by Get ready to be dragged to hell and back and then eaten and spit back out. Yea, you’re in for a ride.
Craig DiLouie throws us right back into the story of Infection. The survivors continue the war against Infection, however futile it may seem. Monsters, zombies and possibly their own government stand in the way of their life returning to semi-normalcy. If the war does end, though, will the survivors be able to face the demons they’ve been hiding deep inside? The Killing Floor is the tale of their battles: physical, mental and emotional.
The characters that I thought I knew so well from Infection continue to evolve from the people they were before “The Screaming” into the warriors they have been forced to become. This development is done smoothly using the characters’ own thoughts, conversations and actions. Once again I fell in love with each one of them, even the hate-filled, vengeance-seeking Anne.
The story is split up in order to tell each person’s narrative as it happened for them. The reader is able to feel exactly what the character is feeling and Craig does a wonderful job of it. Sometimes when authors do this it begins to feel redundant but I did not feel that way at all while reading this. It was necessary to tell the story correctly.
Often I have stayed away from any books that are heavy on military jargon simply because I do not understand it. The Killing Floor definitely has its fair share of this but it is not so heavy that I do not understand. MRE is actually written out for readers who don’t know what they are. As far as the accuracy of the military aspect I cannot vouch for the authenticity. Like I said, it’s not my specialty. It flows very well, however, and it was easily understood by a simple civilian such as myself.
The Killing Floor explains where Craig’s Infection came from, to an extent. I have read many such explanations and so far none have been as wild as Craig’s. I had it pegged as a Resident Evil style virus, given the monsters and such, but I was wrong. Very wrong.
Buy it. Read it (preferably during the day, not right before bed… seriously). Enjoy it. Then start screaming for book three.
Grade: 
Sounds like a great book, thanks for the review! I suppose that someone who has not yet read any of Craig’s book should preferably get started with “Infection”? or could this one be seen as stand alone?
I’m completely with you on the military jargon, it’s the kind of stuff that throws me off immediately.. in particular with technical gun talk.
I was thinking the same. I need to read this series soon.
You could read it by itself but I highly recommend reading Infection. It is awesome.
I hate the military jargon as well. It’s nice as a detail but when it takes up a good portion of the paragraph I glaze over. lol
Good job Tiff… great review!
Fantastic review!!!
Thank you everyone. The review was easy because the book was so good.
I love all of Craig DiLouie’s books. He got me hooked with Tooth and Nail and I am now a loyal reader of his work. I don’t do reviews any more (long story) but I would rate DiLouie right up there with the best of the zombie genre writers…at the top of the top five!