Book Review: "One Yellow Eye" by Leigh Radford

So at the time of writing this review, the UK is currently boiling so badly that I genuinely started getting sick and queasy whilst outside. I would highly recommend you stay hydrated because in that moment, I definitely was not hydrated. I've also taken to keeping my water bottle hidden from the sun or windows so that it doesn't turn warm. I cannot believe that this is where we have got to. I needed something to distract me and One Yellow Eye was one of those perfect books. I read the whole book in one sitting because genuinely, I couldn't look away even though this is a deep and enthralling story - there's still a sense of morbid curiosity we have about it. The post-apocalyptic visions of London (which is basically just *looks out of window* Birmingham, I guess) and a love story which is conflicting as it is pitiful - I think the one thing we can learn from this book is that the more you think about issues of mortality, the more morally grey everyone actually is in reality.

Kesta is living in London after a zombie apocalypse broke out and then, died down. In our Post-Covid world, this can seem quite relatable but Kesta's a bit different. For a long time, lockdown was enforced to let all of the zombies die before non-infected people could roam the streets again - but there's something that Kesta isn't telling everyone. Kesta was married to a man called Tim who seems to love music and making terrible jokes, for almost two decades before he was bitten and died, awaking as an infected zombie. Awaking as an infected zombie that Kesta is trying desperately to keep alive at all possible costs. Leigh Radford introduces us to something strange here - we all think we would do the same in Kesta's situation until we start to meet characters like June (whom I won't say too much about here) and people like Jess (who is annoying but still...). We want to think we would do the same as Kesta and try desperately to keep this zombie alive, trying to reverse everything that happened to them but in reality, we know damn well we would not be able to. This, in turn, is the reality that Radford presents as Kesta not wanting to accept.

Kesta has also finished working at a hospital and has been accepted on to something called 'Project Dawn' a secret group of scientists who, to Kesta's knowledge, are tasked with finding out what the hell happened, whether it's going to happen again and what they can do about it if it breaks out. The problem is of course, this is not exactly what's going on there and Kesta is now on another mission where she is trying to find out the truth. Atop of this, she's still trying to keep her husband alive and functioning - which of course inserts a grey area to the whole thing because she's not really being truthful about her interests in the project. Yes, nobody knows that the infected zombie Tim is sitting chained to a radiator in Kesta's home. Everyday she sedates him, but then the sedatives wear off.

And all of a sudden, whilst trying to get him to relive his old memories, remember who he used to be, she's also racing against the fact that she doesn't want to overdose him on sedatives that are no longer working. Tim makes noises, often lashes out but Kesta is still there. She's still stealing drugs from the hospital and she's still trying and testing, she's still working day and night and her only goal (even though she tells other people different) is to return her husband to her. The question then becomes: is this for him or for her? There's a point in the book that Leigh Radford turns this question on its head and you can't really tell anymore - which is why I mentioned June, a character you need to pay attention to. She is another layer to the morality issue and it's brilliant.

At the end of the day, the ending is both really kind of sad and absolutely hilarious - yes, it's a black comedy atop of a horror, atop of a romance, atop of a psychological thriller and a sci-fi... there's a lot of things this novel is. But one thing it is not is boring.