A Father's Quest

What Zombies Fear #1

by Kirk Allmond

When Victor Tookes went to work that beautiful spring day, he never expected to see a man eaten alive in the street in front of his office. After convincing himself that they really were zombies, he makes a trip from his house in Pennsylvania to his family home in Virginia, battling zombies all the way. His three and a half year old son was bitten on the leg, but doesn't turn into a zombie. Instead, he turns into something more than human.

Victor quickly discovers that everything he knew about zombies was wrong. Not all of them were mindless, uncoordinated, rotting ghouls; some of them were bigger, faster, stronger or smarter than when they were human.

A small percentage of humans are genetically immune to the parasite. Instead of turning these humans into mindless shamblers, they gain enhanced abilities. These new abilities will be pushed to their limits in their quest to carve out a safe haven to call home.

How will he keep his son safe when the world crumbles around him?

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Paranormal, Apocalyptic

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2011

About the author

Kirk Allmond: Author, Zombie Expert, Survivalist, Teacher.
Kirk Allmond takes on all aspects of zombies. This isn’t just a vocation, it’s a passion. In 2006, The Zombie Preparedness Initiative was formed as a global project to prepare the world for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Or, whatever disaster may occur. The Zombie Preparedness Initiative, or ZPI, is unique in that it connects zombie literature, survivalism, and a dash of humor. The site provides a useful service with wit and wisdom.

On the site, there's an article about creating a zombie plan. The article is a thoughtful and thorough discussion of what an ordinary person should learn about being prepared for any emergency or disaster, not just a plan for when the dead walk the earth. Alongside this article are postings about gardening and food preservation, including the all-important topic “How to Make Bacon Post Apocalypse”, weaponry and supplies.

Kirk didn't write all the articles, and gives the majority of the credit to his Advisory Board, a group of writers, survivalists, and zombie enthusiasts who oversee the content of the site. Many ideas are contributed by members of the large community of readers, who also participate in the discussion forums.
Allmond’s novels, the “What Zombies Fear” series are co-authored with Laura Bretz. What Zombies Fear: A Father’s Quest has reached the number one spot on Amazon’s Horror, Paranormal, and Superhero best seller lists.
The series follows Victor Tookes in his quest to keep his son safe. It’s different than most zombie novels in that these zombies are caused by a parasitic alien, which hitchhiked to earth aboard a meteor. These aliens invade the brain of the host, taking control of the body. In the case of a weaker infection, the corpse becomes the traditional Romero style zombie. But in cases of severe infection, the parasites can control more areas of the brain, allowing for zombies that can pass as human. In rare cases of the strongest infection, those zombies are able to access areas of the brain that normal humans did not, giving them heightened abilities.
Their latest novel, Declaration of War was published April, 2013, and reached the number 1 spot on Amazon’s Best Seller list in the Horror category.
There are currently five novels published in the series, and a new novel in progress.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise in a mass of zombie literature but unfortunately I did not like this short story as much as I anticipated.

Allmond's writing is good (though there were still quite a few spelling errors and grammatical errors throughout) but I didn't like the general 'tone' of this story.

I hated the protagonist, Victor Tookes. He was overly cocky and annoying and quite frankly he just grated on me. His personality change was so swift as well, he went from humble loving father and husband one page to saviour of mankind surrounded by equally annoying sycophants the next. In fact, I did not like any of the characters in this story so found myself just bored whilst reading about them.

I do not know anything about guns (outside GTA and Fallout anyway) and I felt very disconnected to this story as there is such a reliance on describing the different types of guns and ammo all the time that I mentally zoned out.

I also didn't think there was enough description or explanation as to why some humans are immune to a zombie bite, or why some turn into some kind of super mutant, or the importance of Victor's son. Perhaps if the mutation aspect was discussed in more depth and the ammo inventory was not discussed every other page then I would have enjoyed this more.

However, despite my problems with this story, there is plenty of action and fight scenes to keep people entertained if you're looking for a zombie story with a difference.

