What do you think?
Rate this book
Vertical City #1
Vertical City: A Zombie Thriller, Part 1
In the midst of a global pandemic, a group of evacuees are marooned atop a skyscraper in a major city after a terrible helicopter crash. Abandoning the streets to millions of hungry infected, the survivors seal off the structure at the 10th floor and string wires between it and other buildings to avoid being eaten alive by the hordes rampaging below. But dwindling supplies force those still alive to take greater risks as they struggle to survive hundreds of feet off the ground.
ebook
First published May 3, 2015
81 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 3, 2017
I give this 3.5 stars.
This short story is Part 1 of 4 and was such a surprise package of quality, given it was a free download. By the looks of it these parts have been released as a serialisation, but given how well it's written I feel it would have been far better released as a novella.
The plot was a creatively fresh approach to a dystopian zombie story. The effects of a virus and resultant zombification (is that a word? Oh well, it is now!) of the population running second behind the main plot of a group of survivors and their adaptation to the new world.
All this is seen through the eyes of one survivor, Wyatt, who was three when everything went to hell. The story picks up some 16 years later with what is the start of a thrilling, fast paced reveal of this new society.
I am chomping at the bit to read the other parts of this serialisation that I have now downloaded.
This short story is Part 1 of 4 and was such a surprise package of quality, given it was a free download. By the looks of it these parts have been released as a serialisation, but given how well it's written I feel it would have been far better released as a novella.
The plot was a creatively fresh approach to a dystopian zombie story. The effects of a virus and resultant zombification (is that a word? Oh well, it is now!) of the population running second behind the main plot of a group of survivors and their adaptation to the new world.
All this is seen through the eyes of one survivor, Wyatt, who was three when everything went to hell. The story picks up some 16 years later with what is the start of a thrilling, fast paced reveal of this new society.
I am chomping at the bit to read the other parts of this serialisation that I have now downloaded.
October 9, 2017
like some other reviewers, I felt this had no real storyline. it just bounced around. I hear this is a 4 part series. this book is only around 70 pages... why drag it out across 4 books? I feel like this could have been a good book, but it just didn't do enough in the length to make me want to buy the others.
May 1, 2016
Vertical City, A Zombie Thriller Part 1 by George S. Mahaffey, Jr. is obviously about zombies. It does have a different take on the survivalist's methods. I gave it five stars. It's fast moving & edgy with action. I found it riveting.
Wyatt was three when the change took place. As he, his parents & some neighbors were escaping, his mother told him: "'Can you do something for me when we go through that door?' Another nod from me. 'Whatever you do, do not look down, okay? Keep your eyes on mommy. Do. Not. Look. Down.' For the first time real fear panged me & my eyes began to get misty as I caught sight of my father, a broad-shouldered man who'd never shown a modicum of emotion in all the time I'd known him, begin to weep. Whether he was crying for himself or us, or simply because the mini-empire he'd built was likely on the verge of collapse, I didn't know, but it hardly mattered."
They got into a helicopter but it crashed. They were trapped on a "concrete island as a struggle for survival raged below." They sealed the building off at the tenth floor & waited for help to arrive. None came. That was where they made their home. It had been sixteen years ago.
"Initially, the newly-risen dead were called 'The Woken' but then Del Frisco got tired of having to say the 'double u' in the first letter of 'Woken,' & shortened it to 'Dub,' & then the 'Dubs' (my suggestion) which is what pretty much everyone calls them now."
Wow! Read in one sitting, it went too fast. Now I'll have to get the other three parts.
I received a complimentary kindle copy from Amazon. That did not change my opinion for this review.
Link to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/VERTICAL-CITY-G...
Wyatt was three when the change took place. As he, his parents & some neighbors were escaping, his mother told him: "'Can you do something for me when we go through that door?' Another nod from me. 'Whatever you do, do not look down, okay? Keep your eyes on mommy. Do. Not. Look. Down.' For the first time real fear panged me & my eyes began to get misty as I caught sight of my father, a broad-shouldered man who'd never shown a modicum of emotion in all the time I'd known him, begin to weep. Whether he was crying for himself or us, or simply because the mini-empire he'd built was likely on the verge of collapse, I didn't know, but it hardly mattered."
They got into a helicopter but it crashed. They were trapped on a "concrete island as a struggle for survival raged below." They sealed the building off at the tenth floor & waited for help to arrive. None came. That was where they made their home. It had been sixteen years ago.
"Initially, the newly-risen dead were called 'The Woken' but then Del Frisco got tired of having to say the 'double u' in the first letter of 'Woken,' & shortened it to 'Dub,' & then the 'Dubs' (my suggestion) which is what pretty much everyone calls them now."
Wow! Read in one sitting, it went too fast. Now I'll have to get the other three parts.
I received a complimentary kindle copy from Amazon. That did not change my opinion for this review.
Link to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/VERTICAL-CITY-G...
August 25, 2017
Wyatt's family tried to escape the zombie apocalypse in a helicopter which crashes on a rooftop. 16 years later the survivors are living up in the top floors of buildings, trying to salvage anything they can from lower floors while evading the zombies.
I liked the idea of this book. If you are stuck in a tall building you can seal yourself in by blocking all the entrances. In this book they have set up ways to go between buildings to get what they need. The concept of the book was good but yet again, spoiled by characters that I really hated.
Wyatt likes to talk in big fancy words-not bad for a boy who never ever went to school because of the outbreak! Doesn't seem likely that he got college education from anyone we meet in this book. Del spends the whole opening scenes making perverted comments about undead women. Even they wouldn't date this idiot. Wyatt isn't much better, wondering if he could do a truce with the zombies! WTF??? It's obvious these guys are not very smart. You are sneaking through a building full of zombies to salvage a few important items so what do you do when you find something? Scream 'SCORE!!!' at the top of your voice, Very clever! The two of them don't stop yapping for ten seconds so it's no surprise that the zombies find them quite easily! Jeez.
