Zombie Book Series for Teens: The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Move over vampires and werewolves, it's the year of the Zombies. If you have teenagers that aren't into the vampire paranormal romances and are too old for the dragons and fairies, this Zombie Apocalypse series might be just the right mix of suspense, action and gore.

Imagine a virus of some sort that sweeps across the world in lightning speed. Everyone over age 16 starts getting severe flu-like symptoms and dies-if they are lucky. The unlucky ones develop an unquenchable thirst for children's blood and an uncontrollable appetite for their flesh. The "zombies" have not actually died, but their flesh is rotting and falling off and they are driven to madness with their hunger. And children that used to rely on their parents, teachers and adults for safety, must now fight to stay alive and avoid becoming a meal.

This is the world that we are introduced to by British author Charlie Higson, who is most-known for his international best-selling Young Bond Series. This zombie series is a cross between 28 Days Later and Lord of the Flies. The stories are told through the eyes of the children, as they try to survive in a world that no longer has any rules. We are constantly being introduced to new characters, because many of the children don't survive more than a chapter!

Every time you start to think they can't possibly kill off a main character--wrong! And the minor characters just step in and take up with their own story...The result is a deep foreboding sense that no one is ever safe or guaranteed to survive in this harsh apocalypse the children now live in. But with all the tragedy and death surrounding the children, there is still humanity and hope. The children truly are the future in this series.

The first book in the series takes place approximately 1 year after the disease has ravaged the world, in the city of London. It focuses on a group of children who have banded together for survival known as the Holloway crew. They scavenge what food and supplies they can from throughout the abandoned city. But the streets are dangerous, with "mothers" and "fathers" roaming in packs, looking for the only food that satisfies them-- the flesh of children. When the children hear rumors of a "safe haven" they decide to undertake the perilous trip across the city. But will they be able to survive the journey? And is the safe haven really all that safe?

The Dead is a prequel to the first book, The Enemy. It takes place a little more than a year before the first book--when the "disaster" has just taken place. There is a completely new cast of characters, centering around a group of students at a private school outside of London. With the teachers and older students all becoming vicious flesh-eating zombies, the kids decide to get away from the school and travel to London. They have lost all forms of communication with the outside world, but some still hold out hope that London might not be affected. Along the journey they band together with several other kids-and one adult. He's a butcher named Greg and he appears to be unaffected by the disease. Is it possible that some adults are immune? Will London be safer?

The fourth book in the series entitled The Sacrifice is scheduled to be released in the UK in September 2012. The American version usually follows within a year. This book will focus on a couple of the characters from the second book, Small Sam and The Kid. It will also introduce the greatest rival yet, a zombie that is much more intelligent than the others and is even is able to speak. Through his odd ramblings, the children realize that he knows something about the origin of the disease and it is up to them to try to decipher the meaning.

Author Charlie Higson has been given the green light to make a total of 7 books in his zombie series. In the last 3 books, he promises to draw together all the various plot lines from the other books and reveal all the answers to our questions about the mysterious disease.

The Fear begins 5 days prior to the events at the end of book 2, The Dead. It pulls together many of the storylines from the first two novels and expands to create a new terrifying chapter in the saga.

DogNut and his crew set out from the Tower of London settlement to search for missing friends and family. DogNut unwittingly sets off a chain of events that affects all the children of London. The reader is also given an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of some of the zombies. Not all of them are as mindless as the children would hope--and they are organizing an army of their own.