Review: Tell Me When I'm Dead is bloody awesome!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2013
Review also on My Book Addiction as part of #zOctober2013 :)Actual rating: 4.5/5This is one helluva zombie book! Steven Ramirez takes us on a bloody, terrifying ride through this hell on Earth he's created, giving us plenty of backstory to skillfully develop his awesome characters.The story begins with Dave, our main character, hiding in a cold storage area with "draggers" pounding on the door, desperate to rip into his flesh. We're given a quick glimpse of what the present day apocalypse is all about in this world. We don't really understand what kind of a halfwit Dave is until later when we delve further into the story. If there is a wrong decision to make, it's at the top of Dave's list, as if God created him with nothing more than bad judgement. He's pulled himself out of the gutter with the help of his beautiful wife, Holly, only to make a complete mess of things. Dave has had a rough life, and it's only going to get worse. You think the zombie apocalypse is bad? How do you think you'd feel if you learned that some of the zombies from your past want revenge?I really enjoyed this gruesome zombie tale. It's actually quite different from the rest of the zombie fiction I've read this month, though I can't really put my finger on exactly what makes it so extraordinary. Perhaps it's the fact that the main character of this story is completely flawed, not a badass hero that everyone is accustomed to reading about. It made his character arc that much more impressive. This is DAMN GOOD STUFF that I am willing to bet every fan of zombie fiction will enjoy. It's got a different vibe about it that I could truly appreciate. It's fast-paced, but not so much that you feel like you're missing important bits, and it's properly dreadful. A winning combination!The only thing I found a little disconcerting was the way the extramarital affair was introduced. Now don't believe for a second that just because I'm a chick I have a problem with there being a cheating husband in the story. That would be silly, especially since I just praised Dave for being defective. What I didn't like was how in one scene the author was describing Dave and his wife, the obstacles that they had overcome, and about how their life had become something good. In the next we find out that Dave had been cheating. It was abrupt, like being sucker punched. I would have enjoyed a smoother transition, that's all. Otherwise.. absolutely brilliant story! Read this as soon as you possibly can...