Dark and haunting and often gruesome—yet movingly dramatic, too—One Yellow Eye is an entirely captivating tale of the power of love to push us to fight through the most challenging of times. It’s the kind of story that will grab you from the start and refuse to let go.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

We can call One Yellow Eye a zombie story, sure. But it's really a grief story, at its heart. Anyone who has lost someone to a long illness can see the mirrors in this story, how the grief process unfurls, and how brutal it is. On a personal note, my mother lives this every day, and to see Kesta's pain mirrored in hers was, quite frankly, brutal. But it was also incredibly honest, and I plan to get this book for my mother in the hopes that it may also be cathartic.

This isn't the world-ending apocalypse of The Walking Dead, as this one has seemingly been contained to the greater London area. But as any pandemic, its effects were devastating, and Kesta's husband Tim was among its victims. Only, when the order came to euthanize all zombified persons, Kesta decided to hide Tim in their apartment instead, in an attempt to use her medical expertise to find a cure. Only there is so much that no one knows about the virus and its pathology, so Kesta has a long road ahead of her. She's dealing with this awful grief-limbo situation, and she cannot tell even her nearest and dearest that Tim is quasi-alive, complicating the process.

I was also really invested in finding out the origins of this virus, and how it got to the point where human zombies were a thing. It was so fascinating, especially once we started to get some answers. So not only was I very much here for Kesta's story, I was eager to find out all the things about zombies, too!

Bottom Line: Zombies, but make 'em feel really plausible. But also, grief is hell.

I featured One Yellow Eye in my July 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5JWYTfUVq4, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

A mark of true love- saving your zombie husband and devoting yourself to cure! But in all honesty the writing was beautiful and relatable; I too would do what the main character did. I had so much empathy for a zombie book!

Fascinating twist on a zombie novel. Way more emotional than I expected it to be, and I really cared about these characters. The ending got me in the feels. Great storytelling.

Leigh Radford’s “One Yellow Eye,” is a hushed, aching, post-post apocalyptic story of grief, love, and the lengths we are willing to go to to keep that love alive. In many ways we’re having an era of maximalist horror, and I’m having a great time, I mean look at Chuck Tingle’s brand. “One Yellow Eye,” though defies that trend. It’s a stunning, slow-burn, and whilst it does deal with a pandemic, it tackles it in a deeply personal, raw and micro way. It’s not about saving the world, but a tiny piece of it… and I adored it. It does share a similarity with Tingle’s work though, in that both go to show that love is real and horror is never really heartless. The late Mason Coile (Andrew Pyper) blurbed this book, and said “You wouldn’t expect a zombie novel to have so much to say about love,” and frankly there is nothing I could tell you that sums up this book quite as perfectly as that does. Should the stars align, and I post this when I’m supposed to, this book releases tomorrow in the US: July 15th, from Gallery Books in the US and Tor Nightfire in the UK. My interview with Leigh should also be dropping tomorrow. I’m typing this April 22nd, a few weeks before we’re due to record, but I’m already predicting that it will be an excellent conversation, and I will be fan-girling hard. (Editors note (it’s me, I’m the editor): it was and and I was).

We follow Kesta Shelley, who along with the rest of London is recovering from a zombie pandemic. Zombie Apocalypse Recovery Groups (ZARGs) have cropped up, and terms like BTZ (before the zombies) have surfaced. As a doctor, Kesta wants nothing more than to get involved in the elusive “Project Dawn.” To the best of the rest of the world’s knowledge, there are no remaining cases, after all the infected were shot dead, but there’s no cure either. Kesta is particularly eager to contribute to this effort. It’s partly because she’s fed up of hiding her secret from her friends and neighbours, partly because she no longer wants to smuggle drugs from the hospital she works at back to her apartment, but mainly because her undead husband Tim is chained to her radiator, and she’s determined to bring him back.

