Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux

Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop and utilizing the military's emergency wireless network (SNET). It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison's blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures (with some witty sarcasm thrown in) as she and her companions fight their way through ravenous zombies and sometimes even more dangerous humans.  A great touch was the use of book titles for each chapter. It added a  it of literary flair to contrast the darkness of the events Allison writes about.
The tagline for the book is "One woman's story as she blogs - and fights back - the zombie apocalypse". And that is exactly what this book is ..a come ride along with Allison as she fights for survival and to maintain hope. Through her blog, the reader is able to to travel with Allison, experience the horror and hope right along side of her. Originally, this book was an experimental online blog.  You can read Allison's blog posts at
ALLISON HEWITT IS TRAPPED

There's tension and horror and gore and jumpy moments. The monsters are not just the zombies, in fact they, while dangerous and scary, are what they are. It is the other humans that induce the greater fear. This story is told via Allison's Blog which she uses to document what is happening and communicate sporadically with other survivors. This format makes it feel current and urgent. I often hesitated at turning the page - I HAD to know what would happen but also had that feeling of "don't-go-down-into-the-basement!" Plus she's trapped in the back of a bookstore but can't get to the books. That's horror right there! Readers follow Allison and her group as they fight to survive zombies, food shortages, illness and the danger of needing to trust other people. (Any fan of the Walking Dead TV series will probably like this series. It reads very much like the show version, but with a touch of humour)

If you like this one, try the sequel: Sadie Walker is Stranded

 
Sadie Walker is one of the survivors in this new world. Living in north Seattle behind barrier that keep the living in and the dead out, she trying to get back to a normal life, while raising her eight-year-old nephew, if anyone even knows what "normal" is anymore. Then everything goes sideways when Shane is kidnapped by a group of black market thieves and they bring down a crucial barrier in the city while trying to escape, and flood the city with the walking dead. After rescuing her nephew, Sadie and Shane escape Seattle on the last remaining boat, along with other survivors. However, now they must face the complete chaos of a world filled with flesh eating zombies and humans who are playing with a whole new rule book when it comes to survival in their journey to find a new place that they can call home.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...


Before reading this book, I looked on Goodreads.com for some reviews.  I caught sight of some quotes from the novel and that is was made me eager to read it.

“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.” 

“There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you how you respond to it.” 

“We're fumbling in the dark, but at least we're in motion.” 

“There is a chasm between me and the world outside of me. A gap so wide my feelings can't cross it. By the time my screams reach the other side, they have dwindled into groans.” 

“The world that birthed that story is long gone, all its people are dead, but it continues to touch the present and future because someone cared enough about that world to keep it. To put it in words. To remember it.” 

and so many more...


My thoughts: 

The trailer for the movie also works well for the book.

Zom-B by Darren Shan

Love the cover! 
            Love the title!
                     Almost liked the book.

"When news reports start appearing of a zombie outbreak in Ireland, B's racist father thinks it's a joke— but even if it isn't, he figures, it's ok to lose a few Irish.
B doesn't fully buy into Dad's racism, but figures it's easier to go along with it than to risk the fights and abuse that will surely follow sticking up for Muslims, blacks, or immigrants. And when dodging his fists doesn't work, B doesn't hesitate to take the piss out of kids at school with a few slaps or cruel remarks.
That is, until zombies attack the school. B is forced on a mad dash through the serpentine corridors of high school, making allegiances with anyone with enough gall to fight off their pursuers."

The premise of the book and the prologue where great.  I started the first chapter with anticipation..and then waited, and waited, and continued to wait for the greatness I was sure was to follow.  I didn't find it.

Zom-B is described as the first in a 12 book series about B Smith, "a teenager who must struggle to find a place in a world of racism, zombies and darkness."  This book is obviously meant to introduce B's background and set the stage for the character development.  The majority of the novel was spent on B's home life and behaviour issues.  The Zombie attack didn't make an appearance until much later. Where it not for the prologue I might have forgotten it was part of the plot entirely.  When the zombies did finally show up, it was so fast and violent that the feel of the book finally approached what was promised.  Then a single line from the page made the whole thing seem ridiculous!  Apparently, the action packed fervor taking place on the page - which provided tension, horror, and feelings of urgency as a good Zombie novel should - took place in such a short time frame that it ruined the book for me. All that running and fighting, thousands killed, converted and now spilling out to spread the attack, in only 60 minutes?  Nonsense.  

The underlying themes of 'B's' life - racism  bullying, finding your own identity - were well done.  For that alone I would be interested hearing about the rest of the series, but am unlikely to read it myself.  I do give kudos for the twist involving who one of the characters really is.  I enjoyed the use of reader assumptions to deliver the surprise. The story has good bones and interesting (if not always likeable) characters but certain aspects such as the secretly racist principal and compressed timing of the conversions quickly remind me as a reader that this is just words on a page.  I prefer and expect fiction to deliver me into another world.  Suspension of disbelief is not enough to overcome these sections of Zom-B.