What do you think?
Rate this book
Zombie Whisperer
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON, LULU, NOOK, iBOOKSTORE, AND IN PRINT!
She can speak to the dead. Only problem is, they’re still walking around.
After enduring a week-long flu, Jane Smith wakes to find out a terrorist organization has spread a deadly virus over the nation, changing anyone who’s infected into the walking dead. With no choice but to flee her home, Jane teams up with her boyfriend, Josh Williams, as they venture to find something better than the desolate land that was once called the home of the brave and the land of the free.
Driving across the country, Jane encounters some of the newly turned and finds she can hear their thoughts inside her head. Before she can understand her link to the undead, Jane and Josh are captured by the terrorists responsible for the virus because of one special they know she can communicate with the infected and they want her to be a part of their fight to take down the rest of the world.
Afraid for their lives, Jane must decide if she should join the terrorists or use her new found powers to stop them.
Check out more on www.caterinatorres.com
@caterinatorres
She can speak to the dead. Only problem is, they’re still walking around.
After enduring a week-long flu, Jane Smith wakes to find out a terrorist organization has spread a deadly virus over the nation, changing anyone who’s infected into the walking dead. With no choice but to flee her home, Jane teams up with her boyfriend, Josh Williams, as they venture to find something better than the desolate land that was once called the home of the brave and the land of the free.
Driving across the country, Jane encounters some of the newly turned and finds she can hear their thoughts inside her head. Before she can understand her link to the undead, Jane and Josh are captured by the terrorists responsible for the virus because of one special they know she can communicate with the infected and they want her to be a part of their fight to take down the rest of the world.
Afraid for their lives, Jane must decide if she should join the terrorists or use her new found powers to stop them.
Check out more on www.caterinatorres.com
@caterinatorres
ebook
First published January 1, 2012
102 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 2, 2013
I wanted to write a review for this book for ages--okay, two weeks--and now I finally found some time.
For the beginning, let's just say that Zombie Whisperer restored my faith in ebooks. After months of dealing with books which left me with impression that the author just published the zero draft of the work--not even first--Zombie Whisperer was what I needed.
I decided to read the book for two reasons. First, both Caterina and I are on Agent Query Connect and we talked a couple of times, so from the moment she announced she was published, I wanted to buy the book and see what she's writing about. And second, zombies.
I'm not some really dedicated zombie fan, but I regularly check out zombie books and movies, so I supposed I will be interested in this book.
Well, it passed all of my expectations.
Read this book, people. Like right now. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
The new zombie twist is absolutely fabulous. Basically, there's a terrorist attack on the United States, only this time the terrorists just walk around and inject the virus in random people. The virus takes control over them and turn them into some kind of zombie. The infected people basically behave as animals, just looking for non-infected people to bite them and thus infect them with the virus, too.
Our heroine, Jane Smith, doesn't have a clue about that. She walks out of the house for the first time after a week, which she spent in bed trying to recover from a flu. That character hooks you into the book without any effort with her voice. Truly, I enjoyed "staying in her head", to say so. I like strong-willed characters who know what they want and work on getting that; I'm tired of reading about lame and whiny people.
I liked Jane's background story, particularly because it's so connected to her present.
So, the book starts with Jane walking out of the house, trying to get to work before she's late too much. Then she notices that there's no one on the street. She'll have a few more "what the hell is happening" moments before she talks to her mother on phone and mother explains the situation.
Jane's first instinct was to try to find her boyfriend, Josh Williams.
Josh is good as a character, but as person...oh my God, total asshole. There were times throughout the book when I wondered what a smart girl like Jane still sees in him even though he practically turned her over to the terrorists and lied to her about his past and so on...
Uhm, yeah, you're probably asking yourselves what I'm talking about because I rushed ahead with the plot.
Later in the book, it gets revealed that the leading terrorist is named Cassidy. And, wow, she's a perfect villain. A perfect, pissed-off-at-the-government, totally-crazy-bitch type of a villain. And the best part...she's Jane's half-sister.
And Josh is Cassidy's old friend.
When Jane found Josh in the beginning--non-infected by zombies--he tried to convince her to go to her mother on the East Coast, and so she agreed. Instead he turned her over to the terrorists, and there she spends a year or so without meeting Josh again.
And meets two really special people, but let's not reveal the plot further. Too much good stuff to put it all in one review.
I'm so glad this is part of a trilogy, and I so can't wait for the next book.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that, apart from Jane's POV, there's a president's POV, too, which I didn't like too much, but those parts come every now and then so they're pretty much neglect-able because the rest is awesome.
Now, since that time I barely found for writing this review is running out, I'll just say again you MUST read this book as soon as possible.
P.S. Sorry if there are typos and grammar mistakes. Being in a hurry while typing this.
For the beginning, let's just say that Zombie Whisperer restored my faith in ebooks. After months of dealing with books which left me with impression that the author just published the zero draft of the work--not even first--Zombie Whisperer was what I needed.
I decided to read the book for two reasons. First, both Caterina and I are on Agent Query Connect and we talked a couple of times, so from the moment she announced she was published, I wanted to buy the book and see what she's writing about. And second, zombies.
I'm not some really dedicated zombie fan, but I regularly check out zombie books and movies, so I supposed I will be interested in this book.
Well, it passed all of my expectations.
Read this book, people. Like right now. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
The new zombie twist is absolutely fabulous. Basically, there's a terrorist attack on the United States, only this time the terrorists just walk around and inject the virus in random people. The virus takes control over them and turn them into some kind of zombie. The infected people basically behave as animals, just looking for non-infected people to bite them and thus infect them with the virus, too.
Our heroine, Jane Smith, doesn't have a clue about that. She walks out of the house for the first time after a week, which she spent in bed trying to recover from a flu. That character hooks you into the book without any effort with her voice. Truly, I enjoyed "staying in her head", to say so. I like strong-willed characters who know what they want and work on getting that; I'm tired of reading about lame and whiny people.
I liked Jane's background story, particularly because it's so connected to her present.
So, the book starts with Jane walking out of the house, trying to get to work before she's late too much. Then she notices that there's no one on the street. She'll have a few more "what the hell is happening" moments before she talks to her mother on phone and mother explains the situation.
Jane's first instinct was to try to find her boyfriend, Josh Williams.
Josh is good as a character, but as person...oh my God, total asshole. There were times throughout the book when I wondered what a smart girl like Jane still sees in him even though he practically turned her over to the terrorists and lied to her about his past and so on...
Uhm, yeah, you're probably asking yourselves what I'm talking about because I rushed ahead with the plot.
Later in the book, it gets revealed that the leading terrorist is named Cassidy. And, wow, she's a perfect villain. A perfect, pissed-off-at-the-government, totally-crazy-bitch type of a villain. And the best part...she's Jane's half-sister.
And Josh is Cassidy's old friend.
When Jane found Josh in the beginning--non-infected by zombies--he tried to convince her to go to her mother on the East Coast, and so she agreed. Instead he turned her over to the terrorists, and there she spends a year or so without meeting Josh again.
And meets two really special people, but let's not reveal the plot further. Too much good stuff to put it all in one review.
I'm so glad this is part of a trilogy, and I so can't wait for the next book.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that, apart from Jane's POV, there's a president's POV, too, which I didn't like too much, but those parts come every now and then so they're pretty much neglect-able because the rest is awesome.
Now, since that time I barely found for writing this review is running out, I'll just say again you MUST read this book as soon as possible.
P.S. Sorry if there are typos and grammar mistakes. Being in a hurry while typing this.
July 18, 2012
Unfortunately, I couldn't get through this.
On a good note, I was pulled into wanting to read from the short story prequels Caterina posts on her website, so definitely go to caterinatorres.com to read those. They're immediate, emotional, and thrilling. I will keep reading them when she posts.
I was hoping to feel the same about this book, but I found myself struggling to reach the quarter-mark. The cliches, redundancy, wordiness, and awkward phrases left me grumbling, and the little bit of zombie action I got to see didn't pique my interest enough for me to want to keep pressing the page button.
Plus, there was a lot of exposition that brought story to a complete halt, and I didn't like Jane enough to care about her past or present.
Altogether, the writing is young, and it could have dealt with a few more critiques and revisions before being published. I'm glad others were able to finish and love the story, though. I'm just not a person who can fight through the surface issues to get to the depth.
Please visit her website!
On a good note, I was pulled into wanting to read from the short story prequels Caterina posts on her website, so definitely go to caterinatorres.com to read those. They're immediate, emotional, and thrilling. I will keep reading them when she posts.
I was hoping to feel the same about this book, but I found myself struggling to reach the quarter-mark. The cliches, redundancy, wordiness, and awkward phrases left me grumbling, and the little bit of zombie action I got to see didn't pique my interest enough for me to want to keep pressing the page button.
Plus, there was a lot of exposition that brought story to a complete halt, and I didn't like Jane enough to care about her past or present.
Altogether, the writing is young, and it could have dealt with a few more critiques and revisions before being published. I'm glad others were able to finish and love the story, though. I'm just not a person who can fight through the surface issues to get to the depth.
Please visit her website!
April 29, 2012
I'm torn with how many stars to give this book. It was good, I really liked it. But there were several times I skimmed because of excessive details (this is my personal preference, so please to judge by that alone). I'm giving four stars because the story held my interest and made me want to read and read. I hated when I had to stop reading for other things. More detailed review will be on my blog http://teardropsonmybook.blogspot.com on Sunday May 6 - come by and check it out. Until then, I recommend it.
July 13, 2012
I have never read books about zombies, I've never been sucked into the zombie apocalypse hype, and I’ve never even watched a zombie movie. But after I met Caterina Torres and got this book, I have to say, this was my very first exposition to the zombie hype.
I'm glad it was. I don't think any other work of art, literature, movie, or internet meme could have gotten me as sucked in as this did.
I’ll get the cons out of the way before I deal with the pros. This eBook did have errors, not enough that it ruined the book, but enough to distract me. Most of it was the fact I use/envision commas differently than how they were used, and there was the occasional formatting error. Those weren’t big issues, though.
[[[SPOILERS]]]
Story-wise, here were my cons in a nutshell: Jane seemed to flip-flop a lot from calm to panicked. Cassidy’s demeanor was believable, but sometimes a little strange. Sociopaths think first and foremost about themselves, but Cassidy was portrayed as more selfless than selfish at times. A few parts of the book were stretched out and could have been cut, especially in terms of some description.
Some character development was left dry for the reader to try and interpret on their own, something I don’t like to do. The relationship between Jane and Darla/Casey was too short. At the end the connection between the two of them is what makes for Jane’s victory, but I was left behind. I’d only seen Jane and Casey interact a few times; otherwise I was told why they were close. I accept that they were so close Jane couldn’t allow anything to happen, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know why Jane had taken Casey in as an adopted daughter.
That’s pretty much it for my cons. Now for the pros (the best part! :D).
I LOVED THE SUSPENSE. I was on the edge of my seat for just about this entire book. From the very first page to the last, I wanted to know what happened. I didn’t want to put this book down. I said there was description that could’ve been cut, but the way Torres wrote it sucked you in. If a description is written well to my point of view, I don’t even realize I’ve read it until I’m done. Torres accomplished this. The story had such a nice flow.
When I reached the chapters from Jim Ballenger’s point of view, I was a little less than thrilled. I thought, “Oh man. I’m going to be switching POVs? This will be boring...” NOPE. Jim’s story was, perhaps not as suspenseful and dangerous as Jane’s, but just as enthralling. His friendship with Karl was a weight off of the reader’s shoulders, a relief from all of the story’s gloom-and-doom (in a good way).
These zombies were definitely not what I expected them to be. I delved into the story expecting people digging up their graves and people gathering together to fight them off—typical zombie apocalypse expectation. I was happily proven wrong. The story’s premise is so BELIEVABLE. You can guarantee I’m going to be a bit sheepish in late October this year, expecting people stabbing each other with needles. It’s fantastic.
Time to tackle the main issue of the story: the telepathic abilities. I’m going to quote from a review by Krysten Hill here.
“This mix of science and the metaphysical with zombies. I actually envy her ability to do this without having the reader go 'Author! Will you just PICK one already?'.” — Krysten Hill's Review
YES. The moment I read that the disease was caused by a virus, I winced. I was afraid I would end up reading two genres at once, but once again, Torres proved that this was not the case. When I learned that Jane could communicate with the zombies, I was afraid it would feel too much like the mind-attacks in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Nothing like that at all![[[/SPOILERS]]]
I’m getting a little long-winded on this, so I’ll cut it off here. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I anxiously await the next book in this trilogy. I stated the cons and why I saw them as cons, but the pros outweigh the cons with the force of a bulldozer. I definitely recommend it.
I'm glad it was. I don't think any other work of art, literature, movie, or internet meme could have gotten me as sucked in as this did.
I’ll get the cons out of the way before I deal with the pros. This eBook did have errors, not enough that it ruined the book, but enough to distract me. Most of it was the fact I use/envision commas differently than how they were used, and there was the occasional formatting error. Those weren’t big issues, though.
[[[SPOILERS]]]
Story-wise, here were my cons in a nutshell: Jane seemed to flip-flop a lot from calm to panicked. Cassidy’s demeanor was believable, but sometimes a little strange. Sociopaths think first and foremost about themselves, but Cassidy was portrayed as more selfless than selfish at times. A few parts of the book were stretched out and could have been cut, especially in terms of some description.
Some character development was left dry for the reader to try and interpret on their own, something I don’t like to do. The relationship between Jane and Darla/Casey was too short. At the end the connection between the two of them is what makes for Jane’s victory, but I was left behind. I’d only seen Jane and Casey interact a few times; otherwise I was told why they were close. I accept that they were so close Jane couldn’t allow anything to happen, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know why Jane had taken Casey in as an adopted daughter.
That’s pretty much it for my cons. Now for the pros (the best part! :D).
I LOVED THE SUSPENSE. I was on the edge of my seat for just about this entire book. From the very first page to the last, I wanted to know what happened. I didn’t want to put this book down. I said there was description that could’ve been cut, but the way Torres wrote it sucked you in. If a description is written well to my point of view, I don’t even realize I’ve read it until I’m done. Torres accomplished this. The story had such a nice flow.
When I reached the chapters from Jim Ballenger’s point of view, I was a little less than thrilled. I thought, “Oh man. I’m going to be switching POVs? This will be boring...” NOPE. Jim’s story was, perhaps not as suspenseful and dangerous as Jane’s, but just as enthralling. His friendship with Karl was a weight off of the reader’s shoulders, a relief from all of the story’s gloom-and-doom (in a good way).
These zombies were definitely not what I expected them to be. I delved into the story expecting people digging up their graves and people gathering together to fight them off—typical zombie apocalypse expectation. I was happily proven wrong. The story’s premise is so BELIEVABLE. You can guarantee I’m going to be a bit sheepish in late October this year, expecting people stabbing each other with needles. It’s fantastic.
Time to tackle the main issue of the story: the telepathic abilities. I’m going to quote from a review by Krysten Hill here.
“This mix of science and the metaphysical with zombies. I actually envy her ability to do this without having the reader go 'Author! Will you just PICK one already?'.” — Krysten Hill's Review
YES. The moment I read that the disease was caused by a virus, I winced. I was afraid I would end up reading two genres at once, but once again, Torres proved that this was not the case. When I learned that Jane could communicate with the zombies, I was afraid it would feel too much like the mind-attacks in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Nothing like that at all![[[/SPOILERS]]]
I’m getting a little long-winded on this, so I’ll cut it off here. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I anxiously await the next book in this trilogy. I stated the cons and why I saw them as cons, but the pros outweigh the cons with the force of a bulldozer. I definitely recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews