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Exit Zero #1
Exit Zero
Admit it, didn't you always think the zombie apocalypse would begin in New Jersey? When scientific research into curing both hunger and obesity goes terribly wrong, a fast moving plague is unleashed and sweeps across New Jersey. The state is abandoned by the country and sealed off from the world. The victims have become horrific mutations of their former selves. The inhabitants are left to kill or to die. A soldier, a scientist, a detective, a mobster, a politician and a prepper, along with a beautiful yet dangerous woman from the Philippines, must come together during the first 48 hours of the outbreak and journey through chaos towards their only chance of escape on the Garden State Parkway-Exit Zero
226 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2013
About the author
Neil A. Cohen
3 books14 followersAuthor of Exit Zero Zombie trilogy and Business is Dead, Resurrecting Entrepreneurship
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 27, 2022
I have to give this book 4 stars simply for the complexity of the multiple story lines that all come together perfectly. There were a lot of different characters to keep track of, but the author made it easy to do that.
This take on zombies is unique. Not the typical headshot brings them down your zombies.
This book is heavy on political intrigue and military type operations so if that's not your thing I don't reccomend this book.
I'll be reading the rest of the series for sure.
This take on zombies is unique. Not the typical headshot brings them down your zombies.
This book is heavy on political intrigue and military type operations so if that's not your thing I don't reccomend this book.
I'll be reading the rest of the series for sure.
January 31, 2018
Blech. Riddled with editing errors - typos, spelling mistakes, extra words, you name it. And the storyline just isn’t good enough to carry such a huge load of mistakes. The “side” stories were more interesting than the one following the main characters. The only reason I got through this so quickly (and didn’t abandon it outright) is because it’s a simple read, and the font is huge compared to other books, so there are less words per page.
March 28, 2014
Bought this book from the author himself. And I must admit I was pleasently pleased with the book, it definitely kept me hooked. The biggest complaint I have is the absurd amount of typos. Neil should definitely have an editor look over his books before publishing them. A lot of the things were too simple not to miss.
November 7, 2025
This is not your typical zombie book. It’s a unique take on the zombie genre. There are a lot of different characters who are developed well making them easy to keep track of. The many complex storylines all come together in an earned manner. “Exit Zero” has a lot of political shenanigans and military operations which I found fascinating. I had expected a “basic humorous zombie story” but got something much more layered and complex and deep. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series and I strongly recommend this book even if the zombie genre isn’t normally your thing because this novel has a lot more to it. Top book and favorite of the year!
(I will say, now that these weight loss drugs are so prevalent….perhaps we should all read this series since the zombie apocalypse is started with hunger and obesity experiments!)
“When scientific research into curing both hunger and obesity goes terribly wrong, a fast moving plague is unleashed and sweeps across New Jersey. The state is abandoned by the country and sealed off from the world. The victims have become horrific mutations of their former selves. The inhabitants are left to kill or to die. A soldier, a scientist, a detective, a mobster, a politician and a prepper, along with a beautiful yet dangerous woman from the Philippines, must come together during the first 48 hours of the outbreak and journey through chaos towards their only chance of escape on the Garden State Parkway–Exit Zero.” (From the book blurb)
(I will say, now that these weight loss drugs are so prevalent….perhaps we should all read this series since the zombie apocalypse is started with hunger and obesity experiments!)
“When scientific research into curing both hunger and obesity goes terribly wrong, a fast moving plague is unleashed and sweeps across New Jersey. The state is abandoned by the country and sealed off from the world. The victims have become horrific mutations of their former selves. The inhabitants are left to kill or to die. A soldier, a scientist, a detective, a mobster, a politician and a prepper, along with a beautiful yet dangerous woman from the Philippines, must come together during the first 48 hours of the outbreak and journey through chaos towards their only chance of escape on the Garden State Parkway–Exit Zero.” (From the book blurb)
June 22, 2018
I'm surprised by how many bad reviews this book has on goodreads. I actually really liked this book! I was hooked the entire time. I admit there was a bit of a rough start and writing for the actions of the characters were a little clunky at first, but the author is really good at writing dialogue, so that was a big plus and kept me moving on. After about half way through everything starts to run smoothly.
As far as the story goes, it was awesome! I really loved the different scenarios and how everyone ties together. The way the virus got spread was very creative. I love the change in how the virus acts and how to kill the infected.
To address a common complaint:
I see a common complaint on here is the amount of typos. I did notice some, especially a few times "the" was written instead of "they," which made me take a sec to figure out what he was saying. Other than little things like that just a few times in the book, I didn't notice other typos. But I really don't pay close attention to minor spelling differences of words. If I understand what is being said, that's all I notice. If there were a ton of spelling mistakes, it did conflict with my understanding.
As far as the story goes, it was awesome! I really loved the different scenarios and how everyone ties together. The way the virus got spread was very creative. I love the change in how the virus acts and how to kill the infected.
To address a common complaint:
I see a common complaint on here is the amount of typos. I did notice some, especially a few times "the" was written instead of "they," which made me take a sec to figure out what he was saying. Other than little things like that just a few times in the book, I didn't notice other typos. But I really don't pay close attention to minor spelling differences of words. If I understand what is being said, that's all I notice. If there were a ton of spelling mistakes, it did conflict with my understanding.
September 18, 2019
The first book in the Exit Zero trilogy is a wild and entertaining ride through New Jersey's political and mob scene, while introducing a refreshing zombie state-wide apocalypse to the mix. There are some twists and turns to the usual zombie tropes, and Cohen smartly turns many of them on their head to introduce a new kind of zombie creation. Exit Zero is definitely a book to read while hanging out at the Jersey Shore with the book in one hand and a pork roll, egg & cheese sandwich on a kaiser roll in the other.
February 5, 2021
This would have been better if the characters had more personality, were rounded out more, or maybe if there were simply LESS of them. I couldn't keep track of who was who because there were about 15 basic cardboard cutout white men carrying this story along. The premise was unique, though. I was expecting some very basic survivalist zombie horror, but it really branched out into what could have been a solid plot if just streamlined more.
October 16, 2019
Terrible. Glaring errors throughout the book makes me wonder if anyone even proof read it. The plot is interesting to start, be devolved into stupidity and none of the character descriptions mattered and none of the science mattered. I should have known simply by the review quote on the front from Snookie of all people.
December 30, 2017
Not the greatest book. Though it had somw interesting chapters. Feels as if this was targetted for younger audiences. The cliches was bad. The new zombie concept was awesome. But the characters could have been more interesting. Enough with the Jersey though, gets played out fast.
April 25, 2019
A fun read, a thriller which makes you want to keep reading. A couple of plot twists I didn't see coming. An interesting, novel, idea on zombies and what caused them; if entirely unbelievable. The characters were one sided and rather stereotypical.
July 10, 2017
New take on the genre. Pretty darn silly, but in a good way.
February 14, 2023
So bad it’s good. Cant believe this book 1 of three
September 30, 2016
I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone. The fact that it was self-published and endorsed by "Snooki" should have been enough to prevent me from buying it: Shame on me!
Cons: Exit Zero has an overwhelming number of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which are both unprofessional and distracting. Example: The author uses the word "succession" several times throughout the novel; yet it's clear, from context, that he meant to use the word "secession"... I guess MS word didn't catch that for him.
Deficiencies in editing aside, the book also lacks in terms of its characters. At best, the characters of this book are clichés or stereotypes (an Italian-American crime boss); at worst, they are completely flat and uninteresting (like either of the two 'guns for hire').
The plot makes little sense and it appears to have been dreamt up, and written, in a single afternoon. I had more detailed plots in the pages of my childhood sketch books than the author had in over 300 pages of text.
Pros: The ONLY pro that I can point to, amidst the wreckage of this tragedy, are the short zombie "vignettes" between main chapters. Some of them show tiny slices of the apocalypse from the perspective of normal people, which lends fleeting humor and relatability to those characters (or victims, as the subjects of the vignettes tend to die).
Although Exit Zero has what could have been an interesting premise in it's apocalyptic vignettes, the execution of every other aspect of the book is so poor that this one positive feature cannot redeem the novel, nor can I recommend it to ANYONE. There are better zombie stories out there and they're not too difficult to find.
Cons: Exit Zero has an overwhelming number of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which are both unprofessional and distracting. Example: The author uses the word "succession" several times throughout the novel; yet it's clear, from context, that he meant to use the word "secession"... I guess MS word didn't catch that for him.
Deficiencies in editing aside, the book also lacks in terms of its characters. At best, the characters of this book are clichés or stereotypes (an Italian-American crime boss); at worst, they are completely flat and uninteresting (like either of the two 'guns for hire').
The plot makes little sense and it appears to have been dreamt up, and written, in a single afternoon. I had more detailed plots in the pages of my childhood sketch books than the author had in over 300 pages of text.
Pros: The ONLY pro that I can point to, amidst the wreckage of this tragedy, are the short zombie "vignettes" between main chapters. Some of them show tiny slices of the apocalypse from the perspective of normal people, which lends fleeting humor and relatability to those characters (or victims, as the subjects of the vignettes tend to die).
Although Exit Zero has what could have been an interesting premise in it's apocalyptic vignettes, the execution of every other aspect of the book is so poor that this one positive feature cannot redeem the novel, nor can I recommend it to ANYONE. There are better zombie stories out there and they're not too difficult to find.
September 29, 2015
The zombie apocalypse starts in New Jersey and some high school friends try to make it out alive. It's campy AF (there's a character called Black Malcolm White) but entertaining in a Syfy channel movie kind of way. You can see my general review above but for a zombie novel, it got more political than I expected. I was impressed with the government takeover subplot. I'm curious to see if there's a sequel in the future because this story has definitely not wrapped up.
September 18, 2015
An interesting take on the zombie genre sees the author introduce a viral epidemic within a corrupt political setting with success, creating an entertaining story, although quite light on the gore and the horror.
March 3, 2015
YYYAYYYYY! Another editing project is now a published book!
February 4, 2017
A nice zombie romp through NJ.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews