Author: Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Tor
Publication Date: July 5, 2011
Pages: 331
Source: Paperback/Library
Katie is driving to work one beautiful day when a dead man jumps into her car and tries to eat her. That same morning, Jenni opens a bedroom door to find her husband devouring their toddler son.
Fate puts Jenni and Katie—total strangers—together in a pickup, fleeing the suddenly zombie-filled streets of the Texas city in which they live. Before the sun has set, they have become more than just friends and allies—they are bonded as tightly as any two people who have been to war together.
During their cross-Texas odyssey to find and rescue Jenni’s oldest son, Jenni discovers the joy of watching a zombie’s head explode when she shoots its brains out. Katie learns that she’s a terrific tactician—and a pretty good shot.
A chance encounter puts them on the road to an isolated, fortified town, besieged by zombies, where fewer than one hundred people cling to the shreds of civilization.
It looks like the end of the world. But Katie and Jenni and many others will do whatever they have to to stay alive. Run, fight, pick each other up when they stumble, fall in love…anything is possible at the end of the world.
Review: OK! So we know how much I absolutely love The Walking Dead and anything related to Zombies. So I think it was obvious I'd read this at some point! Lol!! This was such a great and fast read! I think I loved this so much just because it felt like the girl protagonist's side of The Walking Dead. That's what it felt like to me. I enjoyed seeing the Zombocalypse come to be through the eyes of two women instead of a man. It really showed just how much a woman's emotions can be different than a mans in this sort of situation. So Jenni ends up seeing her husband (now a Zombie) eating the flesh of her toddler son. And when she tries to escape the house her zombified husband comes after her and her other son Mikey. Her son pretty much sacrificed himself to his zombified dad just to save his mom and make sure she made it out of he house. Katie, well, she's on her way to work when a zombie jumps into her car and tries to take a chomp out of her. A guy in a truck tries to save her but ends up being attacked by a zombie and just tells Katie to take his truck and go. And she does. Katie sees Jenni on her porch pretty much in shock and gets through to her in her state of shock just in time before her zombified family breaks their way out of the house. So thats how Jenni and Katie got put together.
Those two are from then on pretty much on the run. As the day goes on they get to know each other more and form a bond. From that moment on those two pretty much vowed to protect each other. They deal with psycho's who dont think the Zombies are real, those that think the dead still hold onto part of their humanity and those who have actually embraced what is happening. I liked when they dealt with those people who embraced it. They knew how to help the girls and how to deal with the zombies. The first people they encountered that embraced it were Ralph and Nerit. They helped the girls out with training them to shoot a gun and defend themselves. And they even let the girls borrow their truck to go find Jenni's stepson at camp. That's a lot of trust to put into strangers you just met, but when the dead rise from the grave, you pretty much trust those who you just feel you can trust no matter how short a time you've known them. Though Nerit and Ralph seemed like good people so they probably would have done the same for anyone like Jenni and Katie who needed their help.
I was very happy to see that Jenni got her stepson back, in full human form!!! YAY! She lost her other children and it was nice to see that she didn't lose them all. I was so sad though that Katie and Jenni ran out of gas before making it back to Ralph and Nerit. Instead they end up outside a small town of survivors called Ashley Oaks. These people managed to seal off their little city like area in a day. That's some skills! And they were always taking in other survivors so it was nice that Katie, Jenni, Jason and Jack (the dog that Katie and Jenni had with them from the start) had a safe place to be. And I loved seeing those people their like Travis accepting them into the fold and making friends with them. And Jenni mostly, but once in a while Katie as well, did what they could to earn their place in Ashley Oaks. I really liked seeing Jenni open up though. She was an abused housewife before, and now that she was free of that she really started embracing her freedom and enjoying it, even if it did involve zombies. It was very great seeing that change in her throughout the book. Katie struggled throughout the book with the loss of her wife, but near the end it seemed like she was finally starting to consider moving on. I hope she can in the next books. Katie is an awesome person and she deserves some happiness. I loved seeing Jenni be able to move on so easily. I mean I know that sounds kind of bad, but she was already planning on leaving her abusive husband so it wasn't like she had to really get over someone. I hope Jenni & Juan and Katie & Travis can really form some great bonds in the next book!
I definitely cant wait to read the next book! With how The First Days ended with Nerit coming to Ashley Oaks after bandits got Ralph and then someone murdering the drug dealer after leading a whole group of zombies to Ashley Oaks... Man. The next book should definitely be awesome. I cant wait to see where the story goes!!!
5 Stars!
Yikes! This sounds pretty intense. I guess if you're going to write about zombies, you should go all out, right?
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