The Apocalypse Z series (Apocalipsis Z in its native language) is a trilogy of apocalyptic novels written by Spanish author Manel Loureiro. The main character, an unnamed lawyer in Pontevedra, Spain, is forced to watch as pandemic of the undead unleashed from a derelict Soviet lab brings the modern world to its knees. Accompanying him along the way are his spoiled Persian cat Lucullus, battle-hardened Ukrainian Viktor Pritchenko, and his young lover Lucia.
The first book, The Beginning of the End (El Principo Del Fin) was first released as a blog before being published in 2007. Two more installments, Dark Days (Los Días Oscuros) and Wrath of the Just (La Ira De Los Justos) would be released in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The series has received translations into English, Italian, Portuguese, and Galician.
Tropes present in this work:
- Artistic License – Geography: Dagestan is depicted as a separate country from Russia, described as an "obscure ex-Soviet republic."
- Deus ex Machina: In the first book, after being stranded at sea off the coast of Vigo, the lawyer is saved by a Russian freight liner. Of course, there's a catch.
- Lots of examples in the third book, including when the characters are saved at sea by an oil tanker belonging to Reverend Greene's men who bring them to America, when he is infected and left stranded in Texas, he escapes the helot camp just before the North Korean attack and finds a motorbike and pistol which he uses to get back to Mississippi, and when the lawyer and Prit's helot revolt begins losing, the North Koreans conveniently reach Gulfport.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The undead in Apocalypse Z are biological in nature, but they don't decay and are imbued with a "sixth sense" to detect and hunt still living humans.
- The Virus: The genetically engineered TSJ virus released after an attack on the base by Chechen militants. Spread by bodily fluids, its symptoms are typical zombie fare; Ebola-like symptoms resulting in certain death, subsequent undeath, and cannibalistic urges.
