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[[quoteright:313:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zone_one.jpg]]

A novel by Creator/ColsonWhitehead set during the ZombieApocalypse. Humanity is trying to wipe out the remaining zombies while restarting civilization, with the impromptu government based in Buffalo. The main character, Mark Spitz, is a "sweeper" in a reclaimed section of lower Manhattan, called [[TitleDrop Zone One]]. His job is to clear stragglers out of buildings within the safe zone so that new tenants can eventually move in.
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!!This book provides examples of:
%%* ActionSurvivor
%%* AHouseDivided: happens to assorted groups of refugees.
%%* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: the Lieutenant]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The zone gets overrun by skels.]]
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: This Mark Spitz is not related to the famous Olympic swimmer.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The undead are called "skels" because the years of plague have reduced them to little more than skeletons
%%* NoZombieCannibals
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mark Spitz (nicknamed for the Olympian after claiming he can't swim), the Quiet Storm, and No Mas
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: In addition to the usual flesh-eating, plague-bearing kind, there are also "stragglers", which seem to be frozen mid-action and do not move, notice people, or bite [[spoiler: (at first)]]
* PostApocalypticTrafficJam: During the I-95 job in Connecticut, Mark Spitz helps to clear the wreckage of vehicles long abandoned by those fleeing the zombie apocalypse.
* PurpleProse: As a "literary" zombie novel, Zone One strays into this territory frequently.
** Mark Spitz, as TheNarrator, often goes into a flashback...and stays there for a long, rambling monologue.
* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Although there is occasional mention of soldiers shooting fresher skels in the torso, Mark Spitz makes a point of sticking to head shots.
* RoomFullOfZombies: The sweepers, like Mark Spitz, are charged with clearing buildings of these. A couple are turned up, with varying consequences.
%%* RunningGag: "Accursed Connecticut."
* SafeZoneHopeSpot:[[spoiler: The entire setting of Zone One is this. It seems like the sweepers might keep the skels out, but they're overrun in the end.]]
%%* ThePlague
%%* ZombieApocalypse
* ZombieInfectee: Mentioned more than seen; some of the bitten think that anticiprant, if administered quickly enough and in a high dose, will prevent their undeath.
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