ZOM-B BABY - Darren Shan

With apologies for the gruesome cover art, but I chose this image on purpose because - though marketed toward teen/YA audiences - Shan's Zom-B series has been quite mature in subject matter from book one.  Zom-B Baby is fifth in the bestselling series, and while still having its moments of violence and gore, overall this short novel takes a more introspective and spiritual tone, as "B" (the lead character) struggles with a tough decision - staying in London as a member of Dr. Oystein's "angels" and training to fight Mr. Dowling, his mutants and the Owl Man for the future of the human race ... or to believe the good doctor is really a madman after all; one who believes God has chosen him to lead, but in the end may just be a lunatic who gets them all annihilated.  B, already dead, still contends with issues of God, trying to see His hand in this new world of death and destruction and the rising of the undead, and remains in this novel a wonderful, complex lead character you can both root for and identify with.  And then there's the baby.  Holy crap, that baby.  ***1/2