Spec Ops Z by Gavin G Smith

I would like to thank Hanna from rebellion for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Abaddon

Published – Out Now

Price – £9.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle ebook

When Vadim Scorlenski and his elite Spetznaz squad are sent to New York at the height of the Cold War, they're told it's a 'training exercise.' They discover, too late, that the 'practice' chemical weapon they're carrying is all too real. They go to their deaths...

...and awaken to a city overwhelmed by the walking dead, even now spreading across the globe. Somehow holding onto their identities amid the mindless monsters, Scorlenski and his squad of zombie commandos set out to return to Russia.

Someone's going to pay.

Zombies I associate with the 80s for a very easy reason as at a very young age my slightly laissez-faire uncle thought it would be useful to show me a VHS copy of the Dawn of the Dead. I wasn’t terrified but it was weird, strange and compelling. I definitely don’t recommend it for children at all and it has more impact I think as an adult where the themes on consumerism have more meaning. But for me I associate 80s zombies with the time of excess. It was therefore appropriate that Gavin G Smith pulls together a tale of an alternate 1980s where the end of the world is actually the beginning of a blood drenched revenge quest for one of the most unique army squads you’ll meet.

Come with me to 1987 – the Wall still stands; the Cold War was only just thawing, and a heartless conservative government was in charge of the UK (wow so different). In Afghanistan, a Russian special forces company known as the Spetsnaz is fighting a gruelling war with local Afghan groups. But the group led by Captain Vadim Scorlenski has a reputation for being both very good at what it does but also not quite following orders as the mysterious vanishing of various bossy KGB agents they may have last seen suggests. After another mission where the team lost one of their own Vadim is worried to hear President Gorbechev has been deposed, hard-liners are back in power and Vadim’s team is ordered to immediately leave Afghanistan and travel to the US by submarine for a new mission. Told very little about the new mission the group is involved in New York’s Central station for the release of a strange biological agent just as the police and army arrive and at the same time nuclear bombs fall on the US. World War 3 has arrived and to prevent any counterattacks the dead are swiftly re-animated and hungry. Several of Vadim’s team are also gunned down but find death now isn’t stopping them and unusually compared to other zombies they seem to still have their mental awareness of who they are. Vadim wants revenge on the leadership who set him up so slowly the group try to evade zombie hordes, armed police and even new nazis to get back home. It will not be easy.

It is already quite unusual that we are effectively on the side of the ‘bad guys’ fortunately Smith is at pains to show that Vadim’s team are not indoctrinated soldiers they are here for a job that they do well but they don’t glorify violence or make political statements in favour of a hard line regime. In the form of Vadim, a Stalingrad survivor we have a leader used to war but taking no pleasure in it just dangerously good at it. Honourable with a dark sense of humour we warm to him and feel his loyalty to his team and disgust at finding they are involved in what he feels is an insane and dishonourable attack on the US. We get to know the team from the Muslim sniper Skull, ex-weightlifter and second in command The Fraulein and also the belligerent Gulag who doesn’t like to do what he is told and often fights Gulag. They create that typical group of certain tensions that when weird events start to apply hard pressure to them, they become truly awesome in battle and rarely give up. This puts us in an interesting place when they’re up against both western forces and zombies to escape and you’re still willing them to get free!

Rarely in zombie stories do things ever go right and in this case Smith adds a fascinating piece of new zombie lore. The idea that Vadim and his teammates survive death is because that they are so good at what they do; so competent that they can keep a sense of self beyond death and re-animation. Imagine elite soldiers who cannot easily be killed. Patching the undead with the few surviving members of Vadmin’s living team we then go through several gripping set pieces as they start to make their way back to Russia. Unlike say those zombie dramas where everyone is confined to one set per season here, we get a brilliant set of set pieces – escaping hordes in New York, gunfights and betrayals on a ship and a gripping finale where a group of armed neo-nazis try to take on our crew. Smith mixes it up and gives the team challenges that are not just physical but often mental and sometimes even moral ones. Can Vadim and his team keep hold of their humanity or does their desire to feed take control.

One feeling that came out here which I think is often a hall mark of zombie tales is that this is a moral pressure cooker of a story. Our leads may have accidentally helped start WW3 and can you ever really atone for that. We see the stresses on Vadim and his crew plus those they meet or take hostage. Despite that there is still a little bit of hope – people will still try to survive and help others. Humanity versus monsters may not just mean the undead and the final set-piece as the team arrive in the UK really gives us a chance to see what this team is capable of. It has an open ending that could pave the way for more adventures in this world and I would be very happy to see more with such a unique crew.

This is a lean tight action focused thriller that delivers gun battle set-pieces, rivals building tensions and unexpected left turns in a often dark, grim and bleak tale of revenge. If we took out the zombie element, we would have a WW3 thriller that is tense, well-plotted and character focused. But add in zombies it becomes the kind of cinematic story that you could see Romero enjoy putting on screen. Strongly recommended if you enjoy action, horror and battles for survival. Entertaining but also asks some interesting moral questions about what would you do? Highly recommended