Kiss of Life

Daniel Waters

Simon and Schuster (2009)

ISBN: 978 1 84738 397 6

Reviewed by Tehani Wessely

Interestingly not marketed as the second in a series, thinking it is a standalone novel makes Kiss of Life a little difficult to get into at first. The reader is thrown into a world and cast of characters without any real introduction, and this makes for confusing reading for the first part of the book, until the narrative smoothes out and the characters and past history becomes a little clearer.

Phoebe is alive – traditionally biotic, as it has become known – but most of her best friends are, well, dead. Differently biotic, living impaired, zombies. There doesn’t seem to be an explanation as to why some teenagers are returning to a semblance of life, but they are, and “traditionally biotic” people are learning to deal with it. Some of them, at least. Others would do anything to wipe out the zombie menace, and some of Phoebe’s friends are standing in the way.