I originally thought this was a stand alone novel by Baker, but realized it is sort of a prequel to his other novel, OUTPOST. I didn't realize the connection until I was about a good third into the book. It started out well, gathering a group of mercs, and sending them on a mission to find a hidden cache of gold. Really? Hasn't that been done before? Needless to say, it was little better than I expected. I did finish the second half of the book, just because I wanted to see how it tied into OUTPOST. Baker's next book, TERMINUS, I hope is much better. ( )

This is the first book in the Outpost series, a prequel of the virus's origins.

It's not bad, there's plenty of action, viral devastation and a plausible origin plot.

However overall, it's rather average. The characters don't really ever get much depth and the CIA agent with bottomless pits of money hires a mere pair of fourth rate ex-soldiers with two run down helicopters. The starting with the ending sequence can work for some novels but this one also didn't quite pull that off leaving you reading a story for which you already know who survives.

It fills in time but it's not something I'd read again, or further to next book in the series. ( )

very fun to read, interesting plot with a zombie twist ( )

I has the flu. I is doped up. I read this book. It is great. Great stuff about low-level mercenaries hustling to make money in Iraq, 2005, more great stuff about, y'know, zombies way out in the desert. Action. Fighting. Kaboom. ( )

Juggernaut
By Adam Baker
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published In: New York City, NY, USA
Date: 2012
Pgs: 305

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Work in a warzone when you aren’t military or part of one of the big conglomerates is a hardscrabble life. Rumors swirl. The fog of war reaches everywhere. Rumor of abandoned Iraqi gold out in the desert leads seven mercenaries into the deep desert. Tons of Saddam’s gold, greed, betrayal, and an army that won’t stay dead. Escaping the desert and the web of intrigue being drawn tight around them may be more than the seven of them can survive.

Genre:
fiction, zombies, militaria, horror

Why this book:
The blurb referred to this book as being Three Kings meets The Walking Dead. I was in.

This Story is About:
courage, working hard, doing the right thing, duty, hard times, pragmatism in the face of horror and disaster

Favorite Character:
I like the core group of Lucy’s mercenary family, hard bitten(ha) assholes, the lot of them, even though, they act like idiots who have never seen a zombie movie in their entire life.

Least Favorite Character:
Koell is the by-the-book black ops asset who will end up letting an apocalypse run free across the world while trying to make a profit for himself and feed his ambition.

Gaunt who in the face of an army of reanimate creatures follows through with his orders from The Company to betray his fellow travellers, even though that will leave him on his own to face the Republican Guard zombies and try to escape.

Character I Most Identified With:
Jabril, who leads the mercenaries into the enclave in the deep desert; them for gold, him to make sure that the evil that he has seen in the desert doesn’t have a chance to escape back into the world, this despite the evil that he did earlier in life as a member of Saddam’s secret police. Jabril is a complex character.

The Feel:
The story feels too open. I wanted close and claustrophobic in the ancient ruined city and temple where Saddam’s Republican Guard hid the gold and the virus containers.

Favorite Scene:
Love the train scene that opens the story.

Settings:
Runaway train in the deserts of Iraq; Baghdad; Abu Ghraib; the deep desert; the temple city;

Pacing:
Really like the short chapters. They move the action along.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Gaunt is a Swiss army knife character. West Point graduate, 2nd Lieutenant when he arrives in Iraq, leads a door knock crew searching for insurgents, wet behind the ears. And when next you see him, he is washed out because of something he took part in in the past, but he is also running a small two chopper private airlift company on the Baghdad airport apron. So, West Pointer, 2nd Looey to washed up, mercenary chopper pilot...and he has the skills to find a trip wire between two ancient columns in the desert during a sandstorm...and he can drive a diesel electric locomotive. He’s a bit much to take, too deus ex machina.

Last Page Sound:
Sigh.

Author Assessment:
There’s a feel that there is something missing. Can’t put my finger on it. Like when mashed potatoes don’t have enough of something in them.

Editorial Assessment:
See above.

Did the Book Cover Reflect the Story:
Soldier standing face to face with the zombies Would have been better served with the train being the juggernaut instead of the oncoming horde. The train with a zombie horde following behind it or overrunning it would have made an awesome cover image for this story.

Song the Story Reminds me of or That Plays in my Head While Reading:
Renegade by Styx. There’s a lot of the feeling that the “hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don’t have very long” here.

Hmm Moments:
The intimation that the black hats in the dark shades walk around in the warzones looking for advantages and stuff that they can use for profit.

Voss’s pragmatism in the run up to the climax feels right, horrible, but right.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
meh!

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library, Irving, TX

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
How this isn’t in the pipeline to be a movie is beyond me. Just on concept alone, this should be in the works, rapidly, while zombie fever is still strong. Could end up on Syfy easily.

Casting call:
Pauley Perrette could play Amanda, the hardnosed mercenary, California girl, ex-Meth-head who found absolution with a rifle in her hand and getting lost in mercenary ways.
Gaunt could be Sam Rockwell. Almost washed up, ex-soldier, lost in a deadend, looking for a way up or a way out, wanting into the covert life and the invisible opportunities that lurk there.
Jason Staitham could be Voss, South African mercenary expat ready for retirement, tired of the grind, fighting his last war..
If they went the Syfy route, they could cast Debbie Gibson and Tiffany as Lucy and Amanda.

Would recommend to:
zombiophones ( )