I don't read a lot of zombie stories, but I've followed this series because it's always doing something in addition to the zombie mayhem. In Zombie, Ohio, it followed a unique sentient zombie. Since then the focus has been on the humans instead; in fact, although the danger of the zombies is ever present, the bigger threat to civilization has been the humans.
When the outbreak first hits in Indiana, before people realize what's happening, a school group of teenagers goes missing in a cave. The Governor's daughter is in the class, so he sends the IMPD sergeant who handles special jobs for him. Sergeant Nolan finds one teenage girl alive in the cave, a scholarship student named Kesha. As the two of them continue to search for safety and any other survivors, back in Indianapolis, the Governor strives to make sure it's clear he has matters under control without federal assistance.
The zombies provide the catalyst, but the heart of this story is what happens when people see things only in terms of assets and opportunities. The Governor may (or may not) have caused the zombie outbreak by giving corporations free license to pollute the state, and during the outbreak his focus is on protecting and projecting his image as having responded single-handedly, treating the federal government as a bigger enemy than the zombies. There were moments that felt insufficiently justified. E.g., the governor's daughter's conviction that she needed to get to her father because he was going to do something terrible. Although the governor was more concerned about his daughter's safety than anybody else's, there was no sign that it was a motivating factor in any of the bad calls he made. For example, he wasn't diverting resources to locating her that could have been better used defending more of the population. Nor did her reappearance motivate him to do the right thing. Overall, however, this was an exciting story and a credible depiction of what happens when politicians put ideology above delivering what their constituents need.
Overall: B+