[Janene · Rating 2 out of 5]

If there is one thing that I cannot stand, it is taking the time to choose a particular book, out of thousands (its like an author winning a lottery, in my world!), and find that the author did not care enough about their readers to bother having the book edited. Then edited again. It insults me, both as a reader and as a beta-reader. That is the case with 'What Zombies Fear.'

Kirk Allmond took an idea, that was really quite original, and got lazy. I made it to 66% in my Kindle, highlighting every misspelled or inappropriately used word, and finally said, "That's enough." Mr. Allmond, please have your book edited, by several keen eyes, make the corrections and republish. Then let me know....I would gladly pick up where I left off and finish. I was very interested in this story, but can't bother myself any further until corrections are done.

Writers: Care about your readers!

[Kristal Stidham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, there's nothing really new here. I hoped it would be about the kid, but apparently what zombies fear is a bunch of dudes with a massive arsenal. Also unfortunately, I got my copy before the latest revisions, so I had to suffer through terrible grammar, punctuation and spelling. Note to would-be self-publishers: PLEASE get someone else to read your work before sending it out to the world! Childish writing mistakes REALLY distract from your storytelling!

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review:
I bought this book Free on Amazon a few weeks back, it was about Zombies and had a pretty good rating, so really why not give it a shot. Well let me tell you, I am so glad that I did. What Zombies Fear is a really unique take on your run of the mill Zombie Apocalypse. These Zombies are more parasitic then plague driven and that is pretty cool to see.

The Story starts out following a pencil pusher named Viktor, he says goodbye to his wife and son and heads out to start the day just like dozens before. Once at work the action picks up and we very quickly learn that something has caused Zombies to rise. After saving his son and wife they embark on a journey to meet up with the rest of his family at this mother's farm and along the way learn that not all the zombies are slow and stupid but some are smart and have heightened abilities. The Zombies also have there sights set on Max, Viktor's 3 Year old son. He's special and the Zombies know it, so it is up to Viktor and the rest to keep him safe.

What Zombies Fear does a great job blending the zombie element and that of the otherworldly paranormal that cause the survivors and Zombies to have extraordinary abilities. I'm not sure why only some people are affected but the Survivors guess it might be a genetic mutation. At least in this book no hard proof of why is mentioned. I found the smart zombies highly creepy, especially because some look almost normal and only when they try and rip your throat out do you realize they aren't. Also having Zombies organize, able to communicate and plot strategy is scary. Those are the Zombies of my nightmares.

Overall this was a great book with well developed characters,strong character driven plot and fantastic world building. If your a fan of the genre and looking for something new and unique, I highly suggest picking this book up. I will be giving What Zombies Fear ★★★★.

[Jason Pfeffer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't believe these reviews. This thing is the biggest piece of sophomoric crap ever written. Avoid at all costs!

[Kirsten Lenius · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had real potential as an original zombie horror tale... it was sunk by bad editing... the typos alone were enough to keep jolting me away from what could have been an interesting read, though I'm not particularly partial to zombie smooshage.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole bunch of rambling observations with tons of spoilers.

Interesting premise. Zombie apocalypse. Some people are immune - they are bitten and change, but do not die. They just become super-human. On the flip side, some zombies become super zombies.

Can a coward become a hero? The answer appears to be yes, as long as he makes some superhero friends and mutates into a metahero himself. From the beginning Tookes is NOT likeable. He's probably a nice enough guy - he adores his wife and dotes on his son 3½-year-old, Max. They are his first thought when he realizes that the zombie apocalypse is really happening. Sad thing is, he doesn't bother to warn anyone else. He's concerned enough to go outside and tell the police all about an attack he witnessed, but as a VP in his company, he only briefly considers - then rejects - the idea of warning the other employees at his company. Oh, you know, send them home, stuff like that. He texts his wife to tell her there is an emergency and to come home, but he doesn't tell her to avoid all other people and be really careful. He didn't think she'd believe him about the zombies. Okay. So tell her there is a chemical warfare scare, or something else she might believe. Luckily, she makes it home in one piece, but it's only luck.