The Covid-19 pandemic was such a strange time for me, and considering that 4 years on, my sense of smell is still AWOL, and my taste continues to function at about 60%, I truly don’t believe that really, society is over it yet. I know I’m not. We’ve just closed the tab. Collectively minimised it. The zombie virus that sweeps London in “One Yellow Eye,” is fiction and functionally different in a dozen ways- it would be amiss of me to drone on and on about Covid, but intentional or not, Radford brought a whole host of repressed lockdown memories and emotions bubbling to the surface. Tears were shed. Kesta, for all of her steely pragmatism, is as guilty of this repression as we are, attempting to pretend that her married life has not been completely dismantled and (only partially) reconstructed by the virus. Whilst trying to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, she actually makes things a whole lot more painful for herself. It’s a performance, a pantomime, and in pretending nothing has changed, she underscores how everything has. It highlights how we shouldn’t fast-forward grief. It wasn’t just that our routines were rattled… our entire lives were put on hold. Trying to return to normality, without acknowledging that shift (which, from my perspective, is what we’ve done) isn’t healing but erasure. Of course this applies to all grief, not just the loss of my sense of smell. Please talk.

Infinitely more than it’s about the pandemic though, this book is about love. Messy, desperate and feral love. Many of the ZARG members in order to protect themselves and end the suffering and torment of their infected loved ones, killed them. It’s an impossible choice. It sounds brutal and it is brutal. When viewed through the lens of mercy, of dignity, of real compassion however, maybe it’s not so unthinkable after all. In many ways, for me, this book delicately brushes against various current ethical issues, such as euthenasia and autonomy. Is there such a thing as being cruel to be kind? Is there a point where love becomes letting go? Kesta goes to extreme lengths to preserve what is left of Tim. Her love for him is unshakable, irrational, and sacred. It’s indisputably, undeniably a form of love. Frankly I can’t say with any conviction that I wouldn’t hold on to the people I love with the same ferocity. If they were there, even half there, hey I might be tempted to chain them to a radiator too. Radford never explicitly moralises, simply leaves us to grapple with our own questions. When is holding on an act of cruelty rather than devotion? Who gets to decide that? There are no easy answers, simply a pulse, and somebody trying to keep it alive.

Words feel pitifully small compared to how “One Yellow Eye,” made me feel. How terrible and terrified I felt for Kesta and that horrible ethical, liminal space between holding on and letting go she found herself caught in. It truly is one of the most effective and affecting things I’ve read in years. It’s an important piece of contemporary horror, and I feel the need to reiterate once, and a thousand times more, that it is heartful. It’s beautiful and brutal in the same breath. It speaks to ethics, to grief, to devotion, to the quiet madness of carrying on when the world beneath your feet has shifted seismically. It touches on things that I couldn’t fit into this review, and things I wouldn’t dare to, for Leigh Radford, this book, and what it is trying to say, deserve far more than my paraphrasing. I don’t take this lightly dear reader- if you take one single recommendation from me this year, let it be “One Yellow Eye.”

***ARC received from Gallery Books and NetGalley, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

One Yellow Eye is a zombie story, to an extent. There isn’t much zombie action, this isn’t what the book is about. It is a story of grief and what we are willing to do when we are unwilling to accept a loved ones passing.

Kesta is a good lead, I really felt for her grief and desire to find a cure for Tim. I also felt bad for her she is clearly wanting to do the right thing by finding a cure for the disease, to work with all the right people but she is doing it for all the wrong reasons. While Tim spends more of the story as mostly a sedated zombie the book does a good job of still portraying him as a well rounded character, much of that through flashbacks. He isn’t a mindless zombie as other zombie books may portray them as, he feels like more of a man aware that is trapped within his own body. Its a sad portrayal of zombies considering what happens to others in the book.

For a zombie story I found the origin to be quite unique to other zombie stories. They don’t explain everything, that isn’t what the story is about and I wasn’t really sad that it doesn’t cover every detail of how the disease made it into humans. I think one of my favorite parts of this movie is that humans are dangerously capable of surviving. It is what has been driving humans for years and they show how resilient they are in continuing to survive even if it comes with heartbreaking trauma as many of the people that stand up and stop the infected are loved ones.

The writing of this book can sometimes be a bit difficult to follow. Each chapter seems to start with a flashback that can at times get a little difficult to follow. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is transitioning into a flashback which made some of the chapters feel a little clunky. The pacing at time can get a little slow, there isn’t a lot of action in this book and some of the scenes feel like they drag on a little too long even though it isn’t that long of a book. It is still a good book.

