Not Flesh Nor Feathers
Cherie Priest
Tor, Oct 2007, $14.05
ISBN: 9780765313102

The unrelenting torrential storm sends the Tennessee River over a dam flooding Chattanooga. The rising waters sweep away many homeless while Eden Moore worries about her scheduled move into a new riverside apartment. However, suddenly rising like phoenixes out of the flood is twenty-nine long dead corpses.

The nine-decade old deceased were stuck in the river mud until the storm freed them. They demand justice, but no one knows who they are, who killed them, or how they were buried there. Like an invading zombie militia they march on the already horrified city. A psychic Eden realizes they are heading to historical Read House, residence of ghostly Caroline Read who was involved in a massacre almost one century ago.

The third Eden Moore medium sleuth tale (see WINGS TO THE KINGDOM and FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS) is an entertaining supernatural thriller that grips readers once the zombies begin their quest that changes from justice to vengeance. Eden is terrific as she tries to find a resolution that will meet the demands of the paranormal invaders who find the city different and the sources they seek dead. Although the ending seems abrupt with a last second frenzy, Cherie Priest provides a satisfying mystical tale.

Harriet Klausner