ending war drones on, they are the infantry. Back home, they sustain a black-market trade in labor and pleasure models.

If Nico Wachalowski never sees another revivor, it will be too soon. He chose to fight alongside–and against–them rather than allowing his corpse to later be revived for military services. But now, back home and working as a field agent for the FBI, he’s sent to bust a smuggling ring trafficking revivors for the sex trade. What he finds is not pleasure models, but revivors that are custom-made to kill, and a massive stockpile of weapons. Someone is taking a war to the streets. Nico soon realizes that the twisted roots of this conspiracy go unfathomably deep–and that there may be more to revivors than he ever knew.

If you were to base your expectations for this novel solely on the cover art, you’d probably imagine it to be a straight-up zombie thriller not unlike the innumerable movies you’ve seen (or seen advertised, if zombies aren’t really you’re thing). But I think the back cover blurb does an adequate job of suggesting that there’s more to State of Decay than just that. As a matter of fact, this story proved to be fairly complex, particularly in terms of themes. Some may argue that it might be a little too complex, but I reserve judgment on that matter until I’ve read the sequels (Silent Army and Element Zero). It may be that everything will wrap up nice and tight, and all of the plot threads will prove essential.

So if you were looking forward to a mass of ravaging zombies, well, I’m sorry. No ravaging in sight, I’m afraid…at least, not in the immediate present where the reader gets to hear about it (though there are a few pretty disturbing memories lurking about, courtesy of Nico Wachalowski’s soldiering days). But one thing’s for sure–this book will keep you on your toes, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced story where all kinds of things can happen, you may have found your next read.

What I really like about this book is that the “zombies” (or revivors) are given a sound reason to exist, and they aren’t simply the result of some wacky virus taking off and waking up the dead. No, revivors are intentionally reanimated corpses, generally used as expendable elements in war, but also with other less-than-savory uses. Of course, at the basic level, they still have that zombie-esque hunger drive, but the People-In-Charge have installed inhibitors to prevent them from acting on those impulses. Still, those safety elements can be removed–illegal as it might be–for the war, which makes the resulting scenarios really very frightening.

But the wars overseas are not the focus of State of Decay. No, this story brings us into regular everyday society, though it’s nothing we might recognize. Citizenship is determined by one’s cooperation in the war effort. First-tier citizens are those who have signed up to serve for at least two years in the military. Second-tier citizens choose not to serve while living and are instead wired to serve as revivors after death. Third-tier citizens choose neither option but live in poverty. If you ask me, this concept alone is pretty terrifying.

The four main characters in this novel—Nico Wachalowski, Faye Desalia, Zoe Ott, and Calliope Flax– span the levels of citizenship, so we’re able to see the differences between them and the various troubles they face. Their voices are distinct so, despite the constantly switching viewpoints, there is never any trouble determining which character is speaking.

My only real issue with the novel, however, stems from the characters. They’re likeable enough, but I never felt a deep connection with any of them. It may be that the plot itself was too whirlwind—too driving—for them to have time to become people I was really interested in as individuals. As story elements, they do their job, but as people I’ll continue to remember, I was a little less impressed. It wasn’t that their personalities were lacking—as I said, they were each very distinct—it was simply that the book didn’t delve too deeply into them.

Of the four of them, Calliope Flax was probably my favorite, as she was the most colorful of the characters. Unfortunately, she’s also the one most at the mercy of the plot. She makes very few decisions of her own, as she’s constantly driven forward by events outside of her control. The other characters have a similar problem, as they continue to follow hints and clues but don’t seem to actively move any events of their own volition.

The plot of this novel is full of twists and turns, and eventually all of the viewpoints converge. But when it comes to a complete wrap up of the events started in this story, I think you’ll find that it doesn’t really serve as a standalone novel. State of Decay is obviously the starter of the series, building up the conspiracy elements, murders, and secret tests in order to delve more deeply into them in the next books. That’s all well and fine, since there are a few answers given by the end, but some readers might leave wanting more closure. As for myself, I didn’t mind. The story moved quickly, I was interested, and now I’m curious about what comes next.

The second book in the series, Silent Army, is already available, and the third, Element Zero, will be released on April 5th–so if you’re really determined to get to the heart of the matter immediately, you’re in luck.