Zombie Day Care

Impact #1

by Craig Halloran

"He had dozed off, feeling safe and exhausted, in the middle of nowhere. He laid his head back just for a second, listening to the madness on the satellite radio. America has fallen! Russia has fallen! The Middle East has fallen! He fell asleep.
His eyes snapped open. A shuffle of dirt caught his ear. He wiped the drool from his mouth. The rearview mirror showed nothing. His heart raced. Something was out there. A flicker of movement caught his eye in the side view mirror. He jerked out of the way just as a hand clutched for his neck. He scrambled through the passenger side door and rolled outside."

The Facility is what the Washington D.C. officials call it. It is a day care for zombie children, tucked deep in the east coast hills. Is there a cure for the zombies? The children of the undead give them the best hope. There are those who think the zombie threat is harmless…and those that don’t. The World Humanitarian Society wants to protect the zombies…or do they? Friends, family and colleagues are set at odds, dealing with the deadly dilemma. What about the zombies? What rights do they have in all of this? Or are they just a means to another diabolical end?

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Fiction, Humor, Amazon

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Craig Halloran grew up a role playing fiend and dungeon master's nightmare. Since, he's turned his boundless creativity into more than 80 acclaimed novels that span a wide variety of fantasy fiction sub-genres, from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery to future world apocalypse. Creator of the bestselling Darkslayer and the Chronicles of the Dragon series, he imagines unique worlds and wonders that are breathtaking in concept, and then brings them to life in stories brimming with excitement, suspense, and surprise. A former military policeman who now labors in the realm of the remarkable, Halloran has a large and loyal following of devoted fans who eagerly devour his page-turning, action-packed tales of fantastic adventure.

For more news and anecdotes you can follow him at:
Facebook: The Darkslayer Report by Craig
Twitter: Craig Halloran
www.craighalloran.com (Website and Blog)
www.thedarkslayer.com
www.dragonwarsbooks.com

Or drop him a line anytime as he loves to hear from readers: craig@thedarkslayer.com

***

#1 Bestseller of Epic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery & KDP All-Star!

Dragon Wars (20 Books) releasing 2020-21

The Darkslayer Series #1 (6 Books)

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The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files (10 books)

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The Red Citadel and the Sorcerer's Power (1 Stand Alone Book)

The Gamma Earth Cycle (2 Books, Work in Progress)

Zombie Impact (3 Books)

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Over 4000 reviews
4-Star+ Average Rating

Reviews

[DoodlePanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this a long time ago for my Kindle, but never got around to reading it. I needed a Z for my A-Z challenge and here we are!

It was an ok read, I did like the different take on the Zombies. I think the "cure" was... silly I guess would be the word I'm looking for. I don't feel I really got to know the characters enough to really care what happens to them. But the story does have potential. All in all an ok read :)

[Janie Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for my A-Z challenge. I found it on Amazon and it just happened to be free so I thought I would give it a shot. It is not a very long book, it is just over 100 pages so it was a pretty quick read.

In this book we pretty much have a zombie apocalypse going on and we start out with Nick having saved the world and then we go further into the future and we have a small group of people trying to actually cure the zombies.

In all honesty, this book is really kind of ridiculous, but it was entertaining at the same time. The characters in the story were not really very well developed and I did not really care all that much for them, but it did have a fun plot that I thought could go a lot further. It also has quite a different twist on zombies. I always applaud authors who take that step towards making content completely their own and that is what the author did with this book because he stepped far away from cliché.

I am not sure who I could recommend this book too. Like I said it was a bit ridiculous but still was entertaining to read. So I guess I say 'Enter at your own risk'. There is also a book 2 and 3. I actually think I will read them both. I am giving this book a 2.5 star rating.

[Aimeekay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zombie Day Care is interesting. It starts off as any predictable zombie fare, the world has gone to hell, zombies are eating everyone, no one knows how it started, and everyone is going to die. But then, one average joe stumbles across a 'cure'. Well not a cure really, but something that definitely helps the odds. Something that also leads to zombie 'day cares'. Sorry don't want to spoil too much.

I liked the story. It gave a neat twist to the traditional zombie tale. Yes, the twist is kinda silly, but it's still fun. The characters were well written. Even supporting characters were given just enough detail to flesh them out, even the zombies! (No pun intended,ok well maybe a little bit intended.)

The ending is a twist as well. It' s also a bit of a cliff hanger. You never really get to find out what's happened to all the characters. Amazingly it's not as annoying as it sounds. I guess that is due in part to the fact that this is only the beginning of the series, so one would hope that certain characters would reappear in further installments.

