By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise

In a way, By the Blood of Heroes is a heist novel in the way that Burke and his men plan their infiltration of the German camp to accomplish the goal of rescuing Freeman. It could survive on its own without the zombie and steampunk elements, though these things create a mystique and incorporate current trends with the military aspects of the book.

Themes: By the Blood of Heroes is almost primarily a war story. Will Burke be successful, or will it be too late for the Allies and the world? On top of this, it also seems that they have modified the gas to work on the living as well, raising Richthofen from the dead but also giving him enhanced abilities and strength.īurke must find a way to sneak into the German prison camp to rescue Freeman before they learn his political secret, but also before they have a chance to experiment on him and release their new and improved corpse gas upon the world using tunneling machines and airships to turn the tide. To make things worse, the Germans have produced a corpse gas that turns the dead into zombies, raising enemy and ally to fight again and unleashing an almost unlimited supply of new soldiers into the fray. Burke must gather several trusted men to make the suicide mission because not only is Jack his half brother, but he is also the son of the president. When he is shot down by the Red Baron, veteran Captain Michael Burke is the logical choice to go in to rescue him. Having risen from the dead with his abilities enhanced but his mind on the brink of madness, Richthofen has plans for victory that give no quarter to soldiers or civilians.Premise: In the midst of World War I, Major Jack Freeman gets in a dogfight with Baron Manfred von Richthofen.

With the help of a highly advanced British dirigible war machine to infiltrate enemy territory, the team faces incredible danger as it struggles to reach the prison camp and strike at the heart of the enemy.īut they are pitted against the most deadly enemy of all: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Burke assembles a team of disparate members, from his right-hand man, Sergeant Moore, to big-game-hunter-turned-soldier Clayton Manning, who funds the mission for an opportunity to confront this most dangerous zombie game, to professor Dan Richards, one of Tesla's top men and the resident authority on all things supernatural.

When the American ace Major Jack Freeman-poster boy for the war against the Kaiser's undead army of shamblers-is downed over enemy lines and taken captive, veteran Captain Michael 'Madman' Burke is the only man brave and foolish enough to accept the mission to recover Freeman. Then turn them loose on the zombies!Īt the tail end of 1917, the Germans introduced a new type of gas to the battlefield, T-Leiche, or 'corpse gas,' and changed the face of the war by resurrecting the bodies of the dead, giving the enemy an almost unlimited source of fresh troops.

By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise