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The End Came With A Kiss
My friends and I used to laugh about the zombie apocalypse, the absurdity of it. But when it came, it was nothing like the movies had portrayed. We couldn't have had it more wrong. There was no gore. There was no blood or tearing of flesh. It was the most beautiful thing the world had ever seen, and that was what took us by surprise. We were not prepared to have our destruction lure us in like a harlot. You see, the end did not come with a scratch or a bite. It came with a kiss.
246 pages, Paperback
First published March 17, 2014
21 people are currently reading
527 people want to read
About the author
John Michael Hileman
13 books90 followersJohn Michael Hileman is the author of seven novels with over 1 million sales. He is currently working on The Millennium Project Short Reads.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
November 2, 2017
This was my very first Zombie book, as I am not usually a huge fan of zombies. I was intrigued about these loopers, alot. I was interested the whole time until the end.... I deducted and entire star for this ending. It was flowing along and then as if the author was hurrying bc he was going to miss a deadline or dinner time, it just ended.
I was all like....
So I promptly looked for a sequel and NOPE! So I deducted an entire star. That's how awful this ending was.
I was all like....
So I promptly looked for a sequel and NOPE! So I deducted an entire star. That's how awful this ending was.
June 21, 2014
A great twist on the zombie trope. An amazing, action packed read with well fleshed-out characters. If all this author's books are this good, I am ready to read more.
May 23, 2014
OHMYGOD THIS WAS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL. UNIQUE. DIFFERENT. MADE ME CRY. I LOVE THEIR LOVE. Thank you. For your amazing talent, John Michael Hileman. I'm just..
November 16, 2014
I just read John Hileman's latest book about the walking dead, undead, or loopers, otherwise known as zombies. So, an old church secretary just read a book about zombies... and loved it. In my world that's fairly close to miraculous.
I'm probably old enough to be Mr. Hileman's mother, so in sweet motherly fashion, I bucked up and read something about which I was skeptical at best.
After finishing what I affectionately refer to as the Kiss book (because I refuse to call it the zombie book) I sat back and said to myself, this was soooo much more than what the subject matter denotes... so not cliché as I expected it to be. It was compelling, tender and poignant in many parts, and always fascinating.
Many books go through paragraphs, even whole pages of scenery descriptions that I generally thrum my fingers and skip through, only to get to yet another page filler subplot that could have been left out. I seriously didn't see any descriptions nor "left turns" that could, or should have been cut for the sake of brevity. Every bit of it was well written, explanations were relevant, AND I could see exactly what was being described. Love that.
Oh, and what you would normally think of as zombies will be a little more creative in this book, so hold on.
Now... plot without giving too much away...
Ben was a loving husband and dad...at the moment, still a loving husband. And although his wife is dead, to some degree she still interacts with him. Many zombies have gone off their rocker and are killing machines, but Ben's wife is still at home, doing many of the things she always remembers doing. Ben is determined to do something about this, because even though she's there, he is not seeing the woman he loves as whole. His goal is restoration, always fighting to bring his marriage back to the relationship as it should be, to help his wife to be the person she was always meant to be, rather than what, through freak happenstance, his wife has turned into, which is something unnatural.
He has help, but getting anywhere is difficult, survival is difficult, and they are racing against the clock.
So, would I recommend this book?... Even to my rocking-chair girlfriends.
I received The End Came With A Kiss compliments of the author for my honest review. My reply...Gladly!
5.0 rating, with a very strong recommendation to read "Messages", by John Hileman. That book began my appreciation for this author.
I'm probably old enough to be Mr. Hileman's mother, so in sweet motherly fashion, I bucked up and read something about which I was skeptical at best.
After finishing what I affectionately refer to as the Kiss book (because I refuse to call it the zombie book) I sat back and said to myself, this was soooo much more than what the subject matter denotes... so not cliché as I expected it to be. It was compelling, tender and poignant in many parts, and always fascinating.
Many books go through paragraphs, even whole pages of scenery descriptions that I generally thrum my fingers and skip through, only to get to yet another page filler subplot that could have been left out. I seriously didn't see any descriptions nor "left turns" that could, or should have been cut for the sake of brevity. Every bit of it was well written, explanations were relevant, AND I could see exactly what was being described. Love that.
Oh, and what you would normally think of as zombies will be a little more creative in this book, so hold on.
Now... plot without giving too much away...
Ben was a loving husband and dad...at the moment, still a loving husband. And although his wife is dead, to some degree she still interacts with him. Many zombies have gone off their rocker and are killing machines, but Ben's wife is still at home, doing many of the things she always remembers doing. Ben is determined to do something about this, because even though she's there, he is not seeing the woman he loves as whole. His goal is restoration, always fighting to bring his marriage back to the relationship as it should be, to help his wife to be the person she was always meant to be, rather than what, through freak happenstance, his wife has turned into, which is something unnatural.
