ABR's original Surviving When the Dead Have Risen: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

There were certain things in this that really gave me chills! First off, zombies that talk?! That is an issue!

My daughter and I had an entire conversation about this. When zombies can do things that are too human-like, then we have issues. Like running. Why would zombies just stop running all of a sudden. Yes, they are dead, but those muscles were just recently dead. The ability to talk calls in the same question.

The idea of this really gave me the creeps! It was such a great addition, especially since these “zombies” or in this book they are called shells, have literally JUST DIED. And mostly from a cold. So, I really enjoyed this turn of events and how the author really went out of the way to make readers look at zombies differently.

There were a few other areas where I was creeped out but really the talking thing was the pinnacle for me, and that was at the beginning. The narrator did a freaking fantastic job of upping the creep factor to intense! And the audio was fantastic so in the creepy times, they were full on “get me out of here, I want to leave” moments. Not often felt, even with horror, lately.

That being said, although the narration by Todd Menesses and audio was fantastic, the plot gave way a bit. I don’t understand at all why there had to be an issue in the main couple’s marriage, nor why Kevin did the things he did. He would choose to do something that would make me shake my head, and not things that I know from being a zombie reader, I mean things like eating all of his food in one furious sitting! And then he got sick later which of course pissed me off! Blockhead!

The story has its ups and downs. I really liked how they got to calling them shells and it fits the story line, but a lot did not fit. I also wanted to have more empathy for the characters but the more mistakes they made, the less empathy I felt.

In short: This was an interesting story and I am curious about the second but not so much that I would put all my other reads aside. Although it is a good Halloween time read.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator. ( )

ABR's original Surviving When the Dead Have Risen: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

There were certain things in this that really gave me chills! First off, zombies that talk?! That is an issue!

My daughter and I had an entire conversation about this. When zombies can do things that are too human-like, then we have issues. Like running. Why would zombies just stop running all of a sudden. Yes, they are dead, but those muscles were just recently dead. The ability to talk calls in the same question.

The idea of this really gave me the creeps! It was such a great addition, especially since these “zombies” or in this book they are called shells, have literally JUST DIED. And mostly from a cold. So, I really enjoyed this turn of events and how the author really went out of the way to make readers look at zombies differently.

There were a few other areas where I was creeped out but really the talking thing was the pinnacle for me, and that was at the beginning. The narrator did a freaking fantastic job of upping the creep factor to intense! And the audio was fantastic so in the creepy times, they were full on “get me out of here, I want to leave” moments. Not often felt, even with horror, lately.

That being said, although the narration by Todd Menesses and audio was fantastic, the plot gave way a bit. I don’t understand at all why there had to be an issue in the main couple’s marriage, nor why Kevin did the things he did. He would choose to do something that would make me shake my head, and not things that I know from being a zombie reader, I mean things like eating all of his food in one furious sitting! And then he got sick later which of course pissed me off! Blockhead!

The story has its ups and downs. I really liked how they got to calling them shells and it fits the story line, but a lot did not fit. I also wanted to have more empathy for the characters but the more mistakes they made, the less empathy I felt.

In short: This was an interesting story and I am curious about the second but not so much that I would put all my other reads aside. Although it is a good Halloween time read.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator. ( )

Now THIS is how you start a goddamn zombie story: "The grimy fingers poked slowly into the skin of the stomach." that's the first sentence from this book. Fucking awesome start.

From there, it turns into a fairly standard escape from the zombies story. The only difference from any other zombie story is that this zombie outbreak spreads like the common cold. Some people are immune, like the narrator, but most people end up eating brains.

I was disappointed that this story abruptly ends, without any kind of conclusion. Apparently, it is part of a series. So I get why you would want people to be motivated to read the next book, but come on... Give me at least some kind of ending, for fuck's sake. It's like I'm about to come and then... Next time on The Most Uncommon Cold II... Oh go fuck yourself.

Besides the ending being bullshit, its still a pretty decent story. Fairly well written, and nicely gory.

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

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