So this is how we start, with a guy who's kind of a prick. He dashes to get his son from daycare, and finds Max the only living child, with two teachers protecting him. One is bitten as he approaches, sad for her. He grabs his son and leaves the other woman - who was shielding his son with her body - behind. Yup. He's a prick. It's hard to get into him as a hero, just because he becomes the idealized protagonist. (Later he does start to become aware of things like maybe babies need diapers and people need shoes, and that's all great. But he started out really unlikeable. Not flawed, but truly icky.)

Unfortunately, Max has already been bitten. Luckily, Tookes (who is a fan of the zombie genre) doesn't automatically assume that the cause is hopeless. He cleans the wound and gives his son a snack and begins to pack up - it seems - everything in the house. When his wife arrives, he gives her 3 minutes to gather up what she needs and she leaves the house with her purse a little heavier with time to spare. (I've heard of light packers but that's kind of nuts.) At least she changed into jeans and tennies. Doesn't matter, because she doesn't live to see their destination - the Tookes family estate. The author knew she wasn't going to make it, but she didn't. Anyone who thought they were going to live would have packed more.

Before I get into some of the other problems I had with this book, let me say that I absolutely loved Tookes's mistrust of the military and government. After several clashes with armies of zombies - including super zombies - the army shows up and wants to "save" everyone. Tookes is suspicious and angry. They've been watching him for some time but never bothered to help. Now it looks like he has some kind of power and they're interested. Bravo. Has there ever been, in the history of zombie stories, one where the military or gov't turned out to be good and/or beneficial (except Shaun of the Dead)? The locals in his hometown paid dearly for assuming that a group of people claiming to be military (false) were a) on the up & up, and b) trustworthy. I think if Tookes had been there, he would have said "so? Go be soldiers and kill the zombies. Leave us alone."

Other problems:
A couple of sequences/chapters appear to have been reworked from third-party descriptions to first-party exposition. The problem here is that the language remains the same, with just the tense changed, and NO ONE talks like this. They also felt like they were plopped into the wrong place in the story.

Several issues with punctuation and homophone use. Spell-check doesn't catch their/they're/their misuse. Semi-colons are not the enemy. The Oatmeal has some very helpful infographics that I highly recommend.

When Tookes talks to his mother (he does eventually call to warn her), he asks about his brother, Marshall, and another family member I assumed to be a sister. A sister who is never mentioned again. Since it turns out that Tookes, Max & Marshall are all immune and "meta," a sister probably would have been as well. Even if she didn't make it, why doesn't anyone notice (or mention) that sis (or whoever it was) and her family didn't make it to the compound?

Supposedly, the whole point of this story ("A Father's Quest") is that the super zombies are after Max. It becomes clear pretty early on that he's sort of psychic when it comes to the zombies. He can sense them, keep them from sensing him, predict their movements and control them to some degree. Pretty cool for a not-quite-4-year-old. But it's handled awkwardly in the story. Less than 12 hours into the outbreak, the zombies are mobilizing to capture Max. But it's just kind of weak. At the end, there is an encounter when Max stomps his feet and all the zombies die. I guess that was what they feared? And then he grows up to be a normal kid.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story. The main character is cocky, he takes his friends for granted, and he's self absorbed. Throughout this book he learns that he can't do it all on his own. Without his friends and family he is nothing.

The twist on zombies is fun. This is not a zombie story I've ever read before, crossing "The Road" with "Day of the Dead". In the end it's super humans vs. super zombies, and the battles are epic. Mr. Allmond writes action as well as any I've read.

There are some areas for improvement in writing style from this first book. The character development is not perfect, but I feel like I had a good handle on each of the people in the story, their thoughts and actions matched. This is an action story. It's non-stop, fast paced and fun to read. I don't understand why people expect an indie author selling a first time book to be absolutely perfect. Typos annoy me, but I was able to look past the relatively few typos to see story underneath. I did not find this book to be "Full of typos" or "Hard to read". There are a few, but my copy of The Stand by Stephen King has a handful of typos too.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book!
I think the characters were awesome and fit in completely with the story line. Tookes, one of the main characters, I liked.(unlike some other reviewers). He took in this situation as probably many faced in it would. He took charge and did what he felt he needed for protection of his son, family and friends.
What I would have like to have known was the back story - why this outbreak happened, what the government was doing? (Well, more parts to this story for me to read - so I may find out).
I can't wait to read them all!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been a good book if not for all the typos, "filler" paragraphs with nothing important said and a maybe a little more character development. I love zombies, but probably won't read the next books because of writing style.

