First published back in April of 2016, Mark Tufo’s novella ‘Z-Hunt’ formed the fourth instalment within the ‘Year Of The Zombie’ series which saw a zombie story published (in ebook format) each month of 2016 from a variety of different horror authors. All twelve stories were later collected together and published within the ‘Year Of The Zombie’ (2018) anthology (which was also published in paperback format).
DLS Synopsis:
DLS Review:
DLS Synopsis:
Z-Hunt was the only place in the world offering sportsmen an opportunity to hunt zombies. Since opening the converted wild animal preserve in Botswana, Dietrich and Jan Reynolds’ zombie hunting ground had made huge profits. It seemed the rich liked hunting a heck of a lot, and zombies offered the ultimate game.
However, it hadn’t been an easy operation for the team. Z-Hunt had been under increasing pressure from civil advocacy groups around the world to cease their operations. Although that hadn’t stopped the wealthy and influential from signing up. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to circumvent the red tape.
What’s more, if the governmental powers actually the extent of what was going on – that the zombies weren’t quite as described – hell, the fallout would be the death of the business. In fact, those that knew the truth about the zombies was pretty much just Dietrich and their lead scientist – Dr Hans Kinzer.
The world knew Kinzer as the renowned scientist who’d discovered zf-24, the virus that caused humans to become ill before succumbing to a form of zombieism. What the world didn’t know was the good doctor had been deliberately working on creating that virus for the better part of his adult life. That the zombiefication was more of an elaborate show and they were basically creating zombies for the very purpose of hunting them. But the profits made it all worthwhile.
At Z-Hunt, for a mere one-hundred thousand, you can enjoy all the pulse-pounding action of a true zombie apocalypse. You can hunt the undead…the ultimate game…
Hunting zombies on a converted wild animal preserve huh?! Why the hell not! It’s certainly a fun idea made even more so by the colourful cast of characters that US author Mark Tufo injects into this devilishly dark black comedy tale.
It’s a bit of a wild story, laced from start to finish with dark wit and purposefully over-the-top social commentary. The sort of tongue-in-cheek piece that’ll have you chuckling at the crazyass concept behind it, which if we’re honest, has a satirical layer of reality to it!
Anyway, for the first half (or so) of the novella we’re essentially learning about Z-Hunt, how it came to exist, exploring the good doctor Kinzer’s dubious morals, and onto the tricky dilemma the owners now face. Essentially, they don’t want to disappoint their high-profile patrons, but they have a severe zombie shortage for them to hunt.
The second half of the short tale is much more adrenaline pumping. We’ve got a sort of ‘28 Days Later’ (2002) style viral infection that has the infected going berserk on the hapless uninfected which they happen across. Those hapless folk being the wealthy safari goers with all their high-end hunting gear.
It’s a solid, witty and entertaining novella. Personally, I actually preferred the intricate ins and outs of the first half of the story. The thought and elaborate idea conception Tufo serves up, alongside the unashamed bashing of the overly privileged, arrogant and obnoxious Americans he portrays with exaggerated glee.
As I said, it’s a fun piece that’ll have you grinning the whole time. It also ends on a wickedly dark note which does the story proud. It’s a good ‘un.
The novella runs for a total of 42 pages.
© DLS Reviews
