Brooks is perhaps best-known for reinventing the modern zombie genre with his "Zombie Survival Guide" and his novel, "World War Z." More than a mere horror tale, "World War Z" builds on Brooks’ extensive research in pandemic planning – which Brooks says the Trump administration largely ignored in its response to COVID-19 – as well as describing how a pandemic threat can transform civil society.
His ultimate goal, he has said, is to challenge old ways of thinking and encourage mental agility and flexibility for problem solvers and leaders.
In his latest novel, "Devolution," Brooks once again examines what happens when civil society faces a violent threat. This time, he examines a small community in the Pacific Northwest, cut off from its surroundings by the eruption of Mount Rainier. The survivors soon learn they are not alone, finding themselves under siege by a troop of sasquatch driven from their hunting grounds by the disaster. A review from Kirkus describes Devolution as “a tasty...tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.”
Brooks balances his work as a novelist and speaker with his dual fellowships at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Modern War Institute at West Point.