The Last Mailman: Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Zombies [Kindle Edition]

I was wrong footed from the beginning, opening it assuming a Kevin Costner The Postman translated into Zombie. It's not.

Or rather it is kinda. It's about hope and seeking to make an insane situation into something human and meaningful.
And this is why I like zombie/post apocalypse stories. I like trying to find reason in a world gone mad or hope when all cause has deserted. I would throw a loose blanket of genre called romantic at any zombie story since it's nearly always a competition between bleak frightfest and the struggle to overcome impossible odds and achieve a higher goal.

Mailman is in three parts with different voices reflecting the stages in the adventure.

There are tiny sprinkles of lighter moments. There are standard servings of zombie grrr arghh! There is a nice little tweak to the standard plot line. There is a very nice distance between the apocalypse and where we are during the story.
Having said all that, it's not a new tale. It's ok bordering on good. Not sure what have given it the 4th star, but something is missing. CW

The Last Mailman follows the exploits of DJ Haddox, a survivor of the zombie apocalypse who ventures out into the wilderness hoping to deliver letters to survivors in a now virtually desolate United States.

The zombie infection has ravaged the planet and small pockets of humanity have survived the ordeal to form a number of "micro-cities" around the USA. The story is initally centred around a newly formed (and much smaller) New York City where the inhabitants soon learn that scientists in another micro-city have discovered a cure to the infection and are willing to trade. It is here that DJ Haddox, the last mailman, is called upon to use his zombie survival skills to head back out into the wilderness and return with the cure. Of course, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems in this post-apocalyptic world.

A novel filled with action, suspense and comedy, The Last Mailman is a great zombie story that offers us a glimmer of hope in a world overrun with the undead. The only criticism I have that made me give this novel less than five stars was its fairly open ending. The author could definitely have spent more time padding out the final scenes here, however, he does mention in a note that a sequel is in the pipeline and will continue where this one left off.

I would certainly recommend this to any fan of the zombie genre.

The Last Mailman: Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Zombies by Kevin J. Burke is not at all what I was expecting from the title. It is not about a man delivering mail between survivor outposts or anything like that. It's about survivors trying to tie up loose ends, so they can move on with their new lives; sometimes they find peace, and other times they lose the last of their hope. Even though this is a zombie novel, it's so much more than just a story about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. It's about the frailty of people, how they adapt to extraordinary situations, and what the "mailman" truly represents.

I loved how this book doesn't conform to the existing formula for zombies. The story takes place years after the zombie apocalypse has wiped out most of society. Mankind exists in tiny pockets of people, essentially as individual countries smaller than the size of pre-apocalypse city populations. It goes into a completely different direction and forces the reader to think about what the new societies are willing to do to exist.

For some of the characters, the past is a link that helps them weather the obstacles of the present and work toward the promise of a future cure. For the others, desperation is the real disease that infects the living and threatens the very foundation of their survival. The key strength of the storyline is Burke's creative construction of internal and external conflicts for his characters, at once humanizing them and drawing readers into their struggles.