The Zona [Brossura]

This is an interesting, post apocalyptic story, set in a violent, destroyed future American southwest (Arizona, Utah, etc), which follows a "Preacher" named Lead and warring groups of religious extremists who are trying to control the future, apocalyptic world via their own violent versions of religion.

Gritty and graphic, I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the post apocalyptic genre. And the book ends with the possibility of a sequel, which I would be very interested in reading if it is written.

Reviewed by wornpagesDOTcom

In the mid 1960's Italian film director Sergio Leone made three iconic westerns starring newcomer Clint Eastwood. They portrayed a world of hot deserts and dusty towns made of wooden shacks, where the gun was law and fear governed. Imagine a story where the setting for A Fistful of Dollars meets the Spanish Inquisition and you have The Zona in your sights.
Nathan L. Yocum has envisioned a world (a comparative paradise) that is destroyed by man's inability to control global warming. First rains and then floods, followed by the winds and disease. A catastrophe of biblical proportions removes the last two hundred years of human technological advancement with divine indifference. A small amount of tech survives but it is mainly military and controlled by The Church; a reprehensible organisation performing sadistic acts in God's name.
The story unfolds in post-apocalyptic Arizona, in an area now called The Zona.
We travel with Lead, full name Leonard Marchez, as he performs the Church's work as a Preacher by making sinners repent by rope or blanket. Either be bound and delivered to the local parish for mock trial and execution, or just cut to the chase and agree to be shot immediately (with an ancient .38 revolver), then covered by the blanket. Placing his trust in a Higher Authority means that Lead never really considers himself responsible for his own actions; in fact he never considers his actions at all. One day he is charged with making another sinner repent; Terence Wood. When he discovers that Terrence is an old Preacher, Lead cannot bring himself to pull the trigger, and so starts the process of questioning divine authority. This is an extremely unhealthy option when the Church is sole judge, jury and executioner...and heresy has a rope or blanket solution.
Almost unwillingly and certainly without premeditation Lead finds himself on the wrong side of God's wrath in the shape of Eliphaz, a church Crusader. Crusaders are the elite killers, equipped with body armour and semi-auto handguns; for when their bibles need backup. No sinner ever escapes the pursuit of a Crusader, and Eliphaz enjoys his work with a disturbing zeal. The plot ramps up to speed quickly and we are soon following Lead and Terrence as their desperation becomes increasingly evident as they realise who is hunting them down. Their only chance for escape is to make a run for New Pueblo near the Mexican border, where they have heard rumour of a society outside the influence of The Church's unholy justice. Will Lean and Terrence survive the chase and make it to the sanctuary of New Pueblo? Does New Pueblo even exist outside the minds of those so desperate to believe in it?
The Zona makes many entertaining twists and turns as its one hundred pages fly by. Along the way we meet some interesting characters; Reverend Greek and Eric "I'm not a witch" The Dead to name my two favourites. The Zona is unsuitable for the younger reader mainly due to the adult nature of Lead's interaction towards the middle of the story with the Purgatory camp, although its inclusion is necessary to complete the picture of the The Zona population's ruthless suppression. When I first started reading this it took me a while to get used to Lead's name appearing so frequently within the text. Then I accepted that this was the author's style, and it was the most efficient way of moving the story along without causing unnecessary ambiguity. The author has employed The Church as the evil seeping through the plot like a divine disease; light becomes the dark. In the end The Zona is an enjoyable study of how evil men can manipulate society through fear of Divine retribution, and of those who dare to question. Do Lead and Terrence escape hell or will it be a case of paradise lost?
Why not put your feet up, open a cold beer and read The Zona to find out.

The Zona by Nathan Yocum is a striking, fierce, powerhouse of a book. Post-apocalyptic Arizona ("the Zona") is a beautifully described setting: bleak, depressing, oppressive and stark; the people who populate the Zona, likewise, are downtrodden, living a hardscrabble life. They call their era the "Broken Times," and that is the strong impression that the reader is left with -- the world is broken, and savage, and short on hope. As one of the characters says, "Peaceful men don't live anymore. Good men don't live any more. We're just winding down the clock until the Earth finishes us all off with weather and viruses or we finish ourselves with our own viciousness."

Our guide through this harsh, Wild-West world is Lead (named after his military division, Lead Group Two). Lead is a Preacher, an enforcer for the Zona's iron-fisted Theocracy; his job is to unquestioningly stamp out dissention by hunting down those who the Church have marked as troublemakers. When a Preacher tracks down a Mark, he gives them the Church's choice of rope or blanket -- to be tied with rope, and taken back to the Church for punishment, or to be shot dead and covered with a blanket.

At the beginning of the book Lead comes across as an arrogant, hard, instrument of the Church. However, as a series of life-changing encounters unfold, we see that he has a conscience and (even more surprisingly), a capacity for hope and joy in living, despite the bleak circumstances of his existence. Consider this passage, as he is running for his life: "The winds shifted, the sands settled. Night had fallen and the stars stretched out to infinity, tracing their slow spiral through the moonless sky. Despite his many and varied travels, Lead had never seen the evening sky so radiant. It felt to him as though God were reaching out with hands that comforted and yet proved conclusively what a diminutive and insubstantial creature man is." Lead's metamorphosis is compelling, as is the strength and courage of the hard-working and oppressed ordinary citizens of the Zona. Though the author's vision of the future is bleak, there is also hope, and it is especially precious when held against the bleak environment.

I found the world of The Zona completely believable and engrossing. I also greatly enjoyed the characters that Lead encounters...even very secondary characters are vividly portrayed, and leave a strong impression. I just finished the story last night, but I have a feeling that The Zona will stick with me for a long time. Fingers crossed for more books based in this fascinating world.

Four & a half stars.