Disintegration by David Moody is the 4th book in a series about a zombie apocalypse. It is set in the British Isles and it is one of the bleakest zombie series that I have read. It appears that 95% of the world’s population has succumbed to a deadly disease, and then after a period of a few days, many of the dead have risen. While their bodies continue to break down, they appear to be getting smarter and their one purpose appears to be harming the living.

At the end of the third book a fairly large group of survivors had managed to get to an island off the coast, secure it and were setting up a new community. Instead of continuing with that story line, this book actually introduces a new smaller group of survivors who had banded together in a city for some time, but now the sheer numbers of the dead lead them to evacuate. They drive out to the country and stumble on a fairly secure country resort that is sheltering a number of other survivors. These two groups co-exist for awhile although they have very different ideas of how to go about survival. One member, Sean, decided he would rather go it alone and left to find his own place.

By the closing of the book, their secure haven had been overrun, and the few that were left were stranded on the second floor. They had supplies to last about a month. The book ends abruptly with Sean returning to the hotel, it is 6 weeks later, and he is surprised that no one is there.

There is one more book in the series and I am hoping that I get to find out what happened to this latest group. The dead no longer seem to be the threat that they were as they have deteriorated to the point of collapse. Although very violent and bleak, I have enjoyed this series but I do have my fingers crossed that it ends with a story of hope and renewal. ( )

Autumn: Disintegration - David Moody *****

The fourth book in the brilliant Autumn series. These aren’t my normal type of reading material but I have been hooked since picking up the first instalment a few months ago. I won’t go into the history of how the world is in the middle of an apocalypse, but sufficed to say that the last scraps of the human race are still struggling to survive whilst surrounded by thousands of the undead.

Disintegration is set two months after the initial disaster and strange things are starting to happen to the bodies, no longer just stumbling along they seem to have developed a sort of low intelligence and almost a pack mentality. The survivors this time happen upon a large hotel where the surviving occupants have created a number of diversions to keep the dead distracted and away from their living space. However the two groups of survivors have managed to live by adopting very different strategies and cracks soon begin to emerge in the community with some wanting to leave for new supplies and happy to ‘kill’ the zombies, while the others want to maintain the silence and live sparsely.... can a compromise be reached or will their existence be placed under threat?

Although linked to the previous books, Disintegration could be read as a standalone novel but I think that to fully enjoy the storyline the background information needs to be read first. As with the books predecessors, if you go into the novel with an open mind, you will find a fast paced and engaging tale that drags you along with it and you will not be disappointed. Moody really does write with an energy that is infectious and the pages melt away. ( )

I love this series! In the 4th book of the reprinted Autumn series we meet a new band of survivors living in a building that was undergoing demolition. They struggle to survive with increasingly aggressive zombies. I can't wait for the last book where it seems this group will meet with the survivors from the previous books.

The story is realistic, thrilling, agressive, and the zombie fighting is a bit savage. When people of very different personalities have to live on top of each other and struggle with limited supplies the real survival starts and people can be just as scary as the zombies. ( )

I love this series! In the 4th book of the reprinted Autumn series we meet a new band of survivors living in a building that was undergoing demolition. They struggle to survive with increasingly aggressive zombies. I can't wait for the last book where it seems this group will meet with the survivors from the previous books.

The story is realistic, thrilling, agressive, and the zombie fighting is a bit savage. When people of very different personalities have to live on top of each other and struggle with limited supplies the real survival starts and people can be just as scary as the zombies. ( )

I love this series! In the 4th book of the reprinted Autumn series we meet a new band of survivors living in a building that was undergoing demolition. They struggle to survive with increasingly aggressive zombies. I can't wait for the last book where it seems this group will meet with the survivors from the previous books.

The story is realistic, thrilling, agressive, and the zombie fighting is a bit savage. When people of very different personalities have to live on top of each other and struggle with limited supplies the real survival starts and people can be just as scary as the zombies. ( )

Another exiting installment. A good read. ( )

When I first started reading Moody's Autumn series, I was completely drawn in. Moody's work is stark but it grabs you right away. With each word, the reader is forced to place themselves in the place of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Moody has once again re-entered his post apocalyptic world to give us yet another story of survivors. What started out as innovative and new has simply become repetitive and boring.

