Review: Number Three Hits It Out Of The Park!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2013
I have to make a confession. When I read Book Two of the Arisen series, I was still sort of living in Book One and thought it would be a sequel with the same characters. It took me most of that book to get my head out of Book One (so good it was) and I don't think I reviewed it fairly. I learned by Book Three that each book, so far, seems to be a different group of military people dealing with the same problem in different areas of the world, which is not only different than other zombie apocalypse series, but quite brilliant.*********************SPOILER ALERT**********************In Book Three, we are dealing with a Navy (I think) air craft carrier that runs ashore somewhere along the Atlantic coast and a mission from that ship of one of the world's top military crews to travel inland and save a scientist who has been working on a cure for the zombie virus. This crew, as tightly knit as previous groups of special ops all stars, find themselves fighting for their lives on a sinking boat on one of the great lakes (pardon the lack of detailed knowledge) and waging a battle for survival that literally had me on the edge of my seat.They are saved by a strange woman named Sarah, who then risks her life by opening up her secret camp far up in the woods without consulting her husband and son. The rest of the story involves a little bit of romance, and a whole lot of action and zombies.The biggest strength these two authors have, in my opinion, is the ability to quickly flesh out the characters so much that we get to know them and like (most of) them in a short period of time. I also give them two thumbs up for making the men and women in the military, not perfect by any means, but focused and ready to die for not only the betterment of the group they are with, but for humanity in general. They aren't painted as I've read in other books (NOT in any of the zombie apocalypse books) as less than decent. Thanks to both authors for the deep respect that shows through in all three books.There is another story of an outbreak in the UK, but either it will be followed through in the next book, or it was a side story about how they had thus far escaped the fate of the rest of the world, but seems that that is about to come to an end.One more thing that is different from other books I've read in this genre, is the development of what appears to be almost thinking zombies. I'll leave you to read about this interesting twist.Another fun and frightening excellent book in the series. I highly recommend this series. I am off to start Book Four!