Book Review: LOOSE ENDS by Jay Wilburn
I had the pleasure of reading LOOSE ENDS, the debut novel from author Jay Wilburn and have reviewed it for THE HORROR ZINE.
A good title invites you in, hopefully, to an equally good story. Jay Wilburn’s debut novel, LOOSE ENDS (263 pp., Hazardous Press), is a novel about survivors living in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested wasteland, but before you decide that you’ve read this book before, take another look at the title. It doesn’t say ‘zombie.’ It doesn’t say ‘dead.’ And there’s a reason for that. The people are the story. The living people.
There aren’t that many left, and they aren’t special forces, rock stars, or brain surgeons, either. They’re just three cooks and a mute boy who have been surviving zombie hordes and raider attacks for about ten years and find themselves with no one to cook for anymore. So they decide to find a new place to live.
I often take issue with horror stories in which the characters put themselves at grave risk (usually in the third act, but not always) to keep the excitement up. Chef, Short Order, Doc, and Mutt leave because there’s nothing left for them where they are. Its a genuine, human motivation–believable and real. They go together, and they do it as safely as they can. The dangers they face are unavoidable. Every twist and turn is earned…
Read the rest of the review here.
October 23, 2012 at 9:40 am
[…] Press is also the publisher of Wilburn’s debut novel LOOSE ENDS, which I reviewed here. Other titles in the Hazardous portfolio […]
December 10, 2012 at 5:44 am
[…] Press is also the publisher of Wilburn’s debut novel LOOSE ENDS, which I reviewed here. Other titles in the Hazardous portfolio […]
December 29, 2012 at 9:25 am
[…] a ‘best of’ list … for 2012! Jay Wilburn, author of LOOSE ENDS which I reviewed here, writes reviews for Perpetual Motion Publishing Machine, and has the following to say about my […]
January 3, 2013 at 8:03 am
[…] Hazardous Press also published Wilburn’s debut novel LOOSE ENDS in 2012, which I reviewed here. […]
January 13, 2013 at 6:55 am
[…] Hazardous Press also published Wilburn’s debut novel LOOSE ENDS in 2012, which I reviewed here. […]
January 24, 2013 at 5:32 am
[…] Hazardous Press also published Wilburn’s debut novel LOOSE ENDS in 2012, which I reviewed here. […]
January 27, 2013 at 7:30 am
[…] Jay Wilburn may be familiar to some of you as the author of LOOSE ENDS, also published by Hazardous Press. If not, read my review here. […]