As in other books, even when dealing with different survivors, Moody attempts to connect them to each other. In this case, the connection was a helicopter which we are meant to assume was the one used to ferry the survivors to Cormansey to avoid the continuing threat the zombies posed. Trapped a hotel, trying to be as quiet as possible these survivors are desperate to get the attention of the helicopter because with each passing day it becomes clear that the distraction that has been for the zombies is no longer holding their attention.

The new element in Disintegration is a disease that is now killing off survivors who survived the initial release of the virus. They believe that it comes from contact with the diseases that a mass amount of dead bodies would create. They are forced to decide whether to quarantine and ignore this latest round of victims or attempt to help them at the risk of getting sick. The question then becomes, is it okay to leave someone who is sick alone to die at the hands of zombies to save your own life?

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One of David Moody's better zombie books. Fine ending, concerning a certain character who is hiding out in a room in the apartment building. He has an interesting and surprising, as well as scary (of course), destiny with fate. ( )

Part four in the Autumn series. The group of survivors are now living in an empty apartment building, trying to stay alive as the walking dead seem to be more aware and deadly. Food shortages and a sick survivor force them to decide to move on in search of a safer place to wait out the eventual disintigration of the zombies. They end up in a huge gated hotel where some other survivors had set up strategic distractions for keeping the zombies away. Of course, humans being what they are, eventually problems arise and the zombies find their way in. This whole book was a nail-biting thrill ride. As you read, you can see where things are probably going to go wrong and the anticipation of that happening is awesome. I thought that this would be the last book and that we would be left to imagine what happened as there are a few remaining loose threads..I am so psyched to hear that we get one more! ( )

A little over a month has passed since the world changed and millions of people died within an instant. To those who survived, the worse was still to come as many of the recently deceased quietly rose, stumbling about the roads and cities, and soon turned their aggressive attentions toward the living.

A small group of the survivors found themselves trapped within a vacated apartment building but managed to set up a few defenses to keep the dead at bay. Even so, food is becoming scarce, and the trips to the world outside their makeshift stronghold are more treacherous as they must venture farther to find what they need. That's only strengthened their resolve to meet the dead head on with brutal force whenever necessary.

A short distance away, another group of survivors hides in the empty rooms of a hotel. They've managed to re-direct the hordes of dead bodies away from the hotel, herding them into the golf course while keeping themselves quiet and out of sight within the hotel. Their one problem: after almost finishing all the food in the hotel's kitchen, they've nothing left and have yet to venture outside on foraging trips, too afraid to draw the unwanted attention of the dead.

When disease strikes the survivors at the apartment building and they begin to notice disturbing changes in the dead, a choice must be made that will effect not only their chances but those of the survivors at the hotel as well.

Author David Moody's take on zombies is a refreshing one. They aren't the typical brain-eating types that many of us are used to. Don't get me wrong -- I love the usual zombie mayhem, with the newly undead chasing the living with the sole purpose of spreading infection. But with Moody's undead, their goal isn't so clear cut. And in fact, these undead begin to become aware of their surrounding, to learn, to work together. And that's even more frightening.

What's great about "Autumn: Disintegration" is that the book stands apart from the first three in the series. "Disintegration" introduces an entire new set of characters and fits them into two camps, each one battling not only the threat of the ever-evolving undead, but also with each other as desperate choices need to be made that impact and challenge their very views of the world. Plus, Moody provides enough background story from the first books to set this one apart. (And yet, if you've read the first three, it makes a certain sub-story involving a helicopter all the more intriguing.)

After the novel ends, I'm still left with questions about certain characters, their futures, what happened to bring about the worldwide demise, and I hope that in the future, those will be answered (i.e., more "Autumn" books, perhaps?).

"Disintegration" is an exciting, thrill ride of an addition to the series. Fans of zombies and/or post-apocalyptic tales will definitely get a rush from this one. ( )