Book Review: Escaping the Dead #2 by NJ McConnell

The unthinkable has happened and the apocalypse is spreading throughout the world. Sidney's neighbors, family and friends are either dead or have turned into zombies.

Fortunately, she's been joined by an unlikely group of survivors as they battle their way through the hardships in order to find their way to their new home.

This book is not filled with gore or nonstop killing. It is about survival against all odds and the human spirit. The characters are not perfect. They are people with actual strengths and weaknesses.

My Review:

This one is another 2.5 star book(maybe) and it is about the same standard as the first one. It is not an all action gorefest but the author is clear in the blurb that you are not going to get that kind of story, so I'm fine with that. It didn't affect my rating. Where it improves slightly is that there is a little bit of action in this one. Where it falls short is having no character development and not using existing or new characters to build up any excitement or added interest in the book.

Dan tells the small group that he thinks the nuclear power stations will soon be blowing up and they need to head to northern rural areas to get out of the blast and radiation zones-and they need to move quickly. He suggests a friend's place in Wyoming, a luxury holiday ranch for corporate entertainment, would be perfect as a bug out location and they make plans to steal luxury RVs to travel in. When they get on the road, zombies are not their only worries. Between them and safety are zombies and escaped prisoners.

I like Dan because he has been most developed and knows what he is doing. We don't see a lot of the other characters as again we focus mainly on Sidney, so Virginia only seems to be there to cook breakfast, Pete to drive an RV and Nicole to giggle with Sidney once during their sharing of music and trivia-which Sidney tells us about instead of us seeing most of the exchange. The problem is, Sidney tells us everything that is happening and there is very little dialogue between the side characters to let us get to know them better. As for Jason, he is only in this book for Sidney to obsess over and we keep getting told that he avoids the women and only speaks to the men. We never SEE him doing or saying anything! What is the point to Jason other than a possible boring future love interest? I just don't get why the characters were introduced then mostly ignored.

As for Sidney, she got on my last nerve in this book. All she does is obsess over Jason and why he doesn't seem to fancy her. 'most men at least find me pretty' Oh get over yourself you self obsessed idiot! She wonders if he's gay as he doesn't seem to fancy Nicole either. Oh please! She even plots to walk in on him in the shower as if she is a stupid girl with a crush instead of a woman who is a lawyer! Her mother and sister died a couple of days ago and all she can think about is chasing a guy like a dumb little girl? I really have had enough of this complete idiot as my MC. I also failed to see the point of bringing Greg, Cathy and their kids into a story where the existing characters hardly speak and are cardboard cutouts. All we know about Cathy is that she cries and she smokes in the RV when she is told several times not to so they threaten to leave her behind and she cries. They are not developed at all and therefore are completely uninteresting.

And then there are the massive editing mistakes. Several times during the book Jason changes to Justin and back again, which was quite annoying. A simple read through by the author would have caught this glaring error. There were also issues with spelling, grammar and sentence structure, though these issues did not affect my rating.

So, although I have read the two books, I am not greatly excited by the series. The characters overall are disappointing and I don't have much interest in whether they survive or not. It is all tell and no show. There is no real tension each time they check a building. We don't greatly feel the danger from the few zombies that we see and even the very brief encounter with the convicts failed to impress. I won't be continuing with this bland series.

Book Review: Escaping the Undead #1 by NJ McConnell

Sidney went to bed early instead of partying with her friends on New Year's Eve and that's what kept her alive.

When she woke to sirens wailing and turned on the news to witness death and destruction happening in her hometown, it's all she could do to keep it together and survive the zombie apocalypse.

Follow Sidney, her dog Coco and a motley crew of friends and family as they come together to escape the undead and the worst of humanity.

This book is not about gore, weaponry and fighting, although it's included. It's about relationships and surviving even when things go bad and there seems to be no hope left.

My Review: 
I gave this 3 stars but it would have an actual rating of 2.5. It was well enough written but the main character was pretty annoying and it lacked the elements I look for in my zombie books.

Sidney is supposed to be a lawyer but comes across as a man obsessed airhead and a bit of a ditzy cow. Yet she refers to her sister Ashley as being the dippy one! I don't want to meet Ashley. Seriously. All Sidney rambles on about are hot men, the numerous habits of her dog Coco and more hot men. I just can't believe that this woman is actually an intelligent lawyer with self defence learning and a fully prepped house thanks to her former army security consultant dad Dan. Sidney spends most of the book hiding in her basement and name dropping all her favourite technical gadgets and zombie authors. I wonder if the author was paid to do so or is connected to them in some way. Anyway it got quite annoying. Sidney also has a tendency to think about useless things with no relevance to the plot yet gives little initial information about what is happening in her town as the sirens go off. We do finally get some information about the zombie outbreak.