I really loved how the book brought Kesta full circle with what happened with Tim. This is a book about the process and cycle of grief and you can feel it working its way through the stages of grief to come to a heartbreaking but satisfying conclusion of her story.

I was honestly hooked since reading the dedication, and it didn’t let up.

Well into the zombie apocalypse, life functions normally. People still go to work, buy groceries, and scientists are working to find a cure. All the zombies were rounded up and disposed of by the government, except for one.

Kesta secretly keeps her undead husband chained in the bedroom, hoping to keep him stable until a cure. She is a mess, beleaguered with grief and simultaneously holding on to hope.

I like the scientific bits explaining how this zombie virus works. The pacing is slow, but heartfelt. It feels like a mix of Contagion (2011) where you have virologists running around and testing vaccines, and Resident Evil (2002) with a secret underground lab and a zombie outbreak.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and Gallery Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

If you’re a fan of science heavy Sci-Fi (especially the kind that leans into virology, pathology, and real world plausibility), then One Yellow Eye is absolutely worth your time. Think Contagion, but with a zombie twist.

What sets this book apart is how deeply it immerses you in the scientific process behind a zombie outbreak. The protagonist, a pathologist, is laser focused on saving her husband, who was infected during the initial wave of the virus. While the emotional stakes are clear, the book prioritizes her methodical efforts to understand and combat the infection over heavy character development or backstory. For me, that was a huge win.

This is not a typical zombie thriller. It's quieter, more cerebral, and deeply grounded in the biology of the apocalypse. If you enjoy pandemic fiction that treats science seriously and centers a determined, competent woman at its core, you’ll find One Yellow Eye a gripping and refreshingly smart read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Leigh Radford for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

🐍🔬👁 Til death👁🔬🐍

And sometimes even beyond that....

A love story, a grief story, a secret...

How far will you go for the ones you love?

Kesta took the promise of "in sickness and in health" to heart and did everything and more to get her beloved back. Obsessively so. Months after the "zombie" outbreak and it being contained and all of the infected being eradicated, she holds a secret, her infected husband chained and maintained "alive" while she tries everything to find a cure.

And try everything she does.

This goes into how we got to where we are in the zombie apocalypse and all the scientific intricacies of how to cure the outbreak.

It had me with one tab open to Google terms and with tissues nearby when things got too feely. I was heavily invested in this, a mix between 28 days later and Grays Anatomy with a hint of I-Zombie. This was a good story into a zombie outbreak not leaning into random people surviving, but to the overlooked part of society, the scientist, that desperately look for answers while also grieving their own personal loses. It goes into her stages of grief, especially the denial and anger one, where she turns her back on anyone that doesn't aid her cause.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author!

I would love to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review

Love. Science. Grief. Zombies.
How far would you go to save the one you love? How set in stone are your ethics? What would drive you to do what you previously thought was the unimaginable.
One Yellow Eye is an ode to grief, while also being wildly entertaining and smart. If you can't see the world in shades of gray, Kesta and Tim will manifest it for you by the end of the novel.

As London is rebuilding in the wake of a zombie epidemic, medical scientist Kesta Shelley is harboring a deadly secret. The zombified remains of her beloved husband Tim is kept restrained in her home as she races against time to find a cure to restore him to his former mortal state.

Throughout the story, Kesta's love for Tim is palpable, obsessive; what would otherwise be a beautiful love story is grotesquely disfigured by horrific scenes of a weatherworn Kesta romancing the sedated remains of her husband. This presented a wonderful, classic horror vibe ala Mary Shelley (likewise the notable surname for Kesta). It was fun for this classic horror fan to encounter this type of styling in a modern horror book -- just the thought of keeping an undead loved one hidden away in a guest bedroom is by itself incredibly chilling.

Much like the horror elements, the "sci" was similarly strong in this "sci-fi." Radford did not shy away from a commendable deep dive into biological science -- both in what Kesta encounters peering into her microscope and an ultimate biological exploration and explanation for the zombie epidemic. Horror/Sci-fi must be one of the most challenging genres to tackle, let alone in a debut novel! This will be an author to follow for sure.

