best zombie books
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11 Best Zombie Books of All-Time (2022)

There are numerous zombie books out right now that aren’t all the same, and many of them introduce fresh themes and ideas to the genre.

best zombie books

In the 1950s, Richard Matheson’s famous novel I Am Legend served as the catalyst, and the zombie subgenre has thrived ever since.

Now, it seems like everything has a zombie theme, including video games, movies, TV shows, and literature. However, since we are also infatuated with zombies, we can live with that.

11 of our all-time favorite zombie books are listed here. We should definitely mention that no zombie comedies were included. We opted for books that concentrated on the horror instead.

1. Zone One By Colson Whitehead

The infected and the uninfected make up the two groups of residents in this post-apocalyptic society.

Zone One, which is in Manhattan, is where the uninfected are trying to rebuild the society that existed before the virus, while groups of infected are still present nearby.

Teams of ordinary people, including our main character Mark Spitz, is tasked with evicting these sick squatters, but of course, things don’t turn out as expected. All of this may sound like standard zombie fare, but because of Colson Whitehead’s deft storytelling, the zombie genre is given fresh life in illuminating ways.

2. The Forest Of Hands And Teeth By Carrie Ryan

A series of zombie books will begin with this one. Only a fence separates the village’s residents from the “unconsecrated” who wait on the other side.

There is no life outside of the hamlet, as far as the residents are aware, but Mary longs to leave her mundane existence behind and explore the world that is on the other side of the fence. She is aching to visit the sea.

Mary becomes more eager to go as she begins to worry about corruption in the community. What should she do about all the creatures that resemble zombies who are waiting for her on the other side of the gate, though?

3. Raising Stony Mayhall By Daryl Gregory

Stony Mayhall is a baby zombie at the start of this book. You did indeed hear me. Stony is found by the Mayhall family as an infant, undead, in the arms of his deceased teen mother.

Wanda Mayhall, the matriarch of the family, decides to take Stony home and nurture him as one of her own rather than calling the authorities.

What transpires, then, as Stony develops and ventures into the outside world in search of more zombies like himself?

4. Husk: A Novel By Corey Redekop

Here’s another one that fits the bill in terms of hilarious takes on zombie literature. Sheldon Funk, the zombie character from the movie Husk, is a struggling actor who is doing his best to balance his obligations in real life with his need for human flesh.

Can Sheldon maintain his hot-but-vapid boyfriend while launching his acting career, managing his mother’s dementia, and decomposing?

Husk is a hysterically funny parody that doesn’t back down from posing difficult queries. What about poop, for example? Act as though you’ve never wondered.

5. The Rising By Brian Keene

This novel would have existed if the focus of Finding Nemo had been on people rather than fish and if zombies rather than people had been the obstacles to the father’s mission.

Is it a stretch to say that? Listen to what I have to say. In a zombie-infested world, Jim Thurmand is one of the few people still living. However, Jim’s little son is in danger miles away, so he can’t just hide out and wait for the zombie outbreak to end.

Jim, therefore, goes across the nation to save his son, accompanied by an unexpected group of friends. See the connection here? In a series of zombie novels, this one is the first.

6. The Reapers Are The Angels By Alden Bell

Temple, a little girl who can’t recall a period before zombies infected the globe 25 years ago, is evading a killer while the world is still ravaged by zombies.

Now she traverses a nearly desolate post-apocalyptic wasteland of a world looking for some refuge and salvation.

This novel is ideal for anyone who adored Cormac McCarthy‘s The Road but felt that it might have been enhanced by the inclusion of more zombies. No? Me alone?

7. Devil’s Wake By Steven Barnes And Tananarive Due

This book is the first in a series of zombie novels; however, to add some extra spice to the proceedings, aliens are also included in this series.

In an effort to take control of the earth by dividing humanity, alien lifeforms are causing a zombie-like plague to spread throughout the entire world.

Terry and Kendra had to traverse thousands of miles of this zombie-infested landscape in a ramshackle bus in a world where this epidemic has killed everything.

8. Midnight Cravings By Joelle Sterling

The Eternal Dead trilogy by Joelle Sterling’s first novel is titled as such. This book also includes vampires and witches, if zombies aren’t scary enough for you.

In this book, there are several parallel storylines, but the one of Jonas, a man who immigrated from Haiti to America, caught my attention the most.

However, something goes horribly wrong on his boat trip to the U.S., and a lot of the passengers turn into undead creatures that are hungry for human flesh. If romance is your thing, you’ll find a lot of it in this book.

9. Warmth By Sumiko Saulson

Vampires and zombies are related in Saulson’s fantastical book. When a person has the infection and is still alive, they live a vampiric existence; nevertheless, when they pass away, they turn into zombies.

Sera is aware that dying will result in her turning into a zombie, but what makes matters worse is that she has been carrying a zombie for 600 years and has been living in constant worry that her unborn child will pass away and turn into a zombie while still inside of her.

You also believed that being pregnant was difficult.

10. Plague Of The Dead By Z.A. Recht

The world has been overrun by zombies, and those who have not fallen victim must kill or be killed. Does this sound familiar?

The manner that the zombie epidemic is viewed from a truly global perspective, with narrative lines taking place on opposite ends of the earth, is what keeps this book unique and exciting.

And if you like the post-apocalyptic universe Recht has built, this is just the first book of a series.

11. Patient Zero By Jonathan Maberry

With strong political overtones, this work is the first in a series. A Baltimore investigator named Joe Ledger has recently been chosen by the government for a top-secret mission.

In order to prevent a terrorist group from disseminating a terrifying bioweapon that can transform regular people into zombies, he will be in charge of a fast response team.

You can follow Joe Ledger’s many other cases if you like this character because there are currently multiple novels in the Joe Ledger series.

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