Considering the ending and the fact that this is less a tale of zombie survival and more a tale of government cover up that involves zombies, I really have to say I enjoyed Zombie Day Care. There's a lot of background social satire in certain parts that had me laughing at the fact that I could see people actually arguing over zombie's rights and stuff. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a comedy, but the story doesn't get caught up in taking itself too serious.

I definitely plan to pick up a copy of the next book in the series. I want to see what happens to some of the characters, as well as to the world in general since the zombie problem was far from fixed. I also want to see if the author's sarcastic wit still carries on through the series.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book, first on my Nook (R.I.P.) and then transferred to my Kindle, for over 5 years. I bought it in a flurry of cheap or free books Barnes & Noble offered when I first got my Nook. I swore this year I would work on my TBR and this is one of them.

This was a good story, and deals with the problem of what to do with the zombies once the "war" has been won. I really enjoyed this story, there was action with very little blood or death, but I did not miss it, because the chase was well written.

One thing. This edition needed another round of judicious editing, there were several very obvious spelling errors, and it did take a bit away from the overall reading experience.

[Melissa Levine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an okay read. I thought it was well written just kind of boring. I rarely read zombie stories but I just felt like not much really happened in this one.

Questions/Comments:

1. The day prior to Nate hurting his leg and running into his girlfriend, he comments on how hungry he is. How he last ate at Taco Bell, it was under $8, in the morning. Now if the world is overrun with zombies, how was Taco Bell still open?

2. What under 20...30 year old person refers to soda as pop or a soda bottle as pop bottle?

3. Given the description of Nate's leg after he wakes up the day after injuring it, how in the world was he still able to ride a bike? I mean it's swollen and purple and he can't even bend it.

4. Now I'm not sure what the author has seen in regards to going onto a military location and having the vehicle looked at. I have been on several, going into the more 'special' areas where you have your vehicle searched for bombs and whatnot. Never have I ever seen anyone with a 'long bomb-detecting device.' All I've ever seen anyone use was a long handled mirror.

5. So Henry's mother remarried after Henry's father left. Why are there certain times Henry refers to his step father as 'dad' and others using his first name?

6. Why does Henry work with finding a cure for the zombies when he would rather have them all killed?

7. "Ruby winked and said, 'Brown chicken, brown cow.'" What does that mean?

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. I didn't know what to think of this when I started reading, but I ended up enjoying it. The book begins with the zombies taking over and one man, Nate, accidently discovering that "Fountain Dew" calms them. Thus, Fountain Dew becomes the zombie tamer and Nate becomes a hero. The book then jumps forward about 10 years when the zombies have all been either captured or killed. There are now "zombie day cares" which house zombie children and scientists experiment on them to find a cure. But not everyone is happy that the remainig zombies were saved. Many people still wish them dead. This book was fast paced and entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys the zombie genre.

[Kathryn Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant story...

[Kenya Starflight · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full confession time -- not only did I get this book as a freebie (it was advertised in an e-mail newsletter offering free and cheap e-books), but I only read it to fill out a reading challenge (I needed a book that began with Q, X, or Z). And while I probably should have been warned away by the abysmally low rating, I figured "how bad could it be?" Folks, it's bad. Not even in the goofy over-the-top "so bad it's good way," it's just BAD.

I normally give a brief synopsis of the book and then a few paragraphs detailing my thoughts, but this book annoyed me so much that I'm just going to provide a list of things that bugged me about this book. In no particular order:

1. The writing is bad. I'm used to self-published Kindle books suffering in quality to some degree, and figure they'll be mediocre until proven otherwise. But here the prose isn't just bland, it's clunky, and couldn't have seen an editor before being published. A decent editor would have caught the substitution of "shoot" for "chute," for example...

2. The plot switch halfway through. The book starts off following a character named Nathaniel as he's running from zombies... but abruptly cuts to an entirely new set of characters within a few chapters and even skips ahead in time at that point. This can be done effectively, but here it feels like a chunk of the book is missing rather than a well-done time skip.

3. Too many POV characters. We jump from character to character -- even to one of the zombies! -- almost without warning, and none of it really does much to serve the plot.

4. Lack of worldbuilding. We never find out what caused the zombie pandemic, and the titular "zombie day care" is described in only the vaguest of terms. I get that you were saving some things for the next book in the series (and this book does drop hints that the zombie plague was caused by a government population-control program at one point), but it sure leaves this book feeling weak and incomplete.

