Review of Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry

Zombie after-dinner clean up kit: Nordstrom shopping bag (to save some scraps for midnight snacks), box of wet naps, cans of Formula 409, Pledge wipes, and a bottle of Mountain Spring Clorox - just because you have to eat brains doesn't mean you can't do it with style. And Amanda Feral does everything in style even her undeath. She's a snarky, sexy zombie who loves vodka-tinis and trading humorous barbs with her friends Gil, Wendy, and Liesl. She's also limited to vodka-tinis and brains in her new "life" since all other substances, including coffee (which is difficult to avoid in Seattle), leaves her with a bout of explosive diarrhea. 


Amanda Feral isn't for everyone, her take no prisoners snark is startling and hilarious. She really has no filter so be prepared. She isn't trying to be your best friend, she doesn't care if you like her, but she can definitely entertain you. In Happy Hour of the Damned, Amanda is a freshly made zombie trying to figure out her undead life and making enemies and friends along the way. When one of her inner circle disappears, Amanda puts on her detective hat (which doesn't stay on for long - you know Amanda would never wear a hat for fear of hair mishaps) and between hitting Seattle supernatural hotspots and late night "food" binges she tries to track down the disappearance of her friend Liesl. 


The book reads like personal journal and a handbook of how to be cool in your undead life. Amanda is a "deadutante" in the the truest sense from the cloths to the drinks to the clubs she frequents she's all about style. I also loved that Mark Henry put in the music mixes from the clubs and drink recipes as well as the snarky footnotes. The only bad thing about the footnotes was since I was reading the book on a Sony ereader they were hard to follow while I was reading. 


But this book isn't all about the see and be seen crowd. Remember I mentioned she was making enemies along the way. Well some of those showdowns were the stuff of nightmares (and I really did have nightmares because I read the book before bed..opps) though the patch-up jobs to the undead flesh were pretty funny. 


This book was a 3.5 out of 5 stars for me. It wasn't my usual fare when it comes to books but it was definitely entertaining. Be sure to check out the next two books.