Review: Worth 99-cents
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 24, 2013
This is a good bargain for 99-cents, though I doubt I'll buy any subsequent books. The premise is interesting, but there are a lot of missing details or inconsistencies, along with some highly unbelievable plot points that require an incredible suspension of disbelief.I found it unbelievable how easily the characters managed to overcome dangerous situations. It was always some incompetence on the bad guys' part, or a touch of deus ex machina in the form of a third party entering the fracas. The author can set up some good action scenarios, but his/her ability to fully complete them and describe them in detail, while drawing out the tension a bit, is lacking. It's kind of like watching an action movie on fast-forward.Unfortunately, a lot of the reasons they find themselves in dangerous situations to start with is because of stupid actions. For example, in one part, Dan--a trained police officer--doesn't look behind the door of a room he's searching before calling everyone (including his child) inside. Of course, one of the infected is lurking there. He berates himself later, but it just wasn't convincing that a cop would commit such a big error, even if he is stressed and frazzled.The characters are also kind of flat. They aren't exactly stereotypes, but rather, there isn't a lot of growth in the characters in books 0-3. They also form rapid connections that seem a tad unbelievable. Perhaps a zombie apocalypse leads to insta-friends/love/caring/familial feelings. It just feels a bit lazy on the part of the author to use that device for just about every relationship among the main characters.It is a solid effort, but a good editing and overall tightening of the plot, along with adding more depth to the characters, would help tremendously.