5. Unlikable characters. I don't have to love every character in a piece of media, and a book can follow an unlikable character and still be effective. But give me one decent human being to root for, at least. The heroes were all jerks and idiots, and the villain so cartoonishly evil that they were impossible to take seriously.

6. Waste of a good concept. Zombie children has the potential to be VERY creepy if utilized well, and the central mechanic to taming the zombies was actually pretty creative. Sadly, the zombie children serve as little more than convenient set decoration, and the zombie-taming method only really matters in two scenes of the book.

7. The female characters. Every woman in this book exists to be a sex object, a conveniently fridged victim, or both. And MUCH emphasis is placed on the main female character's boobs, sexy underwear, and the fact that apparently she comes to work at a ZOMBIE CONTAINMENT FACILITY in high heels. Guys, it's okay to write a female character who's something beyond just a male character's girlfriend...

It's not good folks. I can't even really say I hated this book -- I didn't enjoy it, but I feel more disappointed in it than angry. There was potential for a decent idea about zombie kids, but it got undermined by bad writing, bad characters, weak plot, and an obsession with making the main characters sleep with hot chicks for no reason.

[Book Wyvern · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another finished. One to finally not put on the DNF pile..but it is in the one star pile. I finished it, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say about this book.

Is this supposed to be a spoof? This is supposed to be a joke, right?

First off…the “elixir” to slow down the zombies? Made me roll my eyes every time it was brought up. Second, the jump in POV’s. It would jump to the POV of the zombies. I don’t care.

If you'd like to read the rest of my review, please visit my blog!

[Odette Garrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent story desperately needs proof reading

Enjoyable tale, characters and ideas. The grammar and spelling however is terrible, really terrible, and some of the writing gets a bit mixed up. I would really like to be interested in reading more by this author, but it’s tough being interested when such a significant amount of proofing and editing is needed.

[Katy Halsema · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice quick read. I like the concept of this book and zombies being slowed down by what they are in here. The Zombie Day Care is an original idea for zombies to be cared for until a cure can be found.

[Steve Donnelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the story interesting but on the whole I felt that not a lot of time was spent investing in the characters. Most of the story was vague with no real information about events, places or people. It was disappointing really. It put me off purchasing the next books in this author's catalogue.

[Sappho Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this, and what's very unusual for me, couldn't finish it.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating

I loved this book. It was a fast read but it had twists and turns you didn’t expect. I can’t wait to read the second and third book

[Jenny From The Bog · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This was a lot of fun. More than a little ridiculous, but purposefully done. Fast paced, entertaining and with different spin.

[Alex Laybourne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story starts off a little absurd, Zombies can be subdued my Mountain Dew. It then jumps forward to a time where zombie children are kept in maximum security 'day care' centers where a team work to find a cure.

The tale is rather uneven, and jumps around a bit. The character that started it all is simply removed with no further effect on others until the final page, and even then it is nothing more than a side point in an attempt to round things off. Where the main storyline comes from is rather unclear.

The story itself is well written, and moves forward at a good pace. There are several points that are simply introduced with no explanation or background. The issues that are raised are never expanded upon but rather repeated in a different word order. Still, it is easy enough to pick up the general tone and understand who is who.

The biggest flaw were the two pages dedicated to the zombie. Written from a zombies perspective, they were unclear, and never used. Two, page long chapters were written like this, but then stopped. They were never broached again or used to any effect. I understand what the author was trying to do, but ultimately a little more effort would have been appreciated.

There was very little action in the novel, and in theory could quite possibly have been removed altogether. With the merest of modification to a few scenes they were not really important.

The read explains that he understand the concept is odd, and this in someway counteracts the absurdity. It was intentional.

The story was 37,000 and a fun easy read. If you are looking for something a bit different, then this is it. I would certainly be interested in reading other work by the author. With a little bit of polishing, and some refining of story development, the makings are there for something very promising indeed.
I picked this up for free from amazon, and would happily pay to read more work.

[Teressia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love zombie movies, zombie books, and zombie television shows like the current series, "The Walking Dead". That's why I picked up this book, to find out why there was a Zombie Day Care.

Craig Halloran has the ability to tell a good tale. He puts a great new spin on zombies, something we haven't heard before. The characters are well-defined and descriptive. I felt sorry for Nate, who never knew that saving the world would be such a burden. Halloran does a good job going back and forth between characters as each chapter unfolds, catching the reader up with what is going on in each one's life at that time.