Sidney does actually show her some common sense as the disaster develops and she does improve, thankfully. She has the sense to relocate to the basement, taking what she needs from the house, securing the upstairs and getting organised to stay there with the stored supplies until she hears from her family. Meanwhile father Dan has been searching for his wife and Ashley on the streets, knowing that Sidney would be safe at home. He is smart and knows how to move around unseen. If he can't find them, he will then go to Sidney.

We also meet Jason, a scientist who was working hard through the New Year celebrations on his latest research and discovers the outbreak when he goes in search of a toilet. At Pete and Virginia's farm, they battle the zombies while Nicole the vet is trapped inside another building. We get only a little information about them as most of the focus is on Sidney and her dog. 

The story is somewhat slow with only a few zombies to be seen but it is an ok read. There isn't a lot in the way of tension or excitement, and certainly lacks the gore of normal zombie books. It is fine to read but I wouldn't buy the series to read again as it was just lacking what I like in normal zombie books. However, I do plan to read the next book in the series as I already have it. Decent but nothing spectacular.
 
2.5 stars.

Book Review: Static prequel: White Noise by James Hunt (Static #0.5)

What controls us? Is it Fear? Anger? Hope? Every day these emotions influence our decisions, some more than others. Wren Burton, one of the top architects in Chicago, has never let anything stand in the way of providing a better life for her family, but those choices haven’t been without sacrifice. And when the power shuts down across the city, which submerges the masses into chaos and cuts her family in half, tough decisions are only the beginning.

My Review:

Wren is collecting her kids from school and thinking about her decision to divorce husband Doug when the power grid goes down and multiple car accidents start to happen. An ambulance takes them to the hospital but she can't contact paramedic Doug or son Zack. Panic sets in when she sees on TV a group of armed terrorists closing in on the hospital and tries to get her daughters to the locked ICU ward as the shots start in the hospital building. Now she must escape the terrorists, find her son and husband and get out of the city.

I've read other apocalypse books by this author so when I saw the prequel to another series by him going free, I just had to grab it. What I like about this author is that he gives you just enough description to let you imagine the scene in your head and feel the danger they are in but there is no excess waffle to send you to sleep. He just gets on with the story and it is always delivered at a fast pace. He builds up tension well, has exciting action scenes and delivers a good story. I also like the way he writes his characters. Wren is a dedicated mother who is focused on saving her kids. She is a normal woman who has to be smart and brave to survive the disaster and you can really relate to her. The other characters I feel are written realistically as well and the writer has you rooting for them all, which is important to me in a book. If I don't care about the characters, I don't care what happens to them and often disengage from the book.

Wren gets her kids safely to the hospital after the crash and is pretty alarmed to see the TV coverage of the terrorists in the street. It only takes a few seconds to realise how close they are to the hospital and by the time she gets her girls ready to move, gunfire and screaming can already be heard. The outbreak of violence in the hospital is nicely written and you can feel the fear and chaos around the people fleeing in all directions to try and find safety. Wren has the brains to realise that only ICU is secured and tries to lead other survivors in that direction. However finding sanctuary is only a temporary safety when the terrorists start setting bombs to blow up the whole hospital. The next priority is to find an exit that leads outside and avoids the terrorists. I loved the whole hospital part of the story as there was real tension to it. I don't want to say too much and ruin the plot for anyone who decides to read it!

The other issue for Wren is where her son is. She knows that he didn't go to school but she has no idea where he is and can't contact him. She can't go looking for him until she finds safety for the girls and finds out where he is. Her best hope is to get to a nearby fire station where Doug once worked and hope to contact Doug and perhaps use their equipment to trace where Zack's phone is. Zack meanwhile has his own problems, injured, scared and alone. The attempt to rescue him is also interesting and tense, with the dangers of terrorists or armed civilians lurking on the streets or people looking to steal rescue vehicles to save themselves.

My one real niggle was the slightly dumb plan for escape from the hospital which alerts every terrorist in the hospital to the fact that survivors are trying to escape. Still, we are talking about ordinary people trying to think up a plan, not military personnel with tactical training so I guess some of their choices are going to be a bit dumb at times!

