Author Jeff Kinley offers an enlightening read that shines a different light on the zombie phenomenon.

A few months ago I received my first book review offer ever. I don’t usually accept book reviews (this is Lori’s field), but I decided to “give it the good old college try”. I did something I don’t normally do (only with movies really). I read the book, put it down, then went back and reread it (or at least the parts I could not understand), not in full, but to try to get a fresher understanding.

The title of the book is: The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook. The subtitle reads: “Slaying the living dead within.” And this is the perfect summation of a large portion of exactly how Jeff Kinley handles the “zombie” topic. Read alone, the story is your basic zombie/horror story. The theological sections are a major [if not the] centerpiece for the books main episodic plot, and this part also serves as the “handbook” part of the book which contains the theological points and [if you will] ‘self-help’ points. Both the main story and the sub-story/backstory/theological enlightenment section draw largely from the Bible. This created an interesting melding of Fiction and Non-Fiction.

The zombies are not your typical zombies. Everyone is a zombie. The virus, if you would call it that, is in everyone already. It is unavoidable. The opening was very much like every other zombie tale, with images of zombies in rooms and potential cures being found, even with a quick section about the possibilities as to what they could be. But that changes quickly, and you quickly get a feel for a different type of zombie tale. Every chapter contains a section offering theological advice in a conversational form. The jump between ‘episode’ and ‘chapter’ can be jarring on the first read, but you can adjust to this particular layout quickly.

I enjoyed the very casual way the Kinley writes. It keeps things simple and understandable to those of us who are not of the Christian faith. A very good example is how Chapter 6 opens up with: “Okay, now it’s time to do some honesty. The brutal kind.” Whether it was intended or not, I laughed out loud in the waiting room in which I was reading.

What I can suggest, and you may find this odd, is that if you choose to avoid the theological explanations, you may read just the episodes. You see every Chapter is a theological underpinning, and the ‘Episodes’ are the story. Although I tried this on a third read, you still lose some of the ‘source’ story and the overall message explained in the chapters, but for the most part the Episodes are complete on their own. I’m writing this as I understand that not everyone is of this particular faith or belief system and if you choose to read this you may take the route of reading only the episodes and not the chapters. The same works in reverse, but it is not as effective.

The episodic story is your common zombie tale, but instead of the religious character being the bad or annoying guy (as is common in most zombie tales today) he’s the good guy. Seriously, that was refreshing and new.

To author Jeff Kinley, I have a suggestion as a writer. I see the potential for two books. One book being a story (the episodes), and another book that interprets the story or translates it to Kinley’s unique theological perspective (the chapters). You know, one book being a story and another being a compendium of sorts. As a reader who had no knowledge of Jeff Kinley’s previous work (I try to keep myself from researching any author, movie, or artist before reviewing a new release or [if I know this particular author] allowing any previous knowledge affect my review.) I was under the impression that it would be a full on story. Instead I felt that the book needed a bit of improvement on the storytelling with regards to the background and theological underpinnings.

That said, I enjoyed reading this book, it was a welcome change from the usual stuff I read. And I’m delighted that Thomas Nelson (the publishing company) contacted me to offer the book for review. It seems like a good thing, trying to get Kinley’s message out there and trying to get an accurate cross section of the general public and how they may interpret the Christian Zombie Killers Handbook.

I may not have been the intended audience for this particular book, but all in all I give the book a 3 out of 5. I really, utterly, seriously, fully, and completely feel that this book had the potential to be two good books and not just one book. One book consisting of the Episodes, and the other consisting of the Chapters.

The book is available on Amazon in both Physical and Digital Download Formats. Click here to check it out!

As a post review edit I would add that this book is not as graphic or violent as the back of the book states. I felt this way probably because I have read many gory stories and seen twice as many horror movies. You may take that with a grain of salt if you wish.