The Down Home Zombie Blues
By Linnea Sinclair
Bantam Books, 2007, Science Fiction Romance, Mass Market Paperback, 516 Pages, $6.99

Alien patrol machines have malfunctioned and are traveling the Galaxy destroying any civilization they encounter. Their creators send undermanned and underfunded commandos to seek them out and destroy them. A team of Commandos under Commander Jorie Mikkalah, is sent to Earth because one of their observers has failed to report in.

 Meantime, Sergeant Theo Petrakis of the Bahia Vista, Florida Police Dept. has arrived at a weird murder scene. The victim looks extremely old and is mummified. His driver’s license shows a young man. They follow standard procedures, remove the body and call the cybersquad to pick up a strange laptop. They fail to show even though Petrakis waits several hours. It is late so the Sergeant takes the laptop and heads back; stopping off at home to grab a sandwich. Jorie and the Zombies arrive there simultaneously both tracking the malfunctioning T-MOD device the Sergeant was carrying. Jorie just manages to save the Sergeant and the T-MOD. She leaves a destructive trail and beams them away to her ship in a nick of time.

The fat is in the fire. Zorie must get a handle on the Zombie infestation without Earth becoming aware of them or her team. She persuades the Sergeant to help. They find each other attractive, but can there be a future for them?

The story is engrossing, the romance is steamy, the characters believable. I recommend it.

 – Gary Swaty