Book Review - Area 187: Almost Hell by Eric R. Lowther

In the year 2007 an accident at a clandestine U.S. government facility in rural West Virginia releases several test subjects infected with a necrotic virus. Within weeks the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security are forced to declare the bulk of the state under quarantine. Defensive lines are fortified and nothing is allowed in or out, damning those missed in the short period of evacuations to a living hell and locking away the real truth of the virus’ creation. The government transfers the responsibility of maintaining the quarantine from the military to the Department of Homeland Security, which christens it “Area 187”. Suits and claims are dismissed under anti-terror legislation as the rest of government scrambles to cover their involvement in the original project, distancing themselves and their reelections. Seven years pass. Homeland Security enforces a total news blackout on all things Area 187, and as with other disasters before it the bulk of America is more than willing to move on. Conspiracies continue to thrive outside the now-immense defensive wall and fortifications, and mercenaries known as “grave robbers” regularly slip in and out of the Area, stealing valuables and taking contracts to bring back specific items for well-paying customers. Our story follows Josephine Terrell, a television reporter and John Heath, once an Air Force search-and-rescue team leader that escaped the Area after five years of fruitless searching for his wife, as they risk their lives from both the dead and the living inside Area 187 to rescue a group of survivors. Josephine is looking for the story of the century, one that will prove living, breathing Americans still await rescue inside the Area and that Homeland has been covering up their existence. Heath joins her mission after he sees what may be his wife, Eileen, in a video message from the survivors. Personal rivalries, government conspiracies and a simple man’s simple promise weave together with death incarnate to follow their every step as they make their way through a blasted, nightmarish landscape full of the hungering dead. But the peril offered by the mindless corpses behind the wall becomes second to the danger presented by the living beyond it…

Area 187: Almost Hell by Eric R. Lowther
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not going to lie, I wanted this book because of two things. Zombies and the fact that it's based around West Virginia my home state.

I had no clue what to think of this book when I first started it. I knew Zombies and government cover up but I didn't know exactly what or how it happened. I just know that the government did something stupid and blocked off the entire state of West Virginia and parts of the other states surrounding it. Anyone in or out was shot, anyone investigating the area known as Area 187 mysteriously disappeared or ended up dead.

We start with Josephine, a reporter who's working on trying to bring light to the plight of those from Area 187. She risks her life to find someone who will take her into the area and get more information about those that are still trying to survive there. She finds the one man who escaped with more than his life and is haunted by what he left behind. And after some 'convincing' Jo is on her way with one time Air Force Search and Rescue agent John Heath as they make their way through the Zombie infested area. All in search of what Heath originally fought for.

I didn't know what to expect from this story really. I didn't expect many of the twists that were in the plot. I also didn't expect to see the human nature portrayed so well and almost realistically to the point I could see myself probably becoming as desperate as those within area Area 187.

I really enjoyed the book from start to finish and I'd really like to read it again. I just really, really liked it!

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