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Reeling from the devastation of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living.

But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. Fierce animals hunt them. They come face to face with a death cult. And then there’s the zombies—swarms of them coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. And these zoms are different. Faster, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead?

One thing Benny and his companions can’t afford to forget: In the great Rot & Ruin, everything wants to kill you.

Having spent the month since the devastating ending of Dust & Decay healing their bodies and, attempting, to heal their spirits, Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong continue on in search of the jet they have seen flying overhead.  Benny and Nix are having relationship troubles as a result of everything that has happened in the last year and the lack of communication between the two.  Lilah and Chong are still working out the details of their relationship with her being The Lost Girl and him a mere Town Boy.  As always, there are zoms to contend with as they travel and the unfortunate discovery that some of the zoms are faster and a bit smarter than what they have been used to. However, there is, also, a new evil afoot who call themselves Reapers. They are a form of religious cult who bring the darkness to those who were not ‘blessed’ with the zombie virus.

Much of Flesh & Bonefinds our young group separated from each other in one form or another. Benny and Nix have an interesting encounter with Saint John of the Knife and come across an interesting find. Lilah, having gone off in search of a young girl’s family gets caught fighting for her life and being saved by a very cool new addition to the world of Rot & Ruin. Our “town boy” Chong, having been separated from the group while fleeing the Reapers finds himself caring for a child, Eve, whose family has been lost to the Reapers and being cared for himself, by Riot, the daughter of Mother Rose, the leader of the cult from which they are running.

New friends are met, battles are fought and lives are lost. The action is practically nonstop and the attention to detail is spot on, as is the norm for Mr Maberry. The journey our friends take in Flesh & Boneis not just one of  reaching a destination, but in allowing each of our characters to find their true self and determining what they are looking for as they seek out this new possibility of life in the rot & ruin.

Flesh & Boneis a definite MUST READ for all fans of the Rot & Ruin series. If you haven’t read books 1 and 2 yet, well….what are you waiting for go get them NOW!

Purchase Flesh & Bone from Amazon in Hardcopy or for Kindle by clicking the cover image above. Also, you can head to Barnes & Noble for a nook or Hardcopy (HERE)

You can learn more about the author and his other works by visiting his self titled blog Jonathan Maberry and following him on Twitter: @jonathanmaberry. Also, he can be found spreading words of wisdom and the merits of coffee drinking over at his Facebook fan page found (HERE).

Espresso rating: Quad