This is a short novella that is the ideal introduction to a new fast paced series. I certainly enjoyed it enough to grab the omnibus edition which has books one and two for 99p. Bargain! Grab this prequel free and the next two books for 99p on Amazon UK! So now I will be able to follow more of Wren's upcoming adventures! I recommend this to fans of apocalypse and disaster fiction.

Ten Books With Canine Sidekicks!

Ok, how many of you read horror, dystopia or urban fantasy books and spend the whole time worrying about whether or not the dog will survive? *puts hand up* Yes we love to read about canine sidekicks in books as they are loyal, dedicated and can detect trouble for our heroes. So here are ten great books from those genres that feature our furry friends!

In this zombie apocalypse novel set in journal form, two men try to escape from their street together and find a safe place to see out events. We have one of the two main characters John, and his very nervous greyhound Annabelle. She can sniff out the undead and is so very adorable and cute! Of course I'm biased as I love greyhounds! Poor Annabelle does not enjoy getting up close and personal to the hordes of the undead but she proves to be an important part of the team. LOVE Annabelle!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6667772-day-by-day-armageddon 

Atticus is the last of the druids and owns an occult bookshop and has an Irish wolfhound called Oberon, who has an obsession with partying with French poodles! Atticus and Oberon can communicate mentally and share some very funny moments and Oberon is very much a star of the book. The book itself has humour, action, mythology and urban fantasy and I very much recommend it. I've read a few short stories in the series aqs well and I enjoyed them. You really must go and read about Oberon!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533378-hounded 

Boston PI Remy Chandler is an angel who is now tasked with stopping the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from destroying the world. His mortal wife is dying and he gets comfort from his adorable labrador Marlowe. Being an Angel, Remy can communicate with animals and we get some wonderful emotional moments as Marlowe struggles to understand what is happening to his mistress. Despite poor reviews I liked this one and Marlowe was certainly one of the highlights.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2915837-a-kiss-before-the-apocalypse 

A helicopter has crashed outside the town of Safe Haven, releasing a group of psychopathic special ops soldiers with a love of torture and bloodshed. This book is fast paced, gory, scary and horror at it's very finest! Amongst the characters trying to survive is young Duncan and his beagle Woof. I totally love beagles and Woof was so wonderful that I was scared for him every second of this book! He features heavily in the plot and if you like horror and dogs, this is the book for you.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2915837-a-kiss-before-the-apocalypse 

This is a brilliant fast paced zombie road trip book which features former military man John trying to get out of Atlanta with the woman he rescues when the zombie apocalypse hits. Along the way, they encounter Dog, the German Shepherd and decide to take him on their travels. Dog is gorgeous and loyal to his rescuers but danger is ever lurking around the corner with zombies and evil humans at every step. At one point I had to read ahead just to check on what was happening to Dog because I was worried!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27215665-voodoo-plague 

Midway is a novella that comes after book one in the series The Harvesting, but as it follows different characters, you can read it as a stand alone book. The main characters Cricket and Vella are carnival workers who flee when the zombie apocalypse hits, along with Cricket's mutt Puck. The three feature heavily in this well written book and Puck is adorable! These characters unite with others through books two and beyond so make sure you read the whole series!



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22435511-midway 

A global pandemic has wiped out millions and the infected who recover are about to become something very dangerous if the government doesn't act. Mason, a Deputy Marshall is at a cabin near Boone and his isolation keeps him safe but he is determined to bring law back to the town being ruled by a violent gang. He saves and adopts an Irish Wolfhound called Bowie who proves to be an excellent law keeping sidekick as he battles the worst of humanity. Bowie rocks!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18828336-frontier-justice 

This is book #5.4 in the series and I haven't read the others yet but this can be read as a stand alone. It is written from the POV of Clyde the Hellhound who lives with his misress Nyx and assorted werewolves and humans. He secretly runs an advice column on his blog and has sexual relations with stuffed animals! The advice he gives is hilarious and I totally love Clyde! I intend to go back and read the whole series when time allows but this novella is funny and entertaining and well worth a read!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18165876-advice-by-clyde 

Judas is a retired rock star who collects creepy and gross memorabilia but when he buys a ghost, he gets more than he bargained for, putting his life and the life of goth girlfriend Georgia in danger. It is a creepy story with a flawed hero and I loved it. The added advantage are the dogs that Judas owns-two wonderful German Shepherds called Angus and Bon! They feature through the book and I love them. It's been a while since I read the book and I hope to get to a reread sometime soon.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153025.Heart_Shaped_Box 

This is a prepper novel about Scott, who decides to start preparing for the EMP/solar storm disaster that he thinks is coming, predicted by The Mayans. Along with his girlfriend Joyce, ex wife Linda and his kids they plan and when the EMP hits they must get to the safety of their compound along with loyal dog Duke. Duke doesn't feature heavily in the book but I think he and neighbour's dog Red, along with Duchess, could feature heavily in the rest of the books in the series.



