This was interesting and well done, but didn't blow me away. The set-up and lead-in was pretty extended. And the climax was exciting and emotional. The denouement, however, left much to be desired.

I was excited for the premise-- a combination of edited "primary source material" and interviews to create a story that was adjacent to World War Z in concept and its own unique thing. But I'm not sure Brooks pulled it off. I don't know if it needed more "source material" or a broader scope to include information about the eruption that was the catalyst for the attack, but I never wavered in my understanding that this was fiction. Perhaps writing plain oral history style fiction is easier? I was fully immersed in WWZ and, as another example, stopped to google the facts presented in Daisy Jones and The Six because that was so real. This didn't do it, tho. There wasn't even a "really well-written novel" level of suspension of disbelief when the characters transcended their on-the-page-ness.

Entertaining, tho. Definitely. And probably fantastic for Squatch fans.