PLAGUE TOWN, by Dana Fredsti

In a small college town called Redwood Grove, a strange flu is going around. Many people are dying from this virus, but then they get back up and feast on the living. Unaware of the situation, students Ashley and Matt are attacked by the zombies. While both are bitten, only Matt dies. When she awakens in the university hospital, she is told she is a “wildcard,” someone immune to the virus. She can be killed by the zombies, but a bite or scratch won’t harm her.

She and other wildcards from the college are recruited and trained by a special ops military team to help defend the living against the dead. She falls for her instructor, who is not all that he seems to be.

Plague Town is a BLAST. It was completely different from what I thought it was going to be - a run-of-the-mill military story with macho soldiers and lots of technical weaponry. Instead, the main character, Ashley, is a typical college student suddenly thrust into a situation she never even dreamed could happen. When she discovers her wildcard status, she doesn’t care that much - she’s just a girl who saw her boyfriend eaten in front of her. But with the help of her instructor and the other members of her team, she becomes a badass zombie killer and puts her pre-zombie life behind her.

Zombie stories are extremely popular these days; they have overrun vampires and ghosts. Plague Town is one of the best stories in this genre that I’ve read, and I’ve been reading a lot of zombie stories.

Dana Fredsti named this “An Ashley Parker Novel,” which leads me to hope there will be another chapter in Ashley’s new life soon.


Review by Sheri White