Prisons are sad places where hopes and dreams of a well-spent life either die or are put on hold for a very long time. Bayonne Prison, near the Southern Louisiana swamplands, was such a place - until about a year ago. As murderous rioting broke out in every corner of the planet, fewer and fewer guards showed up for work, prefering to protect their familes and themselves rather than babysit convicted criminals. Locked up and left to die, the inmates seized control of Bayonne instead. Eventually, nearly all of the former captives left in search of women, drugs, alcohol and other things rarely available in prison. George stayed behind. This is his story. This is a warning. If you are one of those readers who only enjoy zombie tales full of undead being disposed of on every other page; you should not get this story. Don't misunderstand. There are such things in the Emperor but not on every page. Heck, you may have to read for quite a bit before you find something in this novel like that. Why? Because the story centers around a living breathing man who doesn't want to confront the undead unless he has no choice. If you desire a kick-ass commando story with lots of machine guns, tanks and explosions, again, my advice is don't get this novel. There are no tanks, and almost no explosions, (okay there's two maybe three things that get blown up.) I'm a silly person in general, but don't believe it very realistic that sane people would go out of their way to seek out and battle zombies. It seems counter-intuitive to the self preservation trait everyone has; or should have. This is a thinking person's novel. (Or at least I like to think it is) It doesn't rely on excessive gore in lieu of truly scary things. There are a great many novels out there that delve into gore and admittedly sometimes very creative zombie disposal scenes if you prefer that, but if that's all you like, again I stress, Don't get this novel