He has help, but getting anywhere is difficult, survival is difficult, and they are racing against the clock.
So, would I recommend this book?... Even to my rocking-chair girlfriends.
I received The End Came With A Kiss compliments of the author for my honest review. My reply...Gladly!
5.0 rating, with a very strong recommendation to read "Messages", by John Hileman. That book began my appreciation for this author.
March 23, 2015
Refreshingly Original Twist on Zombie Lore....
Hot zombies - why didn't I ever think of that?!? It seriously makes complete & perfect sense, especially when paired with the fact that the company (which originally invented the compound)'s plan was originally to make a world free of disease/the ability for injured or imperfect cells to regenerate, etc. At the start of the chaos, before the negatives began rapidly surfacing, only the IMperfect people are targeted by those who are now unknowingly hosting this toxin. At first, the chances appear positive. People no longer had imperfections, got sick, never gained weight, (lost it in the blink of an eye actually), or went hungry. However a mutated version was unknowingly created. Basically, without spoilers, I can only say that things and seemed to be deteriorating at an incredible rate of speed. A quick kiss can now easily spread the toxin & the hosts quickly regress to "looping," or acting out/miming important or safe memories in the host's brain. This could be mundane days at work, or miming the act of doing daily chores, etc. Unfortunately, they cannot interact much and if anyone uninfected gets in the way of a zombie's memory loop they can be killed by the host body, as they have developed serious agility & strength by this point. A handful of nom-infected people are trying to create a cure, while hiding from the zombies & Ben, a main character, helps this group as he continues caring for his infected wife. Although most people's loved ones have now been infected & no longer retain any humanity or communication capabilities, but Ben's wife, in particular, shows a much less animalistic nature, and even shows signs of passivity, stability and even love, on occasion. He knows her through and through & believes she is fighting from being taken over by this disease completely. With a few likeable survivors, Ben works to find a cure, especially since the zombies are rapidly deteriorating & getting hungry. I loved the 'backwards zombie" idea and thought it was a fun and creative twist. Recommend!
Hot zombies - why didn't I ever think of that?!? It seriously makes complete & perfect sense, especially when paired with the fact that the company (which originally invented the compound)'s plan was originally to make a world free of disease/the ability for injured or imperfect cells to regenerate, etc. At the start of the chaos, before the negatives began rapidly surfacing, only the IMperfect people are targeted by those who are now unknowingly hosting this toxin. At first, the chances appear positive. People no longer had imperfections, got sick, never gained weight, (lost it in the blink of an eye actually), or went hungry. However a mutated version was unknowingly created. Basically, without spoilers, I can only say that things and seemed to be deteriorating at an incredible rate of speed. A quick kiss can now easily spread the toxin & the hosts quickly regress to "looping," or acting out/miming important or safe memories in the host's brain. This could be mundane days at work, or miming the act of doing daily chores, etc. Unfortunately, they cannot interact much and if anyone uninfected gets in the way of a zombie's memory loop they can be killed by the host body, as they have developed serious agility & strength by this point. A handful of nom-infected people are trying to create a cure, while hiding from the zombies & Ben, a main character, helps this group as he continues caring for his infected wife. Although most people's loved ones have now been infected & no longer retain any humanity or communication capabilities, but Ben's wife, in particular, shows a much less animalistic nature, and even shows signs of passivity, stability and even love, on occasion. He knows her through and through & believes she is fighting from being taken over by this disease completely. With a few likeable survivors, Ben works to find a cure, especially since the zombies are rapidly deteriorating & getting hungry. I loved the 'backwards zombie" idea and thought it was a fun and creative twist. Recommend!
August 18, 2014
When the process to roll out products when stop and reverse the ageing process results in the creation of the undead who go on to infect others, Ben Carter, an executive in the manufacturing company survives uninflected with a scientist to work out a cure. Ben has lost his daughter and his wife has become a, "looper", which is what the zombies are referred to as they follow a routine from their former lives in a loop. Ben is desperate to find a cure for his wife Kate and teams up with Ashlyn, Harry and James who are also not infected.
This was quite an original take on the present day zombie genre and apart from some shaky science and a few little inconsistencies, I found it enjoyable on the whole. Characterisations were not too brief but obviously this is the first book in a series and there's a lot about the zombies, infection and the characters we have yet to find out but I would consider reading the next book in the series and if that didn't contain plot inconsistencies possibly more. Ben was a very likeable protagonist and his friends intriguing. The suspense and action lively enough to have you at the edge of your seat. With the fear factor of an apocalyptic thriller this is quite an effective book in the genre.