And what is with calling the zombies 'Dubs'??? What is that all about? What is wrong with just calling them zombies instead of a dumb name that needs to be explained and sounds stupid? OK so that's more of a personal thing but I've seen a few stupid clever names for zombies recently!
I wasn't enjoying this at all so I just decided to DNF.
I liked the idea of this book. If you are stuck in a tall building you can seal yourself in by blocking all the entrances. In this book they have set up ways to go between buildings to get what they need. The concept of the book was good but yet again, spoiled by characters that I really hated.
Wyatt likes to talk in big fancy words-not bad for a boy who never ever went to school because of the outbreak! Doesn't seem likely that he got college education from anyone we meet in this book. Del spends the whole opening scenes making perverted comments about undead women. Even they wouldn't date this idiot. Wyatt isn't much better, wondering if he could do a truce with the zombies! WTF??? It's obvious these guys are not very smart. You are sneaking through a building full of zombies to salvage a few important items so what do you do when you find something? Scream 'SCORE!!!' at the top of your voice, Very clever! The two of them don't stop yapping for ten seconds so it's no surprise that the zombies find them quite easily! Jeez.
And what is with calling the zombies 'Dubs'??? What is that all about? What is wrong with just calling them zombies instead of a dumb name that needs to be explained and sounds stupid? OK so that's more of a personal thing but I've seen a few stupid clever names for zombies recently!
I wasn't enjoying this at all so I just decided to DNF.
September 14, 2017
In Vertical City, a bunch of survivors of a zombie pandemic survive in a high-rise tower where they have formed a little city of survivors. Slowly building out toward nearby towers and fortifying them as well. This story is about young man who was 3 years old when the collapse occurred, now he is 19 and has a job scrounging other buildings and lower parts of buildings for usable material.
Vertical City is a fairly well written book, my problem is I have a very large vocabulary compared to most people. And the author uses some unique words that even I had never heard of, i was able to figure out what they meant by looking at the root and the surrounding sentence but to me this just stunk of somebody trying to sound smart. There were several mistakes I noticed in the novella.
I personally love Zombie books, so I plan on buying the sequels and reading them as soon as I can.
Vertical City is a fairly well written book, my problem is I have a very large vocabulary compared to most people. And the author uses some unique words that even I had never heard of, i was able to figure out what they meant by looking at the root and the surrounding sentence but to me this just stunk of somebody trying to sound smart. There were several mistakes I noticed in the novella.
I personally love Zombie books, so I plan on buying the sequels and reading them as soon as I can.
April 15, 2018
This is the first book in the series about a zombie apocalypse. It begins with a frozen mass grave is opened up near a polar ice cap and the bodies had disease which lay dormant until they were defrosted. The entire world is quickly exposed by those that were at the expedition. The survivors live in the upper floors of high rises and they survive by traveling on cables strung into webs used for travel. They call the zombies dubs, because nobody can remember what they were really called.
November 19, 2020
More zombies
Author freebie. Part of a dystopian future about survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Some parts of the story seem a little disjointed. The jobs seem like people going thru the motions.
Author freebie. Part of a dystopian future about survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Some parts of the story seem a little disjointed. The jobs seem like people going thru the motions.
January 21, 2021
Quick read
Grabbed me from beginning and took me on a ride. Its definently a quick read...I read in one setting. Different take on zombies and survival. It is somewhat of a cliff hanger for sure. 1 st time trading this author, writting style is easy.
Grabbed me from beginning and took me on a ride. Its definently a quick read...I read in one setting. Different take on zombies and survival. It is somewhat of a cliff hanger for sure. 1 st time trading this author, writting style is easy.
September 27, 2017
Too short
Too short, ridiculous that anyone has to pay for a story this short. It's a good start but not anyone near a novel. Or even a short story. If it weren't free. Nope
Too short, ridiculous that anyone has to pay for a story this short. It's a good start but not anyone near a novel. Or even a short story. If it weren't free. Nope
October 1, 2017
There seemed to be no story line to this book. I kept reading and waiting for something that never came.
November 27, 2024
It was a ok story i need to read the rest of the books in this series
May 19, 2015
Yes it's short but if you look at it like one of the many serial books around nowadays, it's not that short.
Excellent storyline and a refreshing New take on the zombie genre, I can think of no other book where a community of long standing survivors live on top of buildings. And trust me I have read more than a few zombie books!
Really hoping there are more parts coming.
Excellent storyline and a refreshing New take on the zombie genre, I can think of no other book where a community of long standing survivors live on top of buildings. And trust me I have read more than a few zombie books!
Really hoping there are more parts coming.
May 8, 2016
Fantastic!
This read was an interesting and refreshing change from the typical zombie novel. Great detailed characters; the kind that make you feel as if you truly know them. Also the new and highly original view of what the zombie apocalypse will mean for future generations was intriguing. I can't wait to start the second book!
This read was an interesting and refreshing change from the typical zombie novel. Great detailed characters; the kind that make you feel as if you truly know them. Also the new and highly original view of what the zombie apocalypse will mean for future generations was intriguing. I can't wait to start the second book!
May 1, 2017
Uncaged Book Reviews:
The story stopped on a cliffhanger of sorts, although it was an interesting take on this genre, and it didn’t slow down and even though the first books are always the backstory books, the author does a nice job keeping a nice pace.
Reviewed by Cyrene
Full review at UncagedBooks.com
The story stopped on a cliffhanger of sorts, although it was an interesting take on this genre, and it didn’t slow down and even though the first books are always the backstory books, the author does a nice job keeping a nice pace.
Reviewed by Cyrene
Full review at UncagedBooks.com
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews