As a zombie book, this has the advantage of seeing trained soldiers act like soldiers, trained scientists act like scientists, and trained teachers act like... complete idiots. Given that, it's not surprising that a 10 year old sentient zombie girl has issues staying close to them in order to survive. Especially when they smell of food.

Melenie is an interesting character in her own right, because as much as she thinks like a human, there are times when you're oddly aware that she isn't human, and she doesn't experience the world in human terms. Carey is a good writer, and her description of Melenie seeing shadows turn into light or tracking a car by smell is creepy enough without noting that these are abilities specifically useful for taking down humans.

I was disappointed that there wasn't as much interaction with the other actors in the world, but the action scenes are worthwhile and no-one does anything... well, people do silly things, but no-one acts out of character.