[Shana Festa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victor Tookes is an embodiment of every family man you know. He is average, Sponge Bob witty, works hard, and loves his family. Everything he does, he does for his wife and child. What started as a normal day turned no into less than a nightmare, when Tookes, only wanting his toasted bagel, witnesses the horror to the beginning of the end.

What Zombies Fear takes place right here, right now in this society. Tookes (As he is called by his friends) isn’t dumbfounded by the presence of rising dead, he immediately thinks ‘zombie’ like most people would. The first thing, and not the only thing, that I really liked about this book.When I first started reading, I had to remember the synopsis, because I actually wanted to stop. Not ‘stop’ as in a bad thing, but because I was so drawn into the relationship between Tookes and his son, that emotionally, I didn’t want to see where it was going.
I was not let down.

The book is written in first person, and at times more journal-style than a first person narrative. Told by Tookes, the book takes the reader on a journey through Tookes’ struggle to protect his son and get to a safe place. Tookes has some knowledge of weapons and like a lot of guys, has to have that big off-road type truck that never gets dirty and blocks you from seeing to get out of a spot at your local grocery store. All of which, I took as metaphoric. The truck was more for show just as zombies were more fiction. Everything in the story is bigger than Tookes. It’s a learn as you go for him, survive as you can. He does it well with believable stumbles and fears.

Allmond does a superb job making this characters realistic and likeable. He builds the tension well. Although I wasn’t a fan of the name choice given to Tookes’ wife. When I read her name ‘Candi’ immediately I envisioned some stripper. But that’s just me.

I didn’t give it five stars because I felt there were times the dialogue was a tad stilted, and there was a ‘missing; of emotion when dealing with action - a few times it felt as if Allmond added emotional descriptions because e had to. There were also a few instances the knowledge (Such as with weapons), were so detailed, that it didn’t fit with the usual flow of the story.

But those really are trivial in the grand scheme of the story. Allmond delivers a fresh and, shall I say, ingenious take on an overwritten genre, going above and beyond what we expect from the dreaded creatures. He makes it more than just a zombie tale, he makes it suspense, mixed in with horror and thriller. Allmond does it all by staying true to the writer he is and conveying to the reader that he knows what it is like to love a son.

He doesn’t beat around the bush and you get caught up in his story, loving the characters, and wanting more. Guess what? There is more. What Zombies Fear is a series, and a heck of one at that.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a firm believer there's no need for the Zombie Renaissance to ever end. However, for this to be the case, every author must bring something new to the pot. People talk about wanting to have George Romero shamblers indefinitely as if they are the only way you can do them.

Kirk Allmond is a guy who manages to impress me not necessarily because I agree with all of his choices but I appreciate the fact he bothers to do things differently. There's zombies, there's an apocalypse, and a father is desperately trying to save his young son from dying.

Ho-hum, seen this before. Some humans are immune to zombie infection, though. Hmm. Better. Which gives them low-level superpowers. *blink* Okay, color me intrigued. Oh and some of the zombies are intelligent and capable of passing for human, effectively serving as a Fifth Column for whatever force is behind the rise of the zombies. *Now* you have a story.

The premise of What Zombies Fear is Victor Tookes is a father of a toddler named Max when the zombie apocalypse happens. Max is bitten early-on but Victor and his family have an inherent immunity to the bug which allows them to survive it as well as develop superpowers. Victor suffers several tragedies over the course of the novel and decides to use his newfound abilities as well as those of other immune humans to build a refuge against the zombie hordes. Likewise, he's going to try and kill as many of them as possible.

Hence the title.

A Father's Quest is a pretty good bit of heroic fiction. Victor Tookes suffers some setbacks but the story follows him on a largely successful quest to carve out his own little fiefdom in the post-apocalyptic world. Kirk Allmond spends a good amount of page-time describing the specifications of the fortress, what sort of weapons they have, and paying cursory attention to how they begin setting up their town.

