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Contaminated
A zombie novel
Dr. Arthur Covington may hold the key to the most important discovery in the history of humankind. He is, however, not the only interested party. If he is to survive treachery and attempts on his life in his bid to escape a secure, high-tech facility, he will have to rely on others - but who can he trust? Underground, an explosion rocks the facility. Someone drops a viral agent. In a new world where none can be trusted, Covington's life hangs in the balance. It's a race against time...and the end of the world...because it's not just the living he has to fight against. The dead are rising. Dead men walk the halls below the earth, and the only thing keeping him from being contaminated is his gas mask...and it won't last forever.
Dr. Arthur Covington may hold the key to the most important discovery in the history of humankind. He is, however, not the only interested party. If he is to survive treachery and attempts on his life in his bid to escape a secure, high-tech facility, he will have to rely on others - but who can he trust? Underground, an explosion rocks the facility. Someone drops a viral agent. In a new world where none can be trusted, Covington's life hangs in the balance. It's a race against time...and the end of the world...because it's not just the living he has to fight against. The dead are rising. Dead men walk the halls below the earth, and the only thing keeping him from being contaminated is his gas mask...and it won't last forever.
158 pages, Paperback
First published July 26, 2012
4 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Robb
53 books30 followersSuzanne Robb is the author of DEAD BY MIDNIGHT, APOCALYPSE BY MIDNIGHT, the Z-BOAT trilogy published by Permuted Press and CONTAMINATED published by Severed Press. She is an Active member of the ITW and an Affiliate member of the HWA. In her free time she reads, watches movies, plays with her dog, and enjoys chocolate and LEGOs.
http://suzannerobb.com/
http://suzannerobb.com/
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 30, 2016
I liked parts of this story but others felt rushed and slapped together for sake of moving things along. Longer review to come.
Reviewed originally @ Blood,Sweat and Books
My Thoughts: Good in places, lacking in others. I really enjoyed the Resident Evil feel of this story. Close quarters and zombies provide a suspenseful atmosphere and the author plays off that well. However, I think the story was a bit predictable in places such as the traitors were obvious and lacked any surprise and the writing unraveled a bit the closer the story came to its conclusion. By stories end the writing had degraded into what I call B-Movie territory. Not bad but certainly not great either. In short, Did I enjoy the book? Sure, The writing for the most part wasn't terrible and I really enjoyed certain aspects to the plot. However, I probably would only continue with the series only if I could catch the next book at a very steep discount.
In the end I gave this one ★★★.
Reviewed originally @ Blood,Sweat and Books
My Thoughts: Good in places, lacking in others. I really enjoyed the Resident Evil feel of this story. Close quarters and zombies provide a suspenseful atmosphere and the author plays off that well. However, I think the story was a bit predictable in places such as the traitors were obvious and lacked any surprise and the writing unraveled a bit the closer the story came to its conclusion. By stories end the writing had degraded into what I call B-Movie territory. Not bad but certainly not great either. In short, Did I enjoy the book? Sure, The writing for the most part wasn't terrible and I really enjoyed certain aspects to the plot. However, I probably would only continue with the series only if I could catch the next book at a very steep discount.
In the end I gave this one ★★★.
August 22, 2012
Technically 3.5 stars, but worthy of the rounding up.
Sometimes experimenting with space rocks isn't exactly the smarted thing a scientist can do, especially when it's your first day on the job and you're just getting used to your laboratory. Dr Arthur Covington's first day on the job in an underground research facility does not go as he had planned. His experiment goes drastically wrong and an explosion occurs, but even the explosion is not typical. The dead come back to life and what happens next is best left to the conspiracy theorists.
The characters in Contaminated confused me, at times, as there were so many of them. There was one group sent to help get the survivors out of the facility and to safety, but not really, they were sent in by the head evil doer (we don't learn much about him in book 1) to eliminate the survivors and get Dr Covington out. Another group truly is sent in to help get the group out and then you have the actual group of survivors who are trying to get themselves to safety. No one knows who to trust. With constant threats around them from the undead, other humans and various traps set to keep people in and out, the multiple groups have quite a long haul out of the facility. All this, topped with the knowledge that they have a limited amount of clean air in their suits and are unsure of how safe the air above ground is to breath.
If you like a tale of constant threats lurking around every corner(and we're not just the undead version) and if you enjoy a keep you guessing and on your toes conspiracy, then definitely give Contaminated a try. It will be well worth your time and money.
Sometimes experimenting with space rocks isn't exactly the smarted thing a scientist can do, especially when it's your first day on the job and you're just getting used to your laboratory. Dr Arthur Covington's first day on the job in an underground research facility does not go as he had planned. His experiment goes drastically wrong and an explosion occurs, but even the explosion is not typical. The dead come back to life and what happens next is best left to the conspiracy theorists.
The characters in Contaminated confused me, at times, as there were so many of them. There was one group sent to help get the survivors out of the facility and to safety, but not really, they were sent in by the head evil doer (we don't learn much about him in book 1) to eliminate the survivors and get Dr Covington out. Another group truly is sent in to help get the group out and then you have the actual group of survivors who are trying to get themselves to safety. No one knows who to trust. With constant threats around them from the undead, other humans and various traps set to keep people in and out, the multiple groups have quite a long haul out of the facility. All this, topped with the knowledge that they have a limited amount of clean air in their suits and are unsure of how safe the air above ground is to breath.
If you like a tale of constant threats lurking around every corner(and we're not just the undead version) and if you enjoy a keep you guessing and on your toes conspiracy, then definitely give Contaminated a try. It will be well worth your time and money.
September 10, 2014
Where to begin??
The lack of an actual story? The confusing attempt at exciting story? Or the repetitive fact that every five seconds somebody was forcing down vomit?
I read this book hoping there'd be some big twist at the end that made it all worth while and explain all...
Instead I was met with even more confusing chapters and *spoiler alert* the entire cast (who had the personality and likability of a rocking chair) all dead... I'm all for the "nobody is safe" rule when story telling but at least make them a somebody we care about.
The characters seemed to just know things after seconds of the infection. There were too many different agendas and after the first couple if chapters it seemed to be written by a teenage boy who thinks splattering zombie brains everywhere is the important factor.
HOWEVER... I do think it's an interesting concept. I liked the survival game feel of a new and different threat on each level they came to... But again, it seemed they spent more time in stairwells watching doors get blasted off than actually trying to manoeuvre the floors.
Not impressed and I'm usually a sucker for anything Zombified.
The lack of an actual story? The confusing attempt at exciting story? Or the repetitive fact that every five seconds somebody was forcing down vomit?
I read this book hoping there'd be some big twist at the end that made it all worth while and explain all...
Instead I was met with even more confusing chapters and *spoiler alert* the entire cast (who had the personality and likability of a rocking chair) all dead... I'm all for the "nobody is safe" rule when story telling but at least make them a somebody we care about.
The characters seemed to just know things after seconds of the infection. There were too many different agendas and after the first couple if chapters it seemed to be written by a teenage boy who thinks splattering zombie brains everywhere is the important factor.
HOWEVER... I do think it's an interesting concept. I liked the survival game feel of a new and different threat on each level they came to... But again, it seemed they spent more time in stairwells watching doors get blasted off than actually trying to manoeuvre the floors.
Not impressed and I'm usually a sucker for anything Zombified.
February 26, 2013
Suzanne Robb is a person in severe need of a sub-editor.
Every zombie kill sprays gore, causing somebody to gag. Using a rope to descend into a silo (which happens quite a lot) is now repelling, instead of rappelling. A couple of characters accidentally swap names for a few seconds towards the end, and the grammar gets worse towards the climax, as though to reflect the dire straits in which the protagonists find themselves.
None of this would matter if the story was good, but it actually makes no sense at all. The building in which the action takes place has no logic to it, characters change allegiance at the drop of a hat (although one person gets a glowing reference as 'somebody who would never sell out his country' despite being a mercenary. Bad mercenary credentials right there). None of the bad guys has a motive for causing all the death and destruction. Maybe they just fancied a laugh.
And then it stops. Just as abruptly as that last sentence, it stops. It looks like we're being set up for a sequel, although it really isn't deserved.
Every zombie kill sprays gore, causing somebody to gag. Using a rope to descend into a silo (which happens quite a lot) is now repelling, instead of rappelling. A couple of characters accidentally swap names for a few seconds towards the end, and the grammar gets worse towards the climax, as though to reflect the dire straits in which the protagonists find themselves.
None of this would matter if the story was good, but it actually makes no sense at all. The building in which the action takes place has no logic to it, characters change allegiance at the drop of a hat (although one person gets a glowing reference as 'somebody who would never sell out his country' despite being a mercenary. Bad mercenary credentials right there). None of the bad guys has a motive for causing all the death and destruction. Maybe they just fancied a laugh.
And then it stops. Just as abruptly as that last sentence, it stops. It looks like we're being set up for a sequel, although it really isn't deserved.
May 26, 2013
Actually nearly gave up with this a few times felt no bond with characters and struggling to keep pace of who was who and the action scenes..quite unrelenting action scenes ..imagine a building full of doors and floors and on each one lots of action...then I realised it's a very accurate zombie outbreak scenario set in a top security albeit flawed security laboratory..and Resident Evil sprang into mind and I was enjoying reading this..persevere it's actually really good!!
And the zombies have instant rot value..pure gross out,each is thoroughly descriptively destroyed!!!
And the zombies have instant rot value..pure gross out,each is thoroughly descriptively destroyed!!!
November 11, 2012
Needed an editor and a proofreader.
September 15, 2012
It was OK had a lot of resident evil qualities. Needs edited maybe?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews