A dark and ferociously imaginative story of revolutionary zombies, interlinked worlds and psychically-possessed marine life, Nate Crowley’s The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack is part science fiction, part horror, part black comedy and entirely bonkers. Schneider Wrack wakes to a scene of absolute terror, finding he’s not only dead – with no idea why – but a zombie, one of thousands enslaved upon the gargantuan ocean trawler Navuto. With only vague memories of his life beforehand – as a quiet, hapless librarian – and a burning sense of injustice, he stumbles his way towards becoming the figurehead for a bizarre uprising against the Navuto’s brutish overseers, setting himself upon a path he couldn’t possibly have foreseen.
This is a fundamentally grim setup – zombification as punishment, resulting in work-’til-you-rot slavery and leading to a recurring theme of losing agency and being forced to become a tool for other people to use. It develops into a satisfying subversion of the usual zombie tropes, with Wrack and Mouana – the first zombie he engages with post-awakening – wrestling with their consciences as they and their fellows tear through everything that stands in their way…literally. It’s visceral, pacy, action-packed and often shockingly gory, but in Crowley’s hands all that darkness is frequently thought-provoking or laugh-out-loud funny at the same time. It’s also deeply sad; on the one hand what do zombies have to lose? They’re already dead! On the other, as these zombies slowly regain full consciousness they’re confronted with the implications of not just being dead but what they’ve done since – whether they fully understood at the time or not.
Crowley constructs a fantastic cast of characters, beginning with Wrack, the least likely revolutionary you could imagine who goes through changes large and small as layers of memory unravel and he’s faced with terrible choices in the name of what he feels is right. His distracted, idealistic, frequently baffled viewpoint is nicely balanced out by ex-soldier Mouana, a considerably more practical type who’s prepared to do what it takes to succeed regardless of the consequences. Assorted supporting zombies often come close to stealing the show, both en-masse (a groaning chorus of “fuuuuuck” in response to Wrack’s unthinking expletive, for example) and individually, while Crowley’s recurring use of vivid, often deeply bizarre marine imagery – for events, locations, (monstrous) creatures and language – helps give this story yet more of its own unique identity. Meanwhile the narrative as it develops spans gut-deep, shudder-inducing disgust, heartfelt sorrow and black-humoured glee…and somehow combines into a cohesive story which feels both beautiful and horrible at the same time.
On top of all of that Crowley lets his imagination run wild with incredible world building, gradually revealing more of this vibrant setting as Wrack’s and Mouana’s memories slowly resurface, and the zombie revolution gathers pace and takes in increasingly varied locations. It’s often utterly mad (the Ministry of Fisheries and Justice, anyone?), although it always retains a clear sense internal logic even if that takes a while to be revealed, but just as often it’s deeply considered and wouldn’t feel out of place in a more straight-up far-future science fiction story (and you can spot a few Warhammer 40,000 influences in there, at least). There’s no doubt about it, this is absolutely bonkers – but utterly brilliant. At times the narrative rambles a touch, it sometimes requires a little patience and faith in Crowley that things will make sense, and it’ll test your knowledge of obscure (to most of us) marine life, but in the end it’s massively rewarding and just so much fun!