Again, it really was a fun read and the author has a good feel for what makes a good story. If I were to offer any criticism of the book, it would primarily be with regard to the editing insofar as there are numerous misspelled words, missing words, and little details that were off. For example, the character Jimmy's name is sometimes erroneously spelled as Jimmie in the text. Did that really matter in the grand scheme of things? No, but for readers like me, it was a slight distraction.

Zombies are slowed by WHAT? It's THAT crazy! But this story makes that secret formula work.. This is more about what happens to zombies once you get them under control. How their arrival affects life and dabbles into the conspiracy of who is under control. Trapped in a lab with zombies, a team of zombie researchers finds themselves at odds with the zombies but more so, their biggest enemies of all; themselves. Great story!

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is about a potential zombie apocalypse that is thwarted by the discovery that feeding them caffeinated and sugery drinks will suppress their hunger and instinct to kill (unique take). It starts out during the midst of the zombie take-over with one of the main characters running away from his zombie girlfriend. He can't stand to kill her so by accident he ends up giving her "Fountain Dew" and finds that she stops trying to kill him. With his last battery he tweets the discovery and saves the world. Fast forward a few years and they are trying to find a cure for zombies and controlling them with soft drinks.
The story had potential and interesting ideas, but it fell a little flat. It took me awhile to get into the story. The last half was pretty good when the action picked up. I would rate the last half a solid three stars. The epilogue was actually my favorite part of the whole book. I felt the characters were pretty one-dimenisional and not very interesting. The scientists didn't seem very intelligent, though they were very cliche. There was a lot more that could be expanded upon in the book, like the conspiracy theories and what caused the zombie plague. This wasn't touched upon very much, but I think it would have made the novel better. I would like to read the next book and see if we find out the story behind the zombies.
I received this book for free through GoodReads First Reads.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has been available free on Amazon for a long time and I avoided it mainly because of the title which didn't really appeal to me. However with it being October, I was looking for free zombies and I downloaded it. I think maybe I should listen to my instincts in future.

Oh it's not a bad book. I actually liked the opening chapters with Nate trying to escape from his zombie girlfriend without killing her, and the amusing effects of Mountain Dew on the undead. I liked the idea of a sugar rush stopping the zombies from hunting humans and Nate stumbling upon an accidental semi-cure.

However, once Nate had saved the world, I wasn't as keen on what came next. We were getting radio and TV broadcasts of US chat shows interviewing or talking about Nate. If I heard once more how Nate saved the world, I might have bitten someone. Then we switched to a group of characters I didn't like at all-Jimmy and Henry the obnoxious brothers and Tori the uber slut who work at the 'day care' facility. By the time we met these three I was longing for the zombies to eat everyone.

Authors seem to be obsessed with idiot characters in zombie books and it switches me off when I get them. If I don't care about the MCs I lose interest in the book, which is what happened here.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

*NOTE: This is my husband, Seth's, review as he is helping me with my gigantic review pile.*

In this take on the zombie apocalypse genre, the zombies didn’t succeed in taking over the world. It seems however, that they put a fairly large dent in the human population. So much that security forces are apparently barebones operations. Enter in the politicians. They had loved ones who got infected and needed care. Young loved ones. So, what does one do with a bunch of zombified children? Well, you set up a daycare for them. That’s pretty much the premise of this book. There’s a disgruntled person who got the security position because of who he knows. Then, you have the hard workers who are just trying to make a living. The situation deteriorates from there. Sleazeball wants the hard working woman, woman wants nothing to do with him. Sleazeball releases zombie children and mostly everyone dies. Not the worst of books to read but by far not the best book I have ever read in the genre.

[Liquid Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle freebie. The writing is decent and I'd read more from Halloran. The premise of a zombie day care is unique, at least based on the various zombie books I've read. The fact that Mountain Dew temporarily 'fills' zombies is far reaching, but I think the drink is only good for the living dead in reality, so...there is that.

The story is a quick read with a moderate amount of action. I didn't really connect with the characters - they all were a bit off. Nate, who starts the story, reminds me of Eric, from Eric the Zombie Slayer. A lucky douche, basically.

There is a mild thread in the book - global population control. I assume this is explored in the following "Impact" series.

Unless I'm confusing books, this one references a favorite song of mine - 'Run From the Hills" by Metal Maiden (aka Run to the Hills from Iron Maiden). Okay, at least I got a chuckle from it.

Enjoy and drink Dr. Pepper.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

A college student felt dizzy. He rested for a little, when he woke up he had noticed that the world had turn up side down. He finds his girlfriend which she was no longer alive, but still she walked like a zombie. He travels to the safest spot he can find he makes friends, they as well as the others. He is forced to live, and survive. By himself, he tries harder and harder to survive but his life in tant moment is hard and evens gets harder. Read the book to find out what's next.

