The Hilarity & Heart of ‘Friends With Death’
This quirky and snug horror comedy shows why we should support more indie authors
You would think an optimal time to reevaluate the human condition would be in a zombie apocalypse, however, so often this genre is used to heighten our condition both individual and collective. So much of this is on display in the debut novel Friends With Death by James Wright. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is another run-of-the-mill brain eaters’ anonymous story, if anything that is more set dressing for a book whose central character is the literal embodiment of death.
The introduction of which makes things feel fresh, unique, and clever. Death tries to get his bearings in the corporeal world while also forging relationships with survivors, all of whom receive their own care and perspective so each of them feels fully fleshed out (including a dog, which, you can never go wrong with including).
All of this is done so swiftly that it makes reading it a joy even as you hit bouts and bursts of gore and gooey zombie combat. Wright manages to not only create a fine line between this tension and dark comedy but manages to maintain it all the way through.
It knows when to punch it and when to pull back which helps keep everything on its toes, but never in an…
