Review of Dane Grannon’s “Lucky Streak”

Lucky isn’t so lucky…at least that is what I thought at the beginning of this first person narrative entitled Lucky Streak.  He has been rescued, or perhaps captured would be a better word for it, by the military, after getting attacked by a zombie.  He has already taken a drug to resist the effects of the zombie infection, and while the military monitors his progress in dealing with the viral battle going on inside his body, he is asked to tell his story, being told more than once that the information he shares could help save lives.  That is when the real story begins.

Lucky, aka Barney Pinocle, is an eighteen year old kid who has a rap sheet, spending days of his misspent youth getting caught for various heists, some of which he was guilty of and others he was not.  Lucky is a good kid though, and with a father and two aunts in law enforcement, they have watched out for him and also given him tips to avoid getting caught (unintentionally).  Lucky’s tale in flashback begins with a heist he is pulling off, stealing a valuable antique from a local home.  He describes with pride how he avoids getting caught, and works with his partner, Snake, to fence the goods once he has made his escape.  After that, Snake is nervous about getting caught on another job, but Lucky needs the money after helping out his neighbor with her rent.  You see, Lucky is a good guy despite his bad habit of stealing.  Before and during the second heist, there are hints being dropped about the impending zombie apocalypse, but they are fairly subtle, and wouldn’t make someone who wasn’t completely paranoid too concerned.  But when both Lucky and Snake get busted for the heist, and zombies start popping up all over the place, all subtlety is gone and hell breaks loose.  Lucky manages to escape, holding out at a campsite that is pretty far removed from civilization.  He outlasts the zombie invasion in hiding, returning to his hometown of Hutchinson, Kansas, to find many of the people he knew and cared for dead, but his parents, and the girl he had a crush on, still alive.  But as Lucky finds out soon enough, the zombie menace is far from over for him and the rest of the world…

The author has created a story that moves along at a quick pace and gives us a chance to really get to know Lucky, who is just trying to make his way in the world both before and after the zombies come.  He is a thief, but a good guy who helps those in need.  He lives up to his nickname, Lucky, on more than one occasion, but it would seem given his overall circumstances, his luck isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.  The story is entertaining and an easy read, and I was able to appreciate a story that comes from close to my neck of the woods, since I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, not too terribly far from Lucky’s stomping grounds.  I’ve probably only passed through Hutchinson, where most of the story takes place, once or twice in my life, but I could tell that the author has a good grip on the layout of his hometown and uses that to his advantage in this story.  Overall, this is a fun and entertaining tale of one person’s life and times during the zombie apocalypse, both during the first wave of undead as well as the second.

You can find Lucky Streak here: http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Streak-Dane-Grannon/dp/1936730073/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317575237&sr=8-2