The small town of
Lakewood has been overrun by the walking dead. In a single night, the
world has descended into a madness of biting teeth and a sickness that
kills but does not kill. Caught at the center of it is Angie Land,
young single mother and nurse's aide at Lakewood Memorial Hospital. She
and a handful of others are lucky enough to survive the initial
assault, but how long will they last? And more importantly to Angie,
how long will her kids - waiting at home - survive?
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I picked this one up a few years back at a convention, meeting the author in person and eager to snatch up another zombie book for myself, but also for my fiance who loves reading this type of work.
A
standard type zombie book
that's packed with action from the beginning to the end. Even the first
paragraph is violent, as is the last. Actually the last is a cliffhanger
since it's a three part series. Seriously the action rarely falters,
and time is not spent in detailing characters, much emotion besides fear
and desperation, or anything outside of the small circle of victims. We
do not hear about outside affects - no radio or television, or even
running into any other escaped groups of people struggling to survive.
The setting is kept at one house and one hospital after the invasion
completely erupts.
Best writes well but keeps everything simple - short paragraphs, hardly any inner monologue, no deviation from zombie attacks and what's going on. Gore and extreme violence is high. The zombies used are the standard ones - brain-dead creatures wanting to consume the living, slow moving and no brightness left behind their dead eyes.
I think the biggest flaw is that the characters aren't that likeable. I'm not talking about the obvious jerks of the crowd, either. The main woman in the book, Angie, is the most likeable of the group, and one of the main driving goals is reuniting with her children. The problem is her children are completely annoying. The little boy Dalton isn't bad, but the fourteen year old Maylee got under my skin. Also, all the characters have such deranged language which doesn't feel natural. I have no issue with swearing in books, especially if the situation warrants it (a zombie apocalypse would make me sound like a truck driver!), but here it almost seems forced and unnatural as they all keep doing it. Almost like it was an image the author wanted to portray for some reason but fell a little short in its execution.
You certainly won't get bored from slow pacing as the action really is non-stop. A little breathing room would have made it easier to digest, I think. Overall big zombie fans should dig this book if this is your style.
Best writes well but keeps everything simple - short paragraphs, hardly any inner monologue, no deviation from zombie attacks and what's going on. Gore and extreme violence is high. The zombies used are the standard ones - brain-dead creatures wanting to consume the living, slow moving and no brightness left behind their dead eyes.
I think the biggest flaw is that the characters aren't that likeable. I'm not talking about the obvious jerks of the crowd, either. The main woman in the book, Angie, is the most likeable of the group, and one of the main driving goals is reuniting with her children. The problem is her children are completely annoying. The little boy Dalton isn't bad, but the fourteen year old Maylee got under my skin. Also, all the characters have such deranged language which doesn't feel natural. I have no issue with swearing in books, especially if the situation warrants it (a zombie apocalypse would make me sound like a truck driver!), but here it almost seems forced and unnatural as they all keep doing it. Almost like it was an image the author wanted to portray for some reason but fell a little short in its execution.
You certainly won't get bored from slow pacing as the action really is non-stop. A little breathing room would have made it easier to digest, I think. Overall big zombie fans should dig this book if this is your style.
Zombie Book Reviews:
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