Zombie tales have been a staple of horror fiction for fairly a while, the undead creatures have shambled into the broader consciousness so it isn’t simple to place a brand new spin on the zombie story. Debut novelist Leigh Radford might have discovered one thing distinctive, although.
How far would you go to avoid wasting your marriage? For British scientist Kesta Shelley, there isn’t any restrict.
Having at all times most well-liked the corporate of microbes, Kesta has spent her life trying down the barrel of a microscope reasonably than cultivating private relationships. However that modified when Kesta met Tim—her cheerleader, her greatest good friend, her absolute every part. So, when he was one of many final individuals in London to be contaminated with a perplexing virus that left the town ravaged, Kesta went into triage mode.
Although the federal government has rounded up and disposed of all of the contaminated, Kesta is ready to preserve her husband (un)alive—and hidden—with assets from the hospital the place she works. She spends her days reviewing biopsy slides and her evenings caring for him, however he’s clearly declining. The sedatives aren’t working like they used to, and his violent outbursts have gotten extra frequent. As Kesta races in opposition to the clock, her colleagues begin noticing adjustments in her conduct and look. She is withering away, self-medicating with alcohol, and has stopped attending her mandated ZARG (Zombie Apocalypse Restoration Group) conferences. Her take care of Tim has spiraled into absolute obsession.
There are whispers of a top-secret lab engaged on a treatment, and Kesta clings to the opportunity of being recruited like a lifeline. However can she save her husband earlier than he’s found? Or worse…will they set off one other outbreak?
Like a number of horror, One Yellow Eye is a narrative that unfolds as one individual’s issue in coping with grief, the lack of a beloved one. You would make the argument that the protagonist Kesta is in denial in regards to the dying of her husband. She is a scientist and she or he thinks she will “treatment” him of his zombie affliction. All of the individuals who caught the contagious virus and have become zombies have been rounded up and handled. Besides possibly Kesta’s husband, Tim. Considerably paying homage to younger Karen within the basement of Night time of the Residing Lifeless, Kesta retains Tim chained up and secluded in her house. This offers Kesta additional drive to turn out to be a member of “Undertaking Daybreak,” to find out how the virus began and a treatment or stop it from occurring once more.
Radford has some fascinating issues going for this story, the science factor si intriguing and helps to carry extra layers of pressure. Kesta is beneath stress from her job, stress from her mates as a result of she’s hiding her undead husband, and harassed as a result of she is burying her grief by denial and specializing in a treatment. It’s as a result of Kesta has such first hand information of how the undead perform (he husband Tim), that she is ready to use that information to get forward of her friends and the scientific forms just a bit bit.
Having set the story after the zombies have flourished and been rounded up, it units up with some sturdy resonance with the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Positive, the virus has largely been contained, however it the plague may all to simply reemerge.
It is rather heartbreaking to observe Kesta’s story, her grief is palpable. One other layer Radford provides to separate her zombies is that they maintain a part of their humanity and their reminiscences; their id. This makes the grief much more troublesome for Kesta to course of as a result of these zombies appear not even largely useless. In different phrases, this specific zombie offers the surviving members of the undead’s household false hope.
Which is why a few of the steps Kesta takes to try to save her husband are comprehensible. However from an moral and scientific perspective, going by with these steps past simply considering them is the actual downside. She primarily embodies the concept of sustaining an enormous lie grows harder the longer the lie is informed. Her grief drives her scientific, reasoning thoughts to locations that motive shouldn’t be current. As she continued to carry to the deception, my empathy for Kesta began to slide away. Sadly, the strain and pacing unraveled slightly bit as properly. Radford introduced the novel to a reasonably good conclusion, although.
One Yellow Eye is an fascinating tackle the zombie novel. Science isn’t at all times on the forefront of zombie fiction (the high-water mark in that regard for me is Mira Grant’s Newsflesh saga), and Radford’s novel stands out due to that factor, that factor is what is going to draw readers to the novel. Kesta’s empathetic grief will preserve readers alongside for the experience; grief isn’t at all times related to zombie tales, both.
Hardcover | Gallery Books | July 2025
https://www.leighradfordauthor.com/
https://reactormag.com/excerpts-one-yellow-eye-by-leigh-radford/
Assessment copy courtesy of the writer, Gallery Books
© 2025 Rob H. Bedford
Leave a Reply