Much of the rest of the book is devoted to well-written action scenes where our heroes take the fight against the bands of zombies roaming the Earth. If I have a problem with the book it's that the emotion of the events is somewhat muted. Our hero doesn't take much time to reflect on the personal losses he suffers and more or less just chugs along indefinitely. This isn't bad for the style of book this is but it did leave me a bit surprised.

In conclusion, I think What Zombies Fear: A Father's Quest is a nice little novel which I give points for originality as well as being of a different sort of feeling than many others. It's pretty upbeat and I think zombie novels which are other genres than horror are a great idea, personally. If we can have action movies with vampires, why not zombies?

7.5/10

[Irving Drinkwine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read many different Sci-Fi sub-genres and right night I'm blowing through the subgenre of Zombies and Zombie Apocalypses. I have read many of this subgenre and I found WZF: A Father's Quest - as well as the next 2 books in the series to be very enjoyable. I'm starting on book 4 now, but I expect it to be just as entertaining. I'll read books 5 & 6 as shortly.
If you are looking for a book that will inspire you to change your life and join the Peace Corps, this is not it. If you are looking for a nice light, enjoyable read about the Zombie Apocalypse, then this is it.
This is a basic Z.A series with a slight twist. ( I don't think the following is a spoiler but I am new to writing reviews, so please let me know...and I'm sure you will, but please be courteous.) Like the book "Day By Day Armageddon," the source of the Zombie infestation is not of this world. Many of the characters develop special abilities that help them to combat the Z.A.
The writing style of this book was enjoyable, the story maintained a nice steady pace and I found it easy to slip into the protagonist's role as I read. This for me makes the story even more enjoyable...until I"m disturbed and I pop back into real life.
So, to repeat myself, I very much enjoyed this book and SERIES. It is not War And Peace but if you want a Zombie book that will let you delve into a Zombie experience and while away the hours, then this book is for you. If you like books that don't need cliff notes, this book is for you. If you like to read books that you can understand and are left feeling satisfied, this book is for you. If you don't like Zombies, ZA, Supernatural powers or books without a needed glossary, then this book is not for you.
I'm also looking forward to reading the negative reviews on this book. I enjoy the negative reviews that go something like "I did not like the book about #### because I really dislike ####." Which is why I try to give a little more then "I liked this Zombie book because I like zombie books."

2 Closing points:
1.) "Day by Day Armageddon" by J. L. Bourne is an excellent book, as is the series of the same name.
2.) I couldn't decide if I should have used a semicolon before each "this book is/is not for you." Please advise. I've problems with punctuation, but I'm trying to improve.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Victor is at work when he witnesses a zombie attack and decides he has to go to day care to rescue his son Max, getting him and Candi to safety. but these are no ordinary zombies. They can think, operate weapons and employ tactics and they have a particular interest in Max...

Urgh I don't like ultra smart zombies! I like the shambling George Romero ones who just keep going and hunt you down. These zombies were smart enough to guard bridges, patrol areas with weapons, set ambushes, talk and I wasn't really sold on any of that. I also didn't much like the idea of those bitten becoming superhuman. But that is a personal thing and it's not what ruined the book for me. Oh no, that would have to be the all amazing Victor.

Victor is a self obsessed, sexist, moronic, obnoxious asshat. And those are his good qualities. When he gets to day care, two teachers are bravely defending his terrified son and what does Victor do? He grabs Max and runs off, leaving the women to die and has no regret about doing it. They saved your son!!! He then gets Candi killed when, despite noting that it looked like an ambush situation, he drove into it anyway which caused his wife to get shot dead. Does he cry for her? No he's too busy feeling all smug about his brilliant truck that forced the ambush aside, noting that everyone said the truck was a waste of money but Victor was right about buying it. Oh the man is such a prince. In fact Victor spends a lot of time congratulating himself on his excellent plans, or his accurate shooting or just how smart he is in general. Gag.

It's not long before he meets other survivors and his first job is to leer at the woman getting changed. Then in the middle of her zombie story, Victor interrupts a woman to ask where she is from because he can't place her accent and it's really distracting. He totally loves himself and thinks he is the Big I Am who is to be worshipped in some way. Revolting jerk. I literally wanted to climb into the book and rip out his throat. There was no way I was going to read any further with THAT as my so called hero. Obviously Max got his personality from his mother.