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20566964-countdown-to-armageddon 

Book Review: White Flag of the Dead by Joseph Talluto (White Flag #1)

White Flag of the Dead: Book 1 Surrender of the Living.

Millions died when the Enillo Virus swept the earth. Millions more were lost when the victims of the plague refused to stay dead, instead rising to slay and feed on those left alive. For survivors like John Talon and his son Jake, they are faced with a choice: Do they submit to the dead, raising the white flag of surrender? Or do they find the will to fight, to try and hang on to the last shreds or humanity?

Surrender of the Living is the first high octane installment in the White Flag of the Dead series.

My Review:

This book got mixed reviews, mainly because of the author's political leanings. The thing is, most characters in these zombies and preppers apocalypse books are likely to be republican, maybe NRA members, prepared to defend themselves and survive. Liberals who are anti-gun are not going to survive long in the books! I expect to have a bit of political bias in most of these books and I just don't get bothered by it mostly, unless it goes too far ie democrat presidents conspiring with terrorists to get guns off normal people. I also expect to see a lot of gun descriptions as this is the way to fight zombies in American set novels.

Anyway, to the book! John Talon has lost his wife to the virus and after a tearful goodbye, he decides to try and take their baby son Jake away from home by bike to seek somewhere safer. His brother Mike is alive but trapped inside his own house and wants to follow John's example and flee if he can. Despite seeing the worst of human behaviour during a supply run, John joins up with two men also trying to escape-Tommy and Duncan-for safety in numbers. A zombie attack leaves them stranded at a gas station and when they escape, civilians from the nearby houses join them in a run for a school and the chance to survive as a community.

There are two things about this book that I love: lots of action and plenty of zombies and evil survivors! There is a tension in the air through most of the book as we move from one action scene to another. The run to the school and the following battle was very exciting and well written, and the community growing introduces us to more characters like Charlie, moaning faced Frank, Nate, Sarah etc. The big scenes like the school and the supply runs bring plenty zombies to the story which keeps me happy but it was also about the humanity of the survivors and how important it is to work together to stay safe. John also has to juggle the leadership and safety of the group with his duties as a single parent, which adds a new dimension to the plot.

The plot is fast moving and ever changing. There are scenes of zombies chasing people, zombie attacks on cars and buildings, evil men holding hostages and demanding safe passage tolls, tense supply runs...all the things you expect from a fast paced zombie book. There is also the plan to set everyone up in guarded apartment blocks to give everyone space and privacy, and to actually have a more normal life despite the chaos. I liked that idea, instead of just living in a solid school building all the time. John and his friends are looking at building a gated community with safe parks and things to allow everyone a better life. It was ambitious but added something new to the story. I also liked the way the zombies were slowing developing and learning to adapt to the hunt. I'm not going to spoil the book but they were interesting changes and I look forward to seeing what they are going to do in later books.

I also liked that the two weak and moaning characters were both men. Frank whines, complains and tries to get out of pulling his weight, wanting others to do the dirty, messy and dangerous jobs. As for Kevin, the man is a piece of scum and I kept hoping that he would get eaten-I hate him! But despite disliking them both, they also add more interest to the story. I don't get the need to add a romance into these apocalypse books. Seriously, John has lost his wife yet it doesn't seem to take him long to get attracted to Sarah. Still, it doesn't dominate the story the way it does in some zombie books so it wasn't really annoying.

Niggles? Do we need to be told of every darn nappy change that Jake has? I get that he needs frequent changes but I don't need to hear about every one or every feeding he gets! Also at times, it seems that John is the only one who can work things out, as if nobody else has the capacity to think of a plan. This is evident in the first half of the book but does improve as the side characters get more page time later. I love Nate, Charlie, Tommy and Duncan so seeing more of them appeals to me. Having John as less perfect and not being the go to man every time would make the book even better but to be fair, these are very small niggles.

This book is loaded with action and emotion, and it doesn't go stale because the author keeps changing the scenes and the form of the action, which was good. Traditional zombie fans should enjoy this and I look forward to the rest of the series.