Amazon.com: Monster Nation: A Zombie Novel: David Wellington: Books

Product Description

In the heart of America, in the world's most secure prison, something horrible is growing in the dark. A wave of cannibalism and fear is sweeping across the heartland, spreading carnage and infection in its wake. Captain Bannerman Clark of the National Guard has been tasked with an impossible mission: discover what is happening — and then stop it before it annihilates Los Angeles. In California, he discovers a woman trapped in a hospital overrun with violent madmen. She may hold the secret to the Epidemic but she has lost everything — even her name. David Wellington's first novel, Monster Island, explored a world overcome by horror and the few people strong enough to survive. Now he takes us back in time to where it all began — to the day the dead began to rise.

About the Author

David Wellington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1971. He attended Penn State and received there an MFA in creative writing. He works as an archivist for the United Nations in New York City. In 2003 he began work on the website “www.monsternovel.com”, where his novel Monster Island was serialized on-line over the course of five months and quickly became an internet cult phenomenon.

Product Details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Running Press; 1 edition (September 27, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1560258667
ISBN-13: 978-1560258667
Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,401 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
She was dressed all in white. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
comms specialist, infected man

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bannerman Clark, Lab Notes, Las Vegas, Mael Mag Och, Los Angeles, Jason Singletary, New York, Desiree Sanchez, Lost Hills, Sergeant Horrocks, First Lieutenant, United States, Assistant Warden, Brown Palace, Father of Clans, Purslane Dunnstreet, Vikram Singh Nanda, Captain Clark, Commerce City, Morphine Mike, Ops Room, Salt Lake City, Plague Patrol, Warlock Green

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 1 book:

Kern County by Automobile Club of Southern California on page 92, and page 102

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	61% buy the item featured on this page: Monster Nation: A Zombie Novel 3.2 out of 5 stars (40) $10.94
	11% buy Day by Day Armageddon (A Zombie Novel) 4.3 out of 5 stars (265) $13.45
	10% buy Monster Island: A Zombie Novel 3.6 out of 5 stars (93) $10.94
	10% buy Plague of the Dead (The Morningstar Strain) 3.7 out of 5 stars (94) $14.95

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Customer Reviews

40 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.2 out of 5 stars (40 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hit for zombie fiction!, October 3, 2006

By	Catfish Kozmo (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

I found Monster Island first and really enjoyed the dark desolate overtones that novel put out. So reading the next book in the series was a must.

While Monster Island takes place after the world has been overrun, this novel takes place before and during. The book starts with a bang and just keeps on going at a pretty good pace. There's not too much talking nor is there excessive action. It's a well balanced novel in my opinion.

The author does put his own spin on the rise of the zombies which jives with his first novel. I thought it worked out pretty well given that every zombie novel wants to always deal with "why did this happen?"

I would definitely recommend this novel. And you don't have to start with Monster Island either.

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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You won't like it when they're hungry!, November 26, 2006

By	Eddie Lancekick "A Regulator" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Monster Nation is the second book by David Wellington in a trilogy that started with Monster Island. In the second book, we are taken back to the events and source that cause the zombie outbreak prior to the story told in Monster Island.

Monster Nation starts out with an introduction to a small but varied cast of people in a variety of locales. Two main characters to bring up here are a woman who will later go by "Nilla" and Captain Bannerman Clark of the Colorado National Guard. Nilla is just a pedestrian starting out in the book, but soon her life is changed forever and we end up seeing various locales, feelings, emotions, and actions through her character till the end. Wellington also put a great deal of depth into Bannerman Clark, whose relentless quest for the truth and constant and vigorous challenging of the bureaucratic process during the outbreak made him not only believable, but extremely real.

In Monster Nation, the United States is undergoing a major change. People are dying, only to spring back to life. They hunger. They haunt. They never stop coming. The survivors in places like Los Angeles, Denver, and other locales are quickly left to fend for themselves as government analysis of the situation, coupled with its delayed reactive, then aggressive proactive stance, leads to dismal failure. Bannerman Clark along with a multitude of soldiers tries desperately to save Denver Colorado and its survivors, while Nilla travels with some teenage runaways across the desert, which soon discovers she is not like them. At the SUPERMAX prison in Florence Colorado (infamous for holding the likes of Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and Richard Reid among others) a scientist desperately tries to understand what she can from a dead/undead human while what is left of the prison remains locked down in various areas for the dead to feast on. Time is running out for all survivors involved, and back in the Rockies there is a greater threat that could end up being the source of the carnage.

