The Genesis Shield

Because what Steven Spruill is attempting in this novel is to explore a possible scientific hypothesis that would explain a phenomenon usually only addressed by schlocky, not-to-be-taken-seriously horror movies, he assiduously avoids any use whatsoever of the word "zombie", but that is basically what this novel is about. At least I think that is what most people would call those who have died, but then rise up to walk again without actually quite being "alive" again. Although I read comparatively few horror novels, so I can't say if this is better than the average one about zombies, I thought it was superior to the characterization in the movies I've seen, in that it addressed a couple of things that they don't. For one thing, in most of the movies the creation of the undead usually either "just happens" ( i.e., "Night of the Living Dead" ), or is brought about by some faceless, indefinite medical lab ( "28 Days Later", "Resident Evil" ). In "The Genesis Shield" the main character, Dr. Peter Morrissey, is the one who created the serum that causes it, and is horribly frustrated and helpless when circumstances rip it out of his control, and Spruill makes you feel how personally devastated he is. For another, in most movies the fear and dread comes from having these things coming at you that seem unstoppable, because they are already dead. I think it would be very difficult for a movie to convey, as I feel this book does successfully, the horror of "waking up" after you had died and remembering what it was to be human, but being trapped inside your own corpse, unable to "move on" or to stop yourself from acting like a zombie -- even if that means killing those who were your best friends. Read today, this novel ( written in the early '80s ) feels oddly nostalgic, harkening back to the days when America's greatest fear was the nuclear threat of Soviet Russia, but all in all I think it is relatively well done for what it is, and worth a read if you can track down a copy. From the back cover: Washington's Dulles Airport-- Inside a darkened van, unaware that his conversation is being monitored, an agent of _Voyevoda_, Russia's super-secret intelligence service, sets a plan in motion that will leave America a radioactive wasteland...in only twenty-five days! Ridgetown Research Center-- Deep in the heart of this fortress-like Army radiobiology lab, a frantic search for America's salvation has produced an extraordinary solution: Dr. Peter Morrissey has created L-6 -- the Genesis Shield -- a serum that not only neutralizes the effect of nuclear fallout, but prolongs human life! L-6 has one devastating side effect. And before Morrissey can warn the nation of its horrifying secret, the serum becomes a deadly tool in a reckless bid for power. With doomsday drawing ever closer, Morrissey must risk his family, sanity, and survival -- to expose a friend now transformed into a fiendish enemy, and stop his creation from altering the human race fo