State Of Emergency by Mary Hallberg

State of Emergency by Mary Hallberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 158

Publisher - Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Source - Author (review request)

Blurb from Goodreads

17-year-old Dallas Langdon is fighting off zombies with a pizza cutter.

Dallas has always loved zombie movies. But when she catches a real live (erm, dead) musician eating a man’s intestines backstage after the show, she knows her movies have become a reality. And what do characters in zombie movies do? Seek shelter. Fortunately, Dallas's eccentric uncle owns a farmhouse in Chattanooga, an eight hour drive from New Orleans. It’s on top of a steep mountain, surrounded by electric fences, and cut off from the worlds of the living and the dead.

Dallas’s parents, still safe at home, laugh at her idea over the phone. Her friends only agree to join her because it’s fall break and they could use a mini vacation anyway.

But then Dallas’s best friend is killed by a zombie horde when they’re attracted to her ringing cell phone. Civilians think their reanimated loved ones simply have the flu, leaving them alive (well, undead) and rapidly increasing the zombies ranks. And since minors can’t buy guns, Dallas’s only weapon is a giant industrial pizza cutter she swipes from a gas station. George A. Romero never mentioned anything like this. With one friend dead and no zombie survival guides to help her, Dallas and her friends must get to Chattanooga before joining the ranks of the undead themselves.


My Review

New Orleans is the place and Dallas is our main character, opening with her sister and small town sensation Tatum. Tatum is making it big as a singer, the press can't get enough of her and Dallas is pretty fed up. Going from teenage angst to the start of a zombie apocalypse we follow Dallas and her friends as they try to convince people it is happening to travelling to a place of safety.

I went back and forth on this being 3.5 to a 4 star rating, I went for 4 stars as we have the origins of the outbreak which is new for me. We follow the very beginning and slow spread of panic to the realization of what is upon them. The protagonist has a very different kind of weapon, a pizza cutter, just to be clear, I initially thought it was the wee circular one we use however it is the curved blade one, quite different!

It is a small read at only 158 pages and I felt we could have had much much more, I have messaged the author to see if there are any more coming in the series, I do hope so. The characters, there wasn't any I connected with, probably because they are teens although I liked the idea of the uncle and would love to hear his story.

The book covers many issues, teen angst, death, survival, relationships and a few darker themes as well as zombies. I can't give a warning to the darker topic without spoiling but anyone who likes or reads zombies novels has a general feel for what they cover. 4/5 for me this time, thanks to the author for introducing me to her work.

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Plague of the Dead by Z A Recht

Plague of the Dead by Z.A. Recht
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 5 days

Pages - 292

Publisher - Permuted Press

Blurb from Goodreads

The end begins with a viral outbreak unlike anything mankind has ever encountered before. The infected are subject to delirium, fever, a dramatic increase in violent behavior, and a one-hundred percent mortality rate. Death. But it doesn't end there. The victims return from death to walk the earth. When a massive military operation fails to contain the plague of the living dead it escalates into a global pandemic. In one fell swoop, the necessities of life become much more basic. Gone are petty everyday concerns. Gone are the amenities of civilized life. Yet a single law of nature remains: Live, or die. Kill, or be killed. On one side of the world, a battle-hardened General surveys the remnants of his command: a young medic, a veteran photographer, a brash Private, and dozens of refugees, all are his responsibility-all thousands of miles from home. Back in the United States, an Army Colonel discovers the darker side of Morningstar virus and begins to collaborate with a well-known journalist to leak the information to the public... The Morningstar Saga has begun.


My Review

The government have been experimenting and as you would guess it somehow gets out. Its a virus, its deadly, turns the living into aggressive, infective attackers who move quickly, and if you die, it reanimates you to a shuffling but equally aggressive and infective being. The narrative is done via some emails and then via chapters, dated. The government want to keep it under wraps however, the virus is spreading and soon it will be out of control. The world as we know it will cease to exist, Morningstar has been unleashed.

This book has had some negative reviews and a lot of good ones, I fall into the good camp. Yes there is a lot of questionable, even unbelievable actions from some of our people in charge however, if the world goes to pot, who knows how humans will react, even the officials.

The story kicks off with a few isolated incidents but soon its all over, the story dips in and out from across the globe however a big focus is on the United States. A small team of soldiers, a medic and some refugees band together to try and make it through the hot zones.

As will all zombie tales, your going to loose people you like, scream at some of the idiotic decisions and be left, if your a zombie fan, wanting more! I really liked it, thought it was a good start to a series and we get the how the outbreak comes to be, this is missing from a lot of zombie books and movies so it was nice for a wee change. I don't have books two and three in the story however I shall be chasing them down, 4/5 for me this time.

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Review - The Return Man by V.M. Zito

The Return Man by V.M. Zito
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Blurb from Goodreads

The outbreak tore the USA in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again.

But in the wastelands of America, you never know who - or what - is watching you.



My Review

A zombie novel with a bit of a twist, this one is purely centered around America, the West is abandoned barring those reanimated with the virus. The East is a safe haven where the survivors are residing and living in safety. Henry Marco is in the West with the walking dead and making a living by bringing them peace after being hired by their family. His business partner is in the East and deals with the contracts, money and people whilst Henry does the dirty work. Henry has a personal agenda and is on the lookout for his wife whom he lost during the in initial outbreak, four years ago. As always there is corruption and Homeland Security makes Marco an offer he can't refuse, to go into the heart of the outbreak, risk life and limb to complete his mission.

There is a lot going on in this wee story, it starts off with Henry tracking a relative for someone on the other side and we get an introduction into what he does. Henry is haunted by the fact he finds others relatives but can't find his own wife, this is what keeps him in the West and in constant danger. He then meets up with Kheng Wu - Kenny, although Henry mostly calls him Wu, they make a great team although Wu is not all he seems although the reader knows all along his secret.

There is a lot of action and the zombie scenes kicked my heart rate up a bit just about every time. It has the zombie theme at the heart of the story but also love, devotion, friendship, trust, betrayal and corruption. I really enjoyed this and it was my first zombie read in a wee while. I have added the next in the series on to my wish list as although this was my first time with this author I did quite enjoy it and would like to read more about the characters in this story. 4/5 for me this time, I did like it, it has good pace however I am fussy with zombie stories and there was one or two wee things that didn't bring it right up to the five star mark.

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