Book Review: ‘TOOTH AND NAIL’ by Craig DiLouie

Many horror fans are jaded by the never-ending release of books and films featuring the same overused Romero-inspired zombies who battle the same band of generic misfit survivalists. The zombie subgenre suffers from the same malady as the survivors of these undead tales; endless waves of uninspired reanimated corpses. The popularity of the comic book series The Walking Dead and the highly anticipated television adaptation on AMC, however, proves that with compelling characters a corpse reanimated a thousand times over can still have entertainment value. Craig DiLouie offers his own take on zombies in his military-focused novel Tooth And Nail published by Schmidt Haus Books.

Tooth And Nail asks the reader, what if American soldiers were removed from their tour of duty in Iraq only to be reassigned to fight a battle on their native soil against their fellow countrymen? This is a timely entry since just earlier this month President Obama declared, “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over…” The soldiers in Tooth And Nail have been pulled from Iraq to return to America for various security assignments throughout the United States as a dangerous virus, known as the Hong Kong Lyssa virus, spreads across the country. The plot follows Jon Mooney and his troops as they pull us through this shattered landscape on a mission to guard the Trinity Hospital in New York City. The government hasn’t been completely honest regarding the scope of the outbreak and what the soldiers believe is a containable and curable virus is actually a full blown pandemic. Again, timely commentary since this scenario shares a striking similarity to criticisms of the American government’s response to the BP oil spill just months ago. As the soldiers discover the enormity of the situation they must contend with killing the citizens they are meant to protect in order to save themselves.

Generally, government operatives, National Guardsmen, and soldiers are cast as stone cold, uncompassionate characters. Their dedication to the mission, to contain the virus/infection/outbreak by whatever means necessary, is usually a detriment to civilian survival. DeLouie attempts to show an oft neglected side of the men who serve and protect by making them the focal point of the plot by exploring their emotional and psychological struggles during this pandemic. As an otherwise negatively represented character in zombie stories, the military-centric approach gives DiLouie’s story a unique edge, but at times the characters suffer from DiLouie’s effort to make them too likable. While they struggle with tough decisions it is usually exhibited with short, stilted dialogue that isn’t always convincing. The juxtaposition between characters, however, presents a broad spectrum of how the human mind reacts under harrowing circumstances. This device reminded me of the HBO series, Generation Kill. Based on Evan Wright’s book of the same name, he recounts his experience as a reporter following United States Marine Corps during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. DiLouie, similar to Wright’s account, shows that each individual struggles to make sense of the madness in their own way. One may find a healthy way to internalize the pain and confusion while another may take an extreme, seemingly sadistic approach. For example, the latter may appear to revel in their kill and be too enthusiastic to pull the trigger. In Tooth And Nail, Private Wyatt is that man as he excitedly celebrates, “It’s like Christmas come early this year. It’s legal to kill people!” One soldier overcome with emotion from his first encounter and subsequent killing of infected civilians is consoled by the following words from his Captain, “While a man’s conscience is one thing, the Army will say you made the right call.” There are at least 30 characters introduced in the first 25 pages of the novel, so the focus is not on one central “hero” figure, but many individual people making up this grand landscape of the military world. With so many personalities to flesh out in the opening act, the plot can plod along in the beginning, but by the mid point it is altogether more cohesive.

There is consistent action throughout the story which picks up considerably toward the middle, but I don’t think there is enough bloody brutality and grotesquery to please most gore-hounds. Blood and guts are expected from the zombie subgenre, but this book deals more with the socio-political and psychological aspects of zombie warfare through the eyes of war-worn soldiers. Military culture and procedure is well researched and the attention to detail makes the course of action more realistic even when the characters are somewhat flat. Overall, the story reads less as a zombie novel and more as a military procedural in fantastic circumstances. Fans of military fiction, which enjoy a zombie apocalypse scenario, may find this a more fascinating read than I did.

Visit DiLouie’s official website for more information. To pick up Tooth And Nail click on the Amazon link below or. The novel is also available in audio here read by Steve Cooper.