Dead Moon

Pros: lots of twists, some tense scenes

Cons:

Cali Washington took the job as caretaker (burying the dead) on the moon to get away from her failed dreams. A month in, a meteor hits and suddenly thousands of dead start to rise. She and her co-workers must figure out what's going on as they try to survive.

This is an engaging horror story that takes an interesting premise and runs with it. I was impressed with the number of twists the story had, as the characters learn more of what they're up against. This isn't a simple zombie story.

You're introduced to characters in small batches so it's easy to keep everyone straight. Lots of people die, which keeps the tension high as each encounter could be your favourite character's last.

It's a quick read, that isn't overly gross or terrifying. I enjoyed it.

Peter Clines' Threshold universe reminds me of the filmic Cloverfield universe. It's strangely Lovecraftian and sits lurking just on the other side of perceived reality waiting to grab with its tentacles the unsuspecting and pull them to their doom. This third journey into that universe is set at a future time when permanent manned bases have been built on the moon and spacecraft are routinely launched from and return to hookups on Earth's space elevators. In a time of future Earth's overpopulation one of the main uses for the moon is to preserve and bury Earth's dead. It is the main job of Caretakers at various graveyard outposts to bury and mark the graves of the deceased who are constantly being shuttled to the moon for internment. Of course there are also tourist and mining industries on the moon with the main city/base being Luna City. When an ancient Lovecraftian “something” crashes into a graveyard near one of the Caretaker bases a horror is unleashed and the continuing story merges elements from tales of zombies, hostile aliens and space action-hero adventures (think Alien II combined with World War Z and The Thing). And, it mainly comes down to one of the novice Caretakers and her veteran and former Marine Caretaker partner to try and save as many lunar lives as possible and keep the menace from reaching Earth. Somehow Peter Clines manages to pull together all these elements to create an edge-of-your-seat, page-turning, Sci-Fi/Horror tale.