Wellington's second book does a great job of continuing the storyline from his "Monster Island" and not only ties up a few loose ends but further details the supernatural source of the outbreak. We learn more about the ancient apparition of sorts who goes by "Mael Mag Och". We know some of his past but now we learn more about his true being, what his ultimate purpose is, and where his fate may be decided. Occasionally the author lets his own personal opinions of current political situations seep through into his characters (comments on mad cow disease and gun ownership were a tad off), but he keeps it balanced enough to make sense.

The character driven action never lets up and no matter what the scenario, whether it be a maximum security prison or Pacific Northwest's terrain, he puts a lot of research into his writing that makes it true, talented and of course, FUN. One touch I really enjoyed was the incorporation of various newspaper headlines, radio transmissions, blogs, forums, chat rooms, telephone calls, lab notes, and emails that are dropped in now and again throughout the story. The approach is superb because even though we are aware that this is an atrocity that is happening all over the globe, Wellington brings it home by showing modern technology in communication coupled with growing fear of something that has gone terribly wrong.

I could not put down the first one, and Monster Nation was just as dark, gritty, and fun. Wellington's ability to mesh pulp science with serious characters and storyline equals a wonderful EOW (End of World) series!

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Monster Island, January 20, 2007

By	M. Trumper (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like some of the other reviewers I really enjoyed Monster Island. (If you live in New York City it is interesting to read about the city post-zombification!) I was disappointed with Monster Nation.

The whole idea of the Nilla character being able to become invisible at will was never explained at all and just seemed at odds with the rest of the story. Without giving too much away, the ending was pretty weak and seemed to have no basis in reality. Fine if the whole book was a great big fantasy but most of the time Wellington bases the action very firmly in reality. Some of the characters were well written but most were two-dimensional and didn't really ring true.

This is probably worth reading only if you are interested in learning more about the world Wellington is trying to create. Hopefully the third installment will be better.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars The Irony Of, "Monster Nation"
I will have to agree with some of the other Amazon reviewers: "Monster Island" was SO much better than this book. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Destiny Rodriguez

1.0 out of 5 stars Too Much Hocus Pocus/ Magic and Too Many Unanswered Questions.
Monster Nation has too much hocus pocus, magic and too many unanswered questions.

Nilla is a thinking, speaking zombie because she wasn't deprived of oxygen for a... Read more

Published 2 months ago by M. Warner

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
I have to hand it to David Wellington. I started with Monster Island and now he has be addicted. I really enjoyed his dark yet at times funny take on Zombies in his first book of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Big Bad Daddy

2.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelmed
Claymore6s review is spot on.

I am former military, but I am not a military snob. I read and watch alot of material that has bad information, but here the military... Read more

Published 4 months ago by J. Lee

3.0 out of 5 stars Author Should Write Screenplays, Not Books
I've never read anything by David Wellington before, so I have no point of reference - not sure if this is worse than Monster Island: A Zombie Novel, or better... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Ursula K. Raphael

3.0 out of 5 stars They won't stay dead
[...]I've already purchased all three books in his Monster series and since I didn't hate the first one I've decided to give the other two a shake. [... Read more

Published 6 months ago by James Seger

2.0 out of 5 stars Another one of these insipid zombie books
The only originality of this book is that it kind of takes us under the skin of a freshly dead woman. Read more

Published 8 months ago by T-Rexx

4.0 out of 5 stars A different flavor of Z book
I got the whole trilogy and read them in order thankfully.
Monster Nation was my favorite of the 3 and dveloped a few interesting characters. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Z-Slayer

4.0 out of 5 stars Free SF Reader
A pretty reasonable zombie book.

Sort of somewhere in the middle of Dawn of the Dead (random people trapped by zombie horde) to World War Z (highly organised and led... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Blue Tyson

3.0 out of 5 stars A let down
I am a fan of "13 Bullets" and "99 Coffins" from Wellington. Also really enjoyed "Monster Island". Having said that, this one was a let down. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Eric Higginbotham

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