“The Hunger” was the first book I’ve read from Markosia and I think it’s pretty safe to say it won’t be my last. This quirky, amusing, and garishly violent tale of zombies, vampires, and voodoo is riotously over the top. College student Charlie Lee decides to vacation in New Orleans over Mardi Gras and soon meets a beautiful blond for a night of passion. But the next morning Charlie finds the girl gone and he’s belted over the head and kidnapped by a local crime boss and voodoo priest named Ramon. But Ramon has something even worse in store for Charlie, namely killing him and making him his zombie servant. When Ramon is killed by another underling, Charlie finds himself freed of the priests control an in possession of a bag filled with a large sum of money that many people are after.
Charlie soon finds himself mixed up with all sorts of crazy characters including a couple of fellow street zombies who try to teach him how to survive on the street, a vampire trucker prowling the road for more victims, and that blond he had a fling with in New Orleans, who just happens to be a fanatical monster-slayer. On top of that, Charlie learns he is a seventh son of a seventh son, endowing him with certain mystical powers, not the least of which is the vampiric ability to such the life force from people and use it to heal his own wounds. Further complicating matters is that thugs have come to the home of Charlie’s family, intent on forcing them to reveal the location of their son and the money…only as far as they know, Charlie is supposed to be dead!
If it sounds like there’s a lot going on in this trade paperback, you’re right…maybe too much at times as it becomes difficult to keep all the plot lines together. Still, I found myself really getting into the story. One moment you feel sorry for Charlie and what’s happened to him and in the next, after he’s just sucked out the brains of a victim, you’re reviled. The sheer violence and gore is done to the max and combine that with nudity and very strong language and this is definitely a book for mature audiences.
The art by Chris DiBari really shines as do the colors. You can practically smell the rot on the zombies and feel the splash of blood and brains as they splatter off the page. “The Hunger” was a definite Hell Ride!
– Tim Janson
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