Dreadful MC, story that did not appeal and no chance of reading anything else by the author.

[Joline Novy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book 2 days ago and never did a review because I jumped right into the 2nd book! I know how important reviews are for self-published authors and thought I'd take a break from book 2 and give, What Zombies Fear; A Fathers Quest, a review.

I really enjoyed this story. The Zpoc begins pretty much the same way it does in most books of this variety, quickly and very unexpectedly. One minute, Victor Tookes is at work, and the next minute, he's watching people attack and eat people. His parental instincts kick into over-drive as he instantly thinks of his 3 year old boy, Max, and heads in the direction of his sons day care. Tookes (the name most choose to call him by) isn't really sure what's happening in the world around him but he's certain that he must get his son and his wife to safety. Survival mode almost comes naturally to him as he begins to plan out supplies, weapons, and how he will get his family quickly and safely to his Mothers home. Once he's home safely with his son and his wife arrives, their road trip begins.

You'll follow along with Victor Tookes as he encounters several obstacles trying to get his beloved family to safety. It's doesn't take long for him to realize that this trip is not going to be as simple as he first imagined. He also begins noticing that these "zombies" are not your typical brain dead and slow shuffling creatures he's read about or seen in movies. Not only do some of these zombies appear to have special talents, Tookes starts to notice some unusual qualities his son seems to have developed as well.

I highly recommend, What Zombies Fear, to all zombie book lovers out there. There are a lot of pretty unique qualities in this book that I've never read before (and I've read A LOT of zombie books). This book has been sitting in my Kindle Library for many months. Due to several prior commitments, I've only just now had the chance to read this. I'm now half-way through with the sequel and the only regret I have is that I didn't read these books sooner!! Great job to Kirk Allmond and Laura Bretz! You've got yourselves another fan of the, What Zombies Fear, series!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this 4.5 stars for being an interesting take on zombies. I have never read anything by this author before and was pleasantly surprised to get a zombie tale that was at least at little different from the usual, though I do remember something somewhat similar. The characters were interesting if a bit less fleshed than I would have liked, I see room for them to gain more personality and life as the series moves forward. While the first chapter didn't bring me fully in, by chapter two I was ready to settle in and read as long as I could to find out what would happen next.

Victor Tookes, rhymes with kooks, starts out his day like any other by going to the office. This is no ordinary day however and he finds himself in the middle of the end of civilization. It has been 12 years and he is going to tell us how he has managed to protect his son, Max, who is being sought out by the zombies for some reason. While Victor was able to save his son, his wife did not make it in those first days. This left him with a 3 year old boy in a hostile world. Max was bitten but did not change like so many others and seems to have some type of 6th sense about the zombies.

This has a good story, really good ending, great zombies, and even better hero's. I will be continuing to follow this story as long as it lasts.

[D. Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if you were bitten by a zombie and lived? What if not all zombies were the mindless brain munching creatures of the movies? What if there were smart zombies? This is the world that Victor Tooks finds himself in from the moment pedestrian is attacked on the street outside a cafe window by what looks like a drunk. Not just attacked but eaten. And then the victim returns to life. From there, the ride gets a whole lot worse.
What ensues is a wild ride where Victor and his son Max are confronted by smart zombies, zombies who can set traps and use guns. What makes this ordeal even more frightening is that Victor's son is a survivor of his bite and now has a mental link with the leader of the so smart zombies, a woman called Penelope.
These are not shambling Walking Dead or Dawn of the Dead zombies. Kirk Allmond's book challenges everything we've come to know about zombies and gives them horrible new talents that make them even more dangerous than the typical Hollywood version. In a world where zombies can not only create more but can think and speak, this is a very dangerous world indeed.
Mr. Allmond creates a horrific alternative and a thrilling book that's hard to put down. I'm a binge reader, which means when I find an author I like, I read everything they have so I'll be reading the others as soon as I can.