A very worthy zombie read which could have scored another star in my rating if it had been proof-read to iron out plot inconsistencies and a bit more science to make it more spine-tinglingly something that could happen in the not so distant future.
This was quite an original take on the present day zombie genre and apart from some shaky science and a few little inconsistencies, I found it enjoyable on the whole. Characterisations were not too brief but obviously this is the first book in a series and there's a lot about the zombies, infection and the characters we have yet to find out but I would consider reading the next book in the series and if that didn't contain plot inconsistencies possibly more. Ben was a very likeable protagonist and his friends intriguing. The suspense and action lively enough to have you at the edge of your seat. With the fear factor of an apocalyptic thriller this is quite an effective book in the genre.
A very worthy zombie read which could have scored another star in my rating if it had been proof-read to iron out plot inconsistencies and a bit more science to make it more spine-tinglingly something that could happen in the not so distant future.
November 18, 2016
This is not your typical zombie novel. No decaying corpses hungering for your brain. No, these "zombies" are gorgeous, flawless, dead loopers caught in personal recurring events over and over again. They are not dangerous per say as long as one does not break their loop, as long s they do not feel threatened... but then they started to feel the hunger.
This novel is an incredible read. The narration gripping, the action is fast-paced, the characters well "fleshed" (no pun intended), the danger lurking in the shadows where nothing is truly what it seems. At its core is an amazing love story between Ben and his dead wife, a looper he does everything to not only keep safe but desperately tries to cure.
It is a page turner as I needed to know what happened next until the very end. If there is only one negative thing I would say is that I wish the story continued further on.
I am not a big fan of the zombie genre... I actually quite have a high phobia of zombies but this novel simply pulled me right into Hileman's post-apocalyptic world and kept me there with bathed breath. Truly, I would highly recommend this book.
This novel is an incredible read. The narration gripping, the action is fast-paced, the characters well "fleshed" (no pun intended), the danger lurking in the shadows where nothing is truly what it seems. At its core is an amazing love story between Ben and his dead wife, a looper he does everything to not only keep safe but desperately tries to cure.
It is a page turner as I needed to know what happened next until the very end. If there is only one negative thing I would say is that I wish the story continued further on.
I am not a big fan of the zombie genre... I actually quite have a high phobia of zombies but this novel simply pulled me right into Hileman's post-apocalyptic world and kept me there with bathed breath. Truly, I would highly recommend this book.
April 28, 2015
After work each day, Ben Carter returns to his home to help his wife, Katherine, to work through her social routine, her memory loop. That is what they call the repetitive actions of the re-animated dead, that makes them seem almost normal. It started when scientists found something in the depths of mines that had been kept secret for two centuries, a compound that would not only stop aging, but reverse it, and it was eventually spread through a kiss. However, something went wrong. The compound they created in the lab didn't have the same effect as the original organic substance. Instead of eternal life, it created eternal death, it created loopers. Which were harmless unless their loop was broken, and then, they became ravenous beings that would attack anything. But this story is not about the survival with the loopers. It is a story of how a group of people who retreated to the original lab, searched for the cure, to not only save themselves, but the world.
August 4, 2016
They go by many names but here they are called either zombie who no longer loop or looper's, a zombie with a purpose to redo everyday over and over again unless something gets in their way of redoing the same day! Not only was a part of the solution, Ben a part of the cause too! Now he must find a solution if he plans on saving his wife Kate, now a looper. He refuses to allow her loop to be interfered with and must find the solution that will bring her dead body back to life and back to him. As he goes along with his daily life he takes on a few others whether friend or foe you will have to find out on your own but now each has their own purpose and reasons for the life they now lead.
January 2, 2015
This book was recommended by a friend and I have to say I was not disappointed.
If you've read any type of zombie literature and liked it, this is a book from you.
This one starts out in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. One catch, everyone who is dead still has residual memories of their life so they act out things they did everyday in loops. Also, there is little to no gore. All of the Loopers, zombies, are perfect and beautiful.
Interesting twist on the zombie trend and a nice short read.
If you've read any type of zombie literature and liked it, this is a book from you.
This one starts out in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. One catch, everyone who is dead still has residual memories of their life so they act out things they did everyday in loops. Also, there is little to no gore. All of the Loopers, zombies, are perfect and beautiful.
Interesting twist on the zombie trend and a nice short read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2014
I'm not usually a zombie fan.
But then again, this isn't your everyday zombie apocalypse take either. This outbreak began with a kiss.
Written in the view of Ben Carter whose wife is one of them.
This incredible novel takes you on a rather emotional journey that makes your heart-strings pull and knot together as you root for Ben to find the one thing that a person could ever hope for in this kind of outbreak - a cure.
