The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey

I am not a fan of zombies.  Dead people who are hungry but don't eat each other and can run faster in death than when they were alive? Really?!  So Amanda tricked me into reading a humane story of a dystopian future by giving me the book for Father's Day.  I am glad she did.

The setting is England in an odd school for children run by different teachers, doctors and very strict guards.  Melanie is a very bright little girl who loves school and especially one of her teachers.  It's obvious early on that Melanie and her class mates are treated very differently from other class rooms (at least I hope that's the case) but she loves learning and Miss Justineau.  The reason for the security unfolds fast enough, as does the overall plot.

This is a page turner.  If you have a pretty good idea of where the story is going, think again.  Over time I even bought in enough that a zombie could exist and behave the way they do given the "scientific" rationale of the story.  That rationale finally stretched thin for me by the end of the story, but by then it didn't matter.  The characters are excellent and the plot complex and well paced.  It is coming out as a movie later this year.  If you liked the Swedish version of Let The Right One In, you should really like this one.