Book Review- Soulless by Christopher Golden

Soulless by Christopher Golden
From the back cover:

"Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window -- just a few minutes -- to send a final message to their grieving loved ones. Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed -- catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....

The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover. They are soulless. The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living -- shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes -- two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard -- is making its way to the center of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness."

As you may or may not remember, I posted a review of Golden's other new YA book Poison Ink last month, and wasn't completely enthralled with it. Reading this book COMPLETELY changed my opinion of Golden and his writing. This book gripped me from the first page, and kept me reading. I found it difficult to put the book down. It's much more gory than Poison Ink since zombies are involved. It's a fast-paced book, which I thought Poison Ink lacked, and events happen right away in this story, compelling the reader along. I also loved the variety of characters that Golden talks about- he does a great job fleshing all of them out and giving them unique personalities, and all of them come from different walks of life, yet they band together to end this horror because they have a common goal. The ending is unexpected and a fitting way to conclude this horrific story. This is a fantastic novel, and one that will not leave you once you finish and close the book.

Oh, and be sure to read this with the lights on. And during the day. Otherwise, you'll be up all night.