THE ZOMBIE SANTA CLAUSES BY ASTRID ADDAMS [BOOK REVIEW]

15/12/2021

If you're looking for a story that puts the "Jesus Christ" in Christmas, then you can't go wrong with this story.

Christmas is a time of giving, and author Astrid Addams is getting right into the holiday spirit by donating the proceeds from the sales of her two Christmas themed short stories to the Bacchus Residents Rescue. A non-profit rescue dedicated to helping exotic small animals by rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming, providing sanctuary when needed, and educating about proper care in and around Cheshire East UK!

But that's all well and good; how many of us have purchased a charity single just because of the charity involved? No one can seriously say that Feed the World is a song they would voluntarily listen to. I mean, it's not exactly  Hear N' Aid - Stars is it?

Charity is all great, but you still want to enjoy the stories, don't you? Astrid Addams' two Christmas themed short stories are both set in the shared universe where zombies co-exist with humans, chipped and docile, the zombies have been put to work on the menial tasks that we humans don't really want to do. It is an interesting backdrop to the pair of stories, one that I would very much like to see expanded upon in further instalments of this universe.

In Zombie Santa Clause: Axe Murderer, a pair of twins on a visit to a shopping centre (that's a mall for my American friends) meet with Santa, where they tell him exactly what they want for Christmas. What proceeds is a fun, if brutal and violent bloodsoaked story that doesn't pull any swings of the blood-encrusted axe, all I'll say is you won't ever look at fairy lights in the same way again after reading this story.

Zombie Santa Clause: Santa Jaws follows a similar theme of Christmas wishes coming true in the most violent and gory way possible, except this is far more callous in its subject matter, be warned there is a scene where Claire, who is heavily in debt to a cruel and salacious loan shark, has to make a payment in kind so that she has enough money to give her daughter a Christmas worthy of her daughter's kindness. Addams doesn't shy away from the horrible reality of Claire's predicament, and the depths of desperate despair that leads Claire to do this are there in pure dark details. Sexual assault is never an easy subject matter to tackle, and Addams description of the assault is a had read, and those of you who are sensitive to this should maybe steer clear of this story.

Despite this harrowing scene, Santa Jaws is a well-written Bizzaro zombie tale that comes into its own in the bloody grisly gorefest final act of the story.

If you're looking for a story that puts the "Jesus Christ" in Christmas, then you can't go wrong with this story.