The Book of Riley

May 27, 2013
Fans of horror fiction laced with laughs are likely to be tickled by this droll audio edition that kicks off Tufo’s new series centering on the eponymous canine. To realize the author’s concept—seeing the zombie apocalypse through the eyes of an American Bulldog—narrator Sean Runnette (who performed Tufo’s equally funny Zombie Fallout series) needs to pull off a plausible first-animal narration. He does this and more—convincingly voicing a terrier and a cat, as well as various humans. And listeners won’t find it difficult to differentiate Ben-Ben, the “little pain in the ass Yorkshire Terrier,” from Riley. The story wastes no time rolling up its gory sleeves and getting into the action—and Runnette ably transitions from humorous canine antics to savagery (e.g., when Riley rips the face off a family friend turned zombie), successfully blending horror and humor.