[Leslie Callahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started out good but went weird fast. The whole idea of super smart and super fast zombies was/is hard to accept. The main characters and their superhero characteristics was too far on the sci-fi and unexplainable for me.
Since when does an “office” worker that makes excel spreadsheets turn GI Joe/Rambo/aura reading, zombie killing machine in 4 months?!
The author told us that the main characters loved each other like a family but I never felt that relationship develop during the book. I also realize the author has a vast knowledge & perhaps love for guns, but reading about every gun & ammo that the characters took for their different battles got to be a bit monotonous.
It sounds like I should have given this book a 1 star - but it did keep my interest, I had to see the ending to see “what zombies fear” & why they were so interested in Max. Sadly, the end never revealed any of that. Maybe in the next books it will explain that but I won’t be reading them to find out.

[Tom Boshell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up as an Amazon free book and it was pretty good, not a well polished book but that is what I expect in such cases. More of a one-man-story...kinda a coming-of-age type with a +30yr character that comes into powers. The people just start following him because first there is nothing better to do and then for their super-powers. It sounds a bit silly as a write about it (sorry), but it was an enjoyable, quick read. There are 3 zombie types: normal (Romero style), smart (seem human, enhanced), super (they have powers). and the humans are either normal or immune to the 'bugs' and become enhanced humans. His son becomes more of a demi-god or so--still open on that.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the prose is a bit stilted the overall story line is very quickly moved along, and quite frankly, addicting! I have held out on the zombie craze thus far, but after finding this book free for my Kindle I have quickly added the remaining books and am tearing through them at the pace of Leo in the midst of a zombie horde!! I highly recommend this series to people who want a break from reality and want to submerge themselves in a post-apocolyptic world where they can imagine themselves the hero!!

[Helena Sheibler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wooden, sometimes startlingly bad writing.

Way more details about a V8 engine than the reader wants to know, (It's a zombie book, no ones needs every single detail about the car. Really.)


A protagonist who carries his wife's body around in a oversized Tupperware bin, ("I'll grieve later.") and is ogling a much younger woman's breasts a scant few pages after the death of said wife. (No humor or irony employed.)

A toddler completely unconcerned about his mother's grisly death before his eyes.

This book lacks a believable human element.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the idea was interesting, the writing was a bit choppy and the ending felt almost too easy. I'm all for endings that tie up all the loose threads but I want the characters to work for it, not have a mystical happening swoop down to end the conflict.

This book was a free Kindle download I picked up on 04/24/12 for the Why Buy the Cow? reading challenge.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most unbelievable zombie attack book I've ever read. Outrageous, unexplained plot lines, bad dialogue, whole chapters of confusing banter between characters that aren't identified - very confusing! The writing alone wasn't bad, but the plot was insane, characters undeveloped and really?! Super zombies?!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! I've read it twice now and I've just started on the second book in the series. I love Leo I think she's a great character and very important to the story line. I also really like the new perspective on zombies and what causes a person to become a zombie. Very very interesting twist. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

[Daisy Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. He did a great job of developing the zombies & evolving the storyline of the father/son relationship. I did find a few typos and the love interest was kinda half-done. Overall, however, a very enjoyable read.

[Jan Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. It's a new take on the zombie genre. The cause of the outbreak is an interesting one--resulting in all types of zombies. I've read the first four and they were all good. Looks like it was set up for a fifth...can't wait!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good new take on zombies

[KristenR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhh...I love zombies....I truly do...and this was just a fun, action filled zombie story. Read it in one sitting.

[Jonathan Pettit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting twists to the zombie novels. Some of the super zed powers are a bit over the top but it was still a fun read.

[Johnathan Breeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifyingly original

All I can really say about this book is I wish that I had never read it so that I can read it again yes it's about the zombie apocalypse, he has taken the zombie genre and just turned it into his own original world,I can't believe that I just now found out about these books, at the same time I'm super happy because now I have 5 more books I think in the series to read.I can read them all and I don't have to wait for them to come out.This is terrifying stuff right here.Zombies that can think,it's bad enough that they can Feast on u now they can think and strategize, that's utterly terrifying the main character in this book is a American Hero! I can't wait to read the next book