Rabid

by J.W. Bouchard

Taylor and Carl Mitchell are brothers who have taken wildly divergent paths in life. But when a mysterious virus transforms most of the Earth’s population into bloodthirsty lunatics, they must learn to trust each other and work together in a dangerous new world where the slightest misstep could lead to the ultimate consequence. The brothers must face their innermost fears and confront loss as they try to survive the long journey home. But will anyone be there waiting for them? Sometimes there isn’t a happy ending.

Genres: Zombies

Audible Audio

First published February 21, 2012

About the author

J.W. Bouchard is the author of over twenty novels spanning horror, mystery, and science fiction. When he’s not writing stories that pull readers into the dark, the strange, and the unknown, he’s exploring them firsthand—spelunking underground or scuba diving below the surface.

In the past, he has been a grocery bagger, waiter, hearing aid consultant, promotional products salesman, telemarketer, janitor, security guard, law enforcement officer, treatment facility supervisor, healthcare fraud investigator, business manager, and serial entrepreneur. He is a licensed real estate broker and a formerly licensed private investigator.

His latest hobby is teaching his kids bad habits. He lives in Iowa.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rabid is a fast moving novella with the feel of "28 Days Later." In my opinion this is J. W.'s best work to date.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bouchard is sort of a hit and miss. Z Club was tons of fun, All The Dark Places...not so much. This novella is somewhere in between. It's an apocalyptic scenario with a very small cast, two brothers and a girl they come across. It's decent enough, the ending is quite frustrating, although fairly appropriate. The story had an episodic vibe to it, with no real explanations. That, combined with the ending, made for a not particularly satisfying experience, although entertaining enough. Nothing great or exceptional. Serviceable read, very quick one too.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Starts

What plays out as a somewhat decent and typical post apocalyptic zombie thriller loses its steam at the end. This is a fast alright take on the end of the world that is lessened by its weak and forced ending. If not for that, I would have rated a bit higher... Just ok.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novella about three people on the run from rage zombies. That's the extent of it. The characters observe several intriguing mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic outbreak - how the contagion spread so fast, why they seem to be the only ones unaffected, who knocked out all communications (the infected are too dumb to have done such a thing) - but nothing conclusive is ever so much as hinted at. The whole thing just feels very unfinished.

There was also some unnecessary sexism. A pointless comment about how of course a woman would forget to lock the doors and Tina not wanting to come across as "whiny" like "most other girls she knew." Blegh.

[Brett Grossmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mark this book as do not ever read. Just the most run of the mill zombie stuff you can get. Exposition inserted in roughly as conversation. No one talks to some one they know and says stuff like this. Ends lazily setting up a series. No surprise

[Olly · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Cormac McCarthys "all the pretty horses" I wanted to read something easy. And "Rabid filled the slot nicely. It was short to the point and gave my brain a chance to recharge.

The story itself was... well as you'd expect. A bunch of crazy's chasing the main characters. The conversation at point was a little unbelievable. If I was being chased by a hundred or so crazy people who wanted to rip me apart I wouldn't be having a laugh and a joke!!! It also ended very quickly, I wont spoil it but I thimk the author decided enough was enough and just stopped writing.

Aside of these points the book done exactly what I wanted to do which was give me a nice easy read. And I did read it in two days which is a compliment in itself.

[Julie (Bookish.Intoxication) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was fast paced and easy to read. Not your conventional 'zombie' novel, yet it was enjoyable and a quick read.
The characters were likeable and relateable, whitty and smart, which was important due to the shortness of the novel.

Although it was short, it was also blunt and a little predicatable, the ending was easily predicted from less than halfway through the novel, eliminating the suspense element, rendering it just an interesting story, with no real story-line or plot.

All in all, a nice, quick and easy read.

[Bob Suggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes for the jugular and takes a bite!!

Gripping stomp through the land of the infected. When survival is the only goal you don't have time to wait for pizza delivery!

What does that mean? I was hungry while reading the story but I skipped eating because my appetite to finish the story was more important. Fortunately it was a great fast read. If it had been a novel length I might have starved before I stopped reading.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book jumps right into the zombie apocalypse with no explanation of how it got started, how the brothers were together fighting, and left many other questions unanswered. It's not a bad story, but it's not a great one either. I would have liked to read a lot more of it and with a little more detail.

[Tim Spivey · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off well but tailed off towards the, disappointing end. It is a very short read and very American

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waste of a morning....

[Brittney Puckett · Rating 3 out of 5]

very anti climatic. kept waiting for something to happen, and it never did.