Well to me the book was not really interesting. It started to a slow start how he fell asleep then he wakes up and realizes the world has gone up side down that section started slow. But the author took time to write and mention a lot of details. In the middle of the book it took more action that's when it started to be more interesting. The book had a lot of details, but to me it didn't intertanted me. I would recommend this book to those readers that like a lot of details.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The following is a First Reads Giveaway Winner review:

Well let's see, the question posed is, "What did you think?" First I would like to say thank you to the author for the autographed edition of this book. Now here is where I feel obligated to be brutally honest. The story line is not bad so I believe the problem lies in how the story was written. This would at best be considered fair writing from a high school student. I really do not know what else there is to say. Very thin on character or plot building causes this book to suffer. As does the numerous, too numerous to list, grammatical errors. The good part is right on the cover where it states that this is a "short novel". At a quick 165 pages the reader does not have much to get through. Perhaps with some more work Mr. Halloran can give us a better book the next time around.

[Benjmin Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zombie Day Care Zombie Day Care is a book about a guy named Henry who is housing zombies in a secret hush-hush laboratory owned by the government. in the start of the book Henry's roommate Nate is trying to escape his undead girlfriend that he had a deep relationship with and that is when he figured out something to pacify the zombies and becomes a hero. Based on this pacifier Henry is assigned to help find a cure for that zombies. As Henry begins to see the zombies are not so dead after all and it's all downhill from there.
I thought Zombie Day Care was a very good book and would recommend it to any and all who truly enjoy zombies. Although Zombie Day Care didn't follow the typical zombie cannon is adds a newer aspect to the zombie fan fiction.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first place, this was a bit of fun for me to read, as it was actually something downloaded by my fifteen year old daughter, but in actuality it was reasonably enjoyable.

I loved the fact that there was a Quantum Leap reference in there, which if you read my Blog regularly,ties in with the recent Review (#391).

Although not earth-shatteringly awesome, it was enjoyable enough that I will happily admit to a strong probability at some point in the future of downloading other stuff by this Author, in particular the Impact Series, (Zombie Day Care is Book #1 in the Series).

From me, then, it's 4 Stars.

If you want to read the whole Review, which includes any Errors/Bug Bears then please see my Blog (Post #393 in October 2013).

[Excalibur Snape · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn government they destroyed the world.
It was they that caused the zombie outbreak.
There was an awesome creepy picture in the book of a zombie child.
In the end Karma dished out justice.
Cant wait to read the second book in the serise.
The bad guy ends up falling into his own trap.
Not only did these people have to face zombies they had to face a pissed off mother nature.
The ending of the book was interesting.
The way it ended it could be a stand alone.
It was entertaining, fast paced.
A lot like any zombie movie or book.
It had all the elements that make a good zombie movie/book with some orginal things to keep the reader interested.

[Jessica Kong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird Story line
When suggested to Craig Halloran to create a unique story line for a new book, he shot for the moon. I have to say, he hit his mark with this crazy, bizarre story. I did not know what to make of it in the beginning. It was just weird and hard to wrap my head around the plot, but as I continued to read, I began cheering for one of the characters, for he was the only one with commonsense in the book. That was the hook that caught me. I was glued to the book and it pained me to put it down. Once you get over the initial shock of the story’s plot, I believe you will enjoy this book. I am off to read book 2!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zombie Day Care is humorous. Zombie Day Care is unique. Zombie Day Care gives insight into our society and how it works. Zombie Day Care has a twist at the end. Zombie Day Care gives new insight into how a zombie might feel. Who would have guessed that Mt. Dew was so important? I enjoyed this refreshing approach to dealing with Zombies and look forward to reading more by this author.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but before i read it - i hadn't known the reason for the title lolz.

anyway, i don't want to spoil it for anyone but i really disliked jimmy, he was a total ass - enough said.
even though the book isn't that long its still a good read. its not a total serious way of a zombie outbreak can be viewed as but as the author has stated in the book - it wasn't meant to. It still was a fascinating read though.

give it a try - even if its only because you curious. :D

[Conny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book as a free download, I usually like Zombie books but I just could not get into this book. It had an interesting concept and I really wanted to like it. I usually can tell when I just don't connect with a book when I start reading other books in between. However I finally made myself finish it and it was OK, it had some twist and turns I did not see coming. Maybe I will give the book another try later?