One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning

Read on In The Sheets

This will be a spoiler-free review of a great book that was well worth the wait.

As a huge fan of the original Hater trilogy, I was beyond excited when David announced he was writing three new books that took place in the same universe, albeit from another perspective. I've been anticipating this book ever since and can now say with complete certainly, I was not let down or disappointed. It fully lived up to my expectations and has made me nostalgic for the original trilogy, which I plan to start re-reading again shortly.

Where the first 3 books followed Danny on his journey through a world turned upside down by this vicious “Outbreak”, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning follows a different group of people from the opposite perspective. As it follows the same timeline, this trilogy starts right at the beginning of the onslaught where Hater did.

As stated in the synopsis, a group of people become trapped on Skek (half of them there for a work team-building day, the other half working on the island itself) when an untimely death sets in motion the next 300+ pages of non-stop story telling that I could not bring myself to put down. Any time my friends and I discuss what we would do in the event of a violent apocalyptic scenario, we always go for supplies first and then an island, I'm now torn on whether or not that's the best decision.

Additionally I want to note that I love the way David includes diverse characters in his books, whether it be a practicing religious character, an LGBT character, or a person of colour, they're regularly included across all of his novels and it's never made out to be anything other than totally normal and okay, which is exactly as it should be. It doesn't feel like he put them in just for sake of it, they're great characters with substance. His books represent a large spectrum of characters and people because that's how any world should be. Not something you find in a lot of novels of this genre, and I think that deserves a little recognition. It's not something that has to be done, but it's done anyways and done correctly.

In closing, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning is a must read for anyone who loves any of David's other novels, but especially for anyone who loved the Hater series as much as I did. Sometimes a little Battle Royale, all-times a thriller that messes with your head, never knowing who to trust (at least with Zombies you know when someone's gonna turn!). More often than not, authors revisit an old series and it feels like a cash grab and beating a dead horse. This just feels right and like an obvious extension of an already killer series. Pun fully intended.