BOOK REVIEW: Suckers by Z Rider

Shane | 29 January 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Suckers by Z Rider
Dark Ride Publishing
January 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8 ½ /10

Z Rider’s first foray into the horror fiction genre is the tautly gripping story of a band, Two Tons Of Dirt, at the tail end of a seemingly endless tour.

Road-weary and at their wits end with drummer Jamie and his addictions, guitarist and bassist best buddies Ray and Dan take a short-cut to their hotel through a dark alleyway after one gig. The bandmates are attacked by what they initially think is some kind of bat, and Dan is bitten or stung on the back of the neck.

Initially ignoring the wound, he rapidly finds himself with a desperate thirst for blood – specifically, human blood, as attempts to assuage the blinding need with a bloody steak and a living cat fail.

Dan and Ray cancel the last couple of dates of the tour and work out a way to draw blood from willing donors to manage the condition, which in time is shown to be caused by a parasitic beast implanting it’s victims with its larvae to gestate.

Rider shows a real talent in painting the scene, and a realistic affinity with the vagaries of a touring rock band. She keeps the parallels between Jamie and Dan’s addictions subtle, when they could have been explored a bit deeper, and through the isolation of the bandmates and their immediate families, describes the breakdown of society as the creatures slowly overrun the majority of the population.

Suckers arrived unannounced on our desk, so we really didn’t know what to expect, but it proved easy to immerse into and entirely engrossing. With another rock band-based horror novel due in October, we’re banking on Rider becoming a prominent force – at least in these cult literary circles.