The+Girl+with+all+the+Gifts

//The Girl with all the Gifts// by M.R. Carey



My digital download expired before I could finish this, but based on the half I read, it's excellent! I don't know if I can recommend unfinished books for the top ten, but this is a great pick if we need a horror selection. It's an adult book w/teen appeal. Cool sci-fi set up - after "the breakdown," Britain has become overrun with "hungries" - victims of a fungal virus that turns them into zombies (classic zombies in that they're basically brain dead, but of the modern "fast zombie" variety). But a small percentage of the hungries - all children - have maintained their humanity, and are being studied in a creepy lab/school where the head researcher has no issue with plucking them from their classroom for dissection and disposal. One girl, Melanie, is particularly gifted, and one of the teachers Miss Justineau grows to care for her. Just when she's about to risk her job (and life) to save the girl from the death-by-creepy-doctor, the lab is overrun by a zombie attack, and it becomes a survival story. Great female characters, nice crossover of sci-fi and horror. interesting ethical issues. I'm sure it's not the only book where we get the zombie's point of view, but that was a cool aspect too. Top ten! - Liz, Merrimack PL