Tales from Transfusion: The Outbreak

by Marlene Tower

Ryker knows she's not supposed to kill her coworkers. Avoid. Deny. Defend. Survive. Or does that only apply to active shooters? As thorough as the policies at Drivers are, they can't cover every situation. Understaffed, underpaid, underappreciated, and tonight, under attack. Ryker and her coworkers have two options (1) wait it out in the blood bank laboratory (2) risk their lives trying to escape.
Will their training in Medical Laboratory Science save the day or get them all killed? More importantly..."Are we getting overtime for this?"

217 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2023

Reviews

[dragonriderjinx · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️

Okay before I dig in: I’m currently a night shift lab tech working in a 524 bed level 4 trauma hospital. I’m a generalist but I mainly work 12 hour shifts alone in the blood bank. We were critically understaffed until about 6 months ago and had terrible management. I loved how much I could relate to this book as a tech, it made me feel validated in so many ways (especially about the disparity between day and night shifters) and tbh made me want to be a better tech! I felt all my rage over the years validated and that was awesome

But

As a whole this book was not it 😭 the first third was like reading from a lab manual. Like girl I’m reading this at work I just set up a pedi unit and I don’t want to read about the character going step by step through the process I literally just did irl. My work PTSD was mad triggered like “four plus, 0, four plus, 0, four plus, A pos.” 😭🫡🤧 Im here for the drama and the fun lab/zombie vibes not the actual work. And I get it it’s good for educational purposes to tell people ab our job but like there’s a less boring way to go about it perchance.

The characters were also just fine. My girl really knows how to write hateable characters and I’ll give her that, and some of the deaths were a bit sad. However. The comedy was so bad 😭😭 and it was so jumpy and all over the place like I couldn’t even keep up and I’m. A. Lab tech. Maybe I’m just not good enough at my job idk but fuck. And a lot of the side characters were pretty one note. Meredith is a bitch but gets shit done, sunny is funny, etc. Idk I just didn’t really vibe with them, like they didn’t feel like real people to me.

The action scenes too were incredibly disorienting. The actions of the characters during these high stress moments felt very disjointed and difficult to follow. I found myself having to reread the scenes over to try to map out what was happening. It felt like the author was trying to transcribe scenes from a movie vs make them book compatible, if that makes sense. Idk what I’m trying to say I just finished my shift and I’m tired.

And what the fuck was that ending? Super secret organizations and absolutely no consequences for anybody’s actions, and in texas with all the busybodys? Absolutely not shit would not slide. All the pedestrians with bite marks and all the traffic accidents and people with their phones filming fucking zombies? Nah shit would be everywhere there’s no hiding that. And what about quarantine procedures? Lockdown of the city or immediate area to prevent spread? Sure we as readers know how its spread but the people in the book sure don’t. Also why did the tubes explode? Am I dumb? I actually can not thing of a reason plastic tubes would shatter like that due to a naegleria infection.

And why did the librarian order that girl to put books everywhere (period) and help people get out, but then have her stop and block them from leaving? Idfk and what was with the mind control shit? I actually don’t understand. And I’m assuming they got rid of the water but like how? What’s the safety protocol? The fucking little shit of a nerd in me actually wants to know. I want to know how they drained, contained, and disposed of every drop of contaminated water pumping through that hospital overnight DURING a zombie apocalypse (let alone disposing of the staff and patients all zombified in a 1000 BED HOSPITAL) and still have people be okay to come in for morning shift.

Also what was the point of people going around shooting people with water guns at the beginning? That doesn’t just happen irl, and I thought it would tie in to the infection but it was just ? Never mentioned again?

And like they knew about Liam but just let him go? Even though they have agents stationed at every hospital just to stop him? Idk it felt like the end of a miraculous ladybug episode where Gabriel Agreste is like drat foiled again, I’ll just have to do better next time, and just sits in his fancy little tower. Come to think of it Liam is literally Gabriel Agreste. You can’t tell me “Fly away, my beautiful akuma, and evilize them!” Doesnt fucking fit the bill 😭😭

Idk I could go on but I’d like to sleep and I don’t want to drag the book any more 😭 it was a fun, validating read but just not for me.

[Dominoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a Blood Banker? Do you work in another department in a clinical laboratory? Are you another healthcare professional who has had to call a blood bank about blood products? Do you like horror books? Do you like sarcasm, sass, cussing, or any kind of blantent examples of the current US health care system operation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you. Go read it now. This book made me laugh, cry, curse, and laugh some more. One scene gave me actual nightmares only other blood bankers will appreciate. This book was phenomenal from start to finish!

[Keisha Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING! finally a book that not only mentions Med lab techs, but actually has them front and center and accurate. Obviously I am an MLT (blood bank) and appreciated every reference and explanation that the author put in. Written simply enough that my non medical partner can appreciate and understand. Aside from using the tube system for blood products it could have been taking place in my lab. Down to some of the personalities...

Not flowery language or complex plot, just cheesy fun comedy horror zombie apocalypse. Looking forward to the sequel

[Jordan Chester · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out really promising for me and I had a ton of laughs and smiles thinking about my old job in the blood bank. But then the zombies hit. I’m not a huge fan of fantasy things like that, but if written well, I can manage. However, the grammatical errors along with random characters introduced throughout the book with little to no explanation really sunk the ship for me. There were too many times where the lack of description made things somewhat confusing as to what was going on, but I pressed on in hopes of it getting better. Spoiler: it never did for me.

[Samantha Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great read for anyone in the laboratory. I loved the descriptions of the blood bank, as I also work in a blood bank and everything was like I was actually in the story myself. A part of the team.
However, there were so many spelling and grammatical errors, and the ending had me left wanting way more than how it ended.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

so accurate!

The best thing about this book is the way the author conveys the universality of lab work. Doesn’t matter where you work, every lab has the same issues, the same personalities and gets treated the same by management/other departments.

Well done!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book to be a funny contrast to my every day life working in a hospital blood bank. A lot of what ifs played in my mind as I read it. I think it was a cute book as someone actually in that career.

[Maria Tovar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can tell the author isn't a writer, could have been written better, and had a lot of grammer errors. But it was a fun read. Especially being a fellow lab tech.

[Miranda Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining!

[Paula Ferree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will always support a fellow Medical Lab Scientist!