While Kesta's descent into madness is a slow burn, the story is so artfully woven that I enjoyed the ride. That said, after such careful weaving of the proverbial web, the ending came quickly, and I wasn't completely satisfied with where we landed… After the creepiness of the buildup, I was hoping for a metaphorical twist of the knife to play us off, but perhaps that is just the old-school horror fan in me talking.

If you are a fan of classic, gothic horror like Mary Shelley or Edgar Allan Poe, you will love this book. Also, sci-fi fans with a flair for the macabre, like readers of S.A. Barnes, will similarly take to this story. I have to say, I am enjoying this new examination of zombies from a more empathetic angle. Another fantastic selection in this vein is It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over, by Anne de Marcken.

Thank you to NetGalley, Leigh Radford, and Gallery Books for sending me an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Rating 3.5 rounded up

Quick very high level summary.
Desperately trying to find a cure for a zombie virus, scientist, Kesta Shelley. The government is desperate to eliminate the infected so kill now ask questions later is the moto. Kesta is picked to work for the government in search of a cure while trying to hide her undead husband. As time goes on Kesta becomes increasing desperate bordering on obsessed which is only increasing the danger.

My Take.
This was a unique take on the zombie genre and a welcome change. The author was able to give the story such a realistic feel. I enjoy a good zombie story but most you end up over looking obvious plot holes but no so with this story. This story is more emotional and more focused on the mental toll it takes on the survivors rather than just continued fighting to survive. I am no scientist but I enjoyed the scientific portions of the novel. They where written well and felt very realistic but again I do not have a science major. Overall this was the fresh take on a zombie apocalypse that I didn’t know I needed.

One Yellow Eye is an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse. Set 6 months after a zombie outbreak had been contained, and life is starting to get back to normal in London. British scientist Ketsa's husband Tim had been bitten during the outbreak, and she has been keeping him locked up and heavily sedated in her flat. Determined to find a cure, she manages to be selected to work for top-secret Project Dawn, which gives her hands-on access to the virus and experimental treatments. As the book progresses, Kesta begins to spiral mentally, under stress of keeping her husband alive and secret, trying to maintain friendships, and overworking herself to find the cause and cure of the virus.
This was a very different approach to the zombie novel, as it focused heavily on the science aspects of virology and had virtually no actual zombies (other than poor Tim). I did really enjoy this book, Kesta was a complicated protagonist, her love and obsession for curing her husband had her making questionable decisions, alienating the people trying to help her, and spiraling at work.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of One Yellow Eye in exchange for my honest review. I do look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

A zombie/horror tale that, at times, felt too reminiscent of COVID, but in the end did enough to feel unique and distinct. Our main character, having survived an isolated zombie outbreak in London, now has to face the reality that her husband didn't escape the pandemic unscathed. How far will she go to save her undead husband? Find out in this dark humored tale that has a whole lot of (undead) heart.

One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford, Ketsa Shelley has just lived through one of the worst ordeals in history a zombie apocalypse that only happened in London. She’s also one of the few that works at the hospital diagnosing diseases but has applied to be on the Project Dawn team that’s looking for a cure to what causes zombie ism. she has a very personal reason for seeking a cure it’s because she has her infected husband Tim handcuffed to the radiator at home laying in a zombie state. Kesta isn’t people friendly and the only friend she has is Jesse, but she has been avoiding Jesse because she knows Jesse can read her like a book and will know she is keeping secrets. When she finally gets on the team at Project Dawn she is totally letdown at the lack of progress they’re making and to make matters even worse there is a secret project her coworker Dudley got to be a part of but that she did not. She has been stealing medicine from the hospital to keep Tim as comfortable and sedated as possible especially when she leaves for work . So ultimately she is living two lives one as a seeker of a cure in the second as a caretaker to the diseased Tim. she wants a cure to cure the love of her life. The desire for a cure will cause her to do the unthinkable but will it work and is it worth it? I didn’t like cats that much but really loved the story and although I was a little disappointed by the ending I still definitely recommend it especially if you love science filled sci-fi the new definitely love this story. It says a lot of good things about this book that the main character to me was unlikable yet I couldn’t stop reading The story I Reddit in one setting and didn’t stop until it was over. I did wish for a different ending but didn’t absolutely hate the ending I got I just wish she would’ve come to this conclusion much sooner in the book but having said that it’s still so worth reading. I felt so bad for little live But I guess for the greater good right? I also wish there would’ve been a bigger reaction to the outcome of cooks character. I really liked her and thought her and cats made such good friends. There were more than one thing that was left unanswered but I guess they weren’t important questions and I still close the book wanting to recommend it despite the minor negatives. #NetGalley, #gallery books, #TheReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #LeighRadford, #OneYellowEye,

