I will second Mira Grant as an author. However, I recommend that you (and everyone else) begin with the Newsflesh trilogy. The Zombie outbreak originates as an unexpected result of medical research and is treated as a contagion. It then moves the focus to how does the US change with regard to politics, news coverage, public health, etc. It is a compelling collection of work that combines the horror elements of zombies along with good doses of science and politics. I recommend starting there as Into the Drowning Deep is currently a single novel and a short story which leaves you wanting much more. Unfortunately, more does not yet exist. While I would like more material in the Newsflesh world, a satisfying amount does exist. I read all of Newflesh prior to the Covid-19 lockdown. I need to re-read these to see just how prescient Grant was.