But then again, this isn't your everyday zombie apocalypse take either. This outbreak began with a kiss.
Written in the view of Ben Carter whose wife is one of them.
This incredible novel takes you on a rather emotional journey that makes your heart-strings pull and knot together as you root for Ben to find the one thing that a person could ever hope for in this kind of outbreak - a cure.
May 14, 2014
I enjoyed this book but it was way too short and needed a lot more detail. There were things that wrapped up too easily with a pretty bow that just weren't quite believable. The characters were great though and the premise had amazing potential (I'm a sucker for anything with zombies anyway!) I'm not sure if there are plans for a sequel but if a book ever needed one, it was this one. Still, not bad if you're looking for an easy read and love zombies.
August 8, 2014
I'm not a hard core zombie fan, but I have fun with it. One of my favorite songs is "The Zombie Song" by Stephanie Mabey. Kinda cutesy gruesome. So, this book seemed right up my alley. And it was, but it was better than I expected. It was just utterly entertaining and deep at the same time. The characters were well drawn, the plot had a vibrant, twisting life of its own, and I loved the premise behind the story. Yep, I enjoyed this one a lot!
June 6, 2016
I read this book as part of Beyond the Shadows: A Christian Romantic Suspense Boxed Set .
I must say this was a strange story about beautiful zombies.
The best part of the book was the love story between a man and his wife.
At first I was reminded of a Stephen King novel then learn this author lives in the same city.
Hmm,I wonder if there is something in the water.
I will definitely read more by this author.
I must say this was a strange story about beautiful zombies.
The best part of the book was the love story between a man and his wife.
At first I was reminded of a Stephen King novel then learn this author lives in the same city.
Hmm,I wonder if there is something in the water.
I will definitely read more by this author.
April 22, 2014
By far one of the best books I have read! Such a different way to look at a zombie apocalypse, and such a beautiful love story. True love and emotion are written on every page, I have a feeling this will now be on my to read often shelf from now on.
June 19, 2014
I liked this book, I found it to be an interesting take on the whole zombie genre. Although I found it sort of concluded a little quickly for my liking, I also enjoyed the fact that it had a happy ending. Pretty cool.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2014
Wow! Just wow!!! Every once in a very long while I come across a book that makes me say, "Wow!!! Totally wish I had written that!!!!!!"
A beautiful, uplifting love story about clinging to hope while racing the clock to save someone who's already dead.
A beautiful, uplifting love story about clinging to hope while racing the clock to save someone who's already dead.
April 17, 2015
Interesting book about a "zombie apocalypse," in which the zombies are BEAUTIFUL! In fact, they are perfect.
First book in a series and it is off to a great start! Left me wanting more and anxious for the next book.
First book in a series and it is off to a great start! Left me wanting more and anxious for the next book.
January 11, 2016
3.5 stars
April 18, 2014
Yes, I loved this story - read it in less than a day. A different take on the ZombApoc - not particularly predictable. Gotta admire the "Love conquers all" theme. My favorite book by JMH so far.
April 20, 2014
Enjoyable, very different take on zombies. Refreshing!
April 29, 2014
I think this book should be made into a movie!
First time I've said that in a long time. This would put all those other zombie movies to shame. Great book all the way around.
First time I've said that in a long time. This would put all those other zombie movies to shame. Great book all the way around.
April 30, 2014
Although I typically wouldn't consider myself one who'd enjoy a "zombie" book, I fell in love with this one. Definitely an original idea that kept me on the end of my seat!!
Want to read
May 3, 2014I need to read it!! The synopsis sounds really promising and aushdioasdhasiopo Why can't I live in the US and get this freaking book like right now? :'(
May 7, 2014
Stellar story!
Stellar story!
this is one of the most original "zombie" stories I've read! I would love to see this as a movie! :) cannot wait to read more.
Stellar story!
this is one of the most original "zombie" stories I've read! I would love to see this as a movie! :) cannot wait to read more.
May 12, 2014
This should b a movie! Wat a twist on a zombie love story! I want more!!!
August 3, 2014
Ah.... This was good. :)
December 29, 2014
Loved this read.
The cover and title grabbed me, then the story kept me.
A unique spin in this genre with a good amount of action and heart.
The cover and title grabbed me, then the story kept me.
A unique spin in this genre with a good amount of action and heart.
January 28, 2015
Definitely a unique zombie apocalypse story. I won't say much other than this is worth reading.
April 8, 2015
WOW!!!!!!!
Oh I could not put this one down. Very suspenseful. A keeper. I recommend you read and share this book.
Oh I could not put this one down. Very suspenseful. A keeper. I recommend you read and share this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews