Book Review: City of the Dead (Resident Evil)

Book: City of the Dead (Resident Evil book #3) by S.D. Perry

Edition: Paperback

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

City of the Dead is a fast paced horror story that follows as Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy do their best to survive the terrifying conditions of an overrun Raccoon City which is crawling not only with zombies but various mutated monsters.

Claire had traveled to Raccoon City looking for her older brother Chris who is a member of the Raccoon Police Department's S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) unit and she was worried because she had not heard from him in a while. Meanwhile, Leon was a newly hired police officer on his way to Raccoon City to start his first day of work.

As Leon drove through town he immediately noticed that something wasn't right because it was eerily quiet and there was no one to be seen either walking down the street or driving down the road. It didn't take long before he found out the reason when he was surrounded by a horde of zombies. Claire found herself in a similar experience when she stopped at a diner and had to make a quick escape where she ended up running into Leon.

The duo were able to escape and made a plan to head to the police station but a zombie attack caused them to be separated. They were still going to continue on with their plan except now they had go it alone which is not an easy task with zombies roaming the streets.

Things escalated quickly in this story because every step of the way was one horror after another. Going to the police station didn't change things but Claire was able to help Sherry Birkin, a 12-year-old girl who had been hiding in the station. Sherry believed a monster was after her but Claire thought it was just in the girl's imagination. However, an encounter with two different monsters instantly changed Claire's mind and she knew she had to get Sherry and herself out of the station. But she still needed to find Leon.

The rookie cop had found his way to the station where he unexpectedly met Ada Wong, a woman who claimed she was in town trying find her friend. But Ada wasn't as she appeared, she was really in the city because she was hired to steal the deadly G-Virus that Sherry's parent had created.

The separate set of duos eventually found themselves at the Umbrella Corporation with hopes of finding a way out of Raccoon City but lots of complications were making it extremely difficult. And not to mention Ada was still set on trying to get her hands on the G-Virus but with Leon by her side he was complicating her mission. There was an attraction that was starting to form between Leon and Ada even as she was trying to pretend that it wasn't happening and he was starting to doubt her story of why she was in the city.

Despite being a Resident Evil fan, I had never read any of the books that is until now and I'm glad I picked this one. It was an interesting read, the book vividly captures the terror Claire and Leon were experiencing during the zombie outbreak as they try to figure out a way to escape the city. You will get drawn into the drama and suspense and all of the harrowing incidents that never seem to stop.