Dead Guy Spy Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie by David Lubar – Review

This is the second book in David’s Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series and you can find a review of the first book, My Rotten Life, over at BSCreview.  Those were pre-BSCkids times, and now we know where to find all of the good kids reviews.    Well I enjoyed the first book, and I was a bit intrigued by where Lubar would go with the series.  I will say that he has surprised me in the second book, with the direction that the story takes with half-dead zombie, Nathan Abercrombie.

Nathan Abercrombie is getting used to his rotten life as a half-dead zombie. The good thing is he doesn’t feel any pain. The bad thing is his body can’t heal, so he has to be really careful not to break anything. But that’s hard to do when his wrestling-obsessed gym teacher, Mr. Lomux, matches him up with Rodney the bully, who’s looking for any excuse to break his bones. Then one day, Nathan is approached by the secret organization B.U.M.—aka the Bureau of Useful Misadventures—which offers him a cure in exchange for his help. Nathan jumps at the chance to become the world’s first zombie spy, but soon discovers that B.U.M. isn’t quite what it seems. Can Nathan trust them?

This was a very quick read for me, as the flow of the book worked well.  Lubar does an exceptional job at keeping the story of a zombie grounded in reality, if you can believe that.  The characters that surround Nathan are ones we can relate to, if we can remember back to that time in our life.  Each of the characters all have their own quirks and personal issues and that makes them seem real.  Plus, what boy does not remember taking wrestling in school?  The plot Nathan comes up with to trick his gym teacher so that the boys do not have to really wrestle is pure genius and I had wish I had thought of it when I was in school.  Nathan’s plans seem to always seem to go south at some point, so it is up to his friends to help him out when things go wrong. 

Lubarknows his inner child and it shows in his writing.  He is also adapt with keeping the humor in the book fun, without overdoing it as many other authors can.  Lubar uses some good misdirection with the plot without making it frustrating for his intended audience.  I like Nathan, and even though he gets to do some things with his zombie body that every kid dreams about, it does come with the price of being a zombie.  He does seem to be taking the part of being half-dead pretty well.

In this book, the secret organization B.U.M. (Bureau of Useful Misadventures) wants Nathan as a spy and they will also offer him some help with his zombie issues, but can he trust them?  B.U.M. does not seem all that concerned with letting Nathan know the full extent of their department or even the full story for the missions they have him running.    Things may not always be as they seem.  The introduction of B.U.M. into the storyline works for me, and it brings a bigger plot to the story.  I look forward to the next book in the series.