When choosing books to review, I favor preposterous stories about abominable creatures. For example, the things that interest me are gelatinous blobs (Beware the Blobs! edited by Raymond Johnson and Roma Gray), giant turtles (Flesh-Eating Turtles! by Nora B. Peevy), anthropomorphic chalupas (Chalupacabra Y2K by V.S. Lawrence), biotech powersaurs (Reign of the Titans: Ragnarok … Now! edited by Christofer Nigro), skull-faced reptile men (Kaiju Bites by Neil Riebe), cocaine addled cryptids (SmackSquatch by J. Rocky Colavito), vagina squids from Mars (Vagina Squids from Mars by Kelvin V.A. Allison and Renn White), Godzilla-sized crickets (Crics by Edward J. McFadden III), zombie gumshoes (Dead Detective Society edited by James Aquilone), rockabilly mummies (Cleo’s All Tied Up by Loretta Kendall), werewolf porn stars (The Damned: Classic Monsters edited by Mathew Kaufman), zombie mermaids (Dark and Lonely Water by Graeme Reynolds), horny satyrs (Dark Hollow by Brian Keene) and evil robots (Invasion of the Robots edited by Roger Elwood).  

Stay Silent by Keeley Webb is not the kind of book I usually read. It’s a typical zombie apocalypse story—no better or worse than any other zombie apocalypse story. It’s a fast-paced and easy-to-read thriller, the kind of mainstream paperback you’d typically find in a grocery store or drugstore. 

In Webb’s novel, the zombies are called the “infected” because they’ve been exposed to a virulent, flu-like chemical weapon. “The whole thing was a terrible mistake,” confesses a scientist connected to the project. “Had we gone into another world war, our intention was to release it behind enemy lines.”

One thing leads to another, and the British Isles are quickly overrun with swarms of undead monsters. These airborne viruses travel fast. Remember how quickly COVID-19 spread? “Literally, everything about our current predicament is off the fucking scale,” says one character. “It’s straight out of the movies—a fucked-up fever dream.” 

The story follows a tight-knit group of survivors over a two-year period: sisters Kayla and Cristy; restaurateurs Nico and Luke; and a six-year-old orphan named Poppy. Along the way, they encounter other survivors (both good and bad) and a totalitarian subterranean community that’s trying to save humanity from itself. Fans of Resident Evil, The Walking Dead and The Omega Man will surely enjoy the author’s apocalyptic mashup. 

From start to finish, the Earth continues to cycle through the seasons, unaffected by the carnage befalling its inhabitants. In fact, it’s thriving. The lack of pollution and all the dead bodies are bringing new life back to the planet. “I had never seen the grass so green, thick and luscious,” notes Kayla, the POV character. “The trees seemed to stand taller and the flowers were blooming everywhere!”

[ Stay Silent / By Keeley Webb / First Printing: January 2026 / ISBN: 9798241993847 ]