This is one of the grimmest books I've read in a long time. One Yellow Eye is clearly inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic that happened in real life, however thankfully does not rely on too many overt similarities beyond a pandemic is happening.

This book takes place in present day London where there was an outbreak of a disease that turned people into zombies, however the virus was swiftly eliminated by the military and in some awful circumstances, family and friends, swiftly killing the infected. By the time Kesta Shelley, a hospital employee turned researcher, begins working on a cure for the virus all of the infected are supposed to be dead. Except her husband Tim who is dead on paper, but kept locked in a room while Kesta works to cure him.

The science in this book is very interesting and I learned about a real life horrific neurological disease that affects snakes, and it was interesting to read about how viruses make the jump from human to animal, however the book didn't completely explain how this happened within their world. I liked that the zombies weren't completely stereotypical undead monsters so the plot seemed a lot more plausible from a scientific perspective.

Some of the characters were very two dimensional and it seemed like Kesta had a lot of "plot armor" to get away with keeping her zombie husband locked up for so long. It was confusing as to how she was able to do that since Kesta was completely falling apart psychologically throughout the book (which makes sense), although on the other hand, the plot was making the point about how fearful and isolated folks can be, not only just off the end of a zombie apocalypse, but generally in a society that is becoming more and more disconnected from each other socially.

The plot behind the lab Kesta ends up working in seemed a little cartoonish and again, she has lots of plot armor with her actions, however it was interesting to see the dynamic with those working for find a cure and those with more nefarious intentions.

Overall the main idea behind this book was to investigate how far a person would go to save the love of their life, which the author notes in the afterward. I didn't think that was entirely gotten across since we never really get to know Kesta's husband Tim as a non-zombie. Much of the non-science plot centers around how Kesta never cultivated any relationships aside from her university best friend Jess because she was so focused on her work and relied on Tim for everything else.

She does finally develop real relationships at the end and has some character growth however that wasn't fully fleshed out and was written more in an "and this is what happened next" manner. I think this book worked best as a body horror/psychological thriller than a book about love and relationships.

I rounded my review up to 4 stars because despite my issues with some of the plot, it was still very well written and compelling.

Many thanks to Gallery Books and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion.

Engaging, entertaining, and an original take on zombies. A recommended purchase for collections where genre bent dystopian/horror is popular.

One Yellow Eye

I did not, not like the book. I just couldn’t get into it.
There was a great premise that was not solely focusing on surviving a constant zombie apocalypse, moving on, and rebuilding while hoping it doesn’t restart again.
What for lack of a better term that turned me off was that the main character Kesta kept her undead husband “alive” drugged up and hoping for a cure. That is what happens in the first chapter, but what does it accomplish? Maybe a spark of the person is still inside or basic animalistic tendencies. I am not trying to hate on this, but shifting from hoping to reverse the damage and continuing a marriage to government conspiracy. It was hard to see a semi happy medium.
I did appreciate the empathy and Kesta’s willingness to fight for what was left of her husband. I hope other people give this a try and enjoy it.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rating: This was such an interesting take on a zombie sci-fi book, with little bits of love & humor mixed in! The portrayal of the infected & the back story of how it occurred was so interesting, the lab parts were so intriguing & didn’t falter. The character development with the FMC held throughout slow & steady, at the end which was really plausible.

There were bits & pieces where events seemed to veer off in a way, one part would be brought up & never really mentioned again. I also feel like some situations in itself could’ve been portrayed a little bit better, such as more background or being more in depth with the scenarios. Overall, it was an adventurous read & it was a refreshing take on this type of dystopia as well!