"Zombie"

Why I picked this book up:  I've always been a fan of Joyce Carol Oates' writing and although the title sightly put me off (I'm not one for zombie plots), the insert sounded interesting enough (and not actually about the mind-eating zombies featured in many movies nowadays).  Plus it was more like a novella at 192 pages, so I figured what was the harm?

Why it kept me interested:  The narrator, Quinton P., is a disturbing young man who treats the murders he commits with utter normality.  He possesses such a passion for his pursuits that I almost wished he had succeeded in creating his doting zombie if only to see how he would react to his success.  He is also frighteningly normal; he is an apartment manager for foreign exchange students and displays an interest in math.  The way Oates writes as Quinton reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy where the narrator almost has a language of his own with incomplete and run-on sentences.  Quinton also uses a felt tip pen to insert drawings that provide another insight into his plotting and deviance.

To whom would I recommend this book?  Well, it's a relatively short read that kept me so disturbed that I even had a dream where I had the same characteristics as Quinton.  Oates has a way of casting off the horrifying as seemingly mundane which makes for a more unsettling novel.  Although it's not her best work, it's not her worst either.  I would suggest this novel to someone looking for a quick read and wouldn't mind taking a peak into the mind of a sadistic psychopath.