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Zombie Lockup #1
Caged 1
The inmates of Warsaw Prison are safe from the virus outbreak beyond the walls. For now. Warden Gorgon wants to use the prison walls as a barrier against the infected. But he knows the walls will only last so long. If only he could figure out a better plan… Jack Turk and the prisoners in C-Pod are about to learn their fate. It’s a death sentence. One that was added to their time served, without the proper adjudication. And Jack is not about to take what’s given. The walls are closing in. Who will survive? Who will be sacrificed? This is a suspenseful tale of post-apocalyptic horror. Buy this book to begin the terrifying series today! Caged 1 is the first novella in the Zombie Lockup series by Chuck Buda. It is approximately 25,000 words and contains adult language and scenes of horror. Reader discretion is heavily advised.
- GenresHorror
108 pages, Paperback
Published October 13, 2016
8 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 5, 2017
Caged 1 By Chuck Buda
1 27 2017
This is a novella that introduces us to the men in cell block C and Warden Thaddeus Gorgon & his guards & the prison Doctor Shipley and his two nurses Samantha &Dixie at the Warsaw Prison.
Pod C has 11 men in it and we were introduced to 7 of them.
Jack Turk is the leader if you will of C pod. Then we have
Melvin an old man but Jacks right- hand man,
Swede is Jack’s Bunkmate and a giant of a man & enforcer.
8 Ball is mouthy & always looking for a fight.
Frenchie lover boy,
BJ= Bobby James Driscoll 3rd who had ties with the guard Jonas as they played ball together in High school.
Joker is truly crazy but seems to be intelligent as well.
The Warden is a narcissist and briefly, considers his daughters and his wife Beverly might have a chance at survival. He figures his daughter Susan is infected already since she is at college. Kimberly had kids of her own and the kids would have carried the virus home since they were in daycare. He felt a slight flutter as he thought of the loss of his girls and grandchildren.
He had two of his guards and four staff members quarantined as they were exposed to the outside. He wasn’t willing to take the chance of this deadly virus spreading in the prison's population. He had Dr. Shipley running test and giving him hourly reports on how they were doing.
The Warden Started making a longterm plan for survival. Muncie was 300lbs, the Head guard for Pod C he was a cunning loud mouth who viewed the inmates as something disgusting on the bottom of his shoes. He was brutal. He thought nothing of planting contraband or brutalizing the prisoners. Crawford was second in command and wasn’t much better. So if they could provoke an inmate during their increased cell checks and that inmate or mates were sent to the “ hole” , that would stretch what food they had a little further.
Mr. Buda thinks outside the box with this series, I am interested in seeing where he takes this Zombie Lock up Series. Both book 1 & 2 were short and steady.It may have been better as one book.Yet that didn’t take away any of the entertainment factor. He doesn’t over do it with description and details of the story leaving that for the reader to fill in. Book one is the introduction, in book two we see more action and begin to get a peek into the Wardens mind.
1 27 2017
This is a novella that introduces us to the men in cell block C and Warden Thaddeus Gorgon & his guards & the prison Doctor Shipley and his two nurses Samantha &Dixie at the Warsaw Prison.
Pod C has 11 men in it and we were introduced to 7 of them.
Jack Turk is the leader if you will of C pod. Then we have
Melvin an old man but Jacks right- hand man,
Swede is Jack’s Bunkmate and a giant of a man & enforcer.
8 Ball is mouthy & always looking for a fight.
Frenchie lover boy,
BJ= Bobby James Driscoll 3rd who had ties with the guard Jonas as they played ball together in High school.
Joker is truly crazy but seems to be intelligent as well.
The Warden is a narcissist and briefly, considers his daughters and his wife Beverly might have a chance at survival. He figures his daughter Susan is infected already since she is at college. Kimberly had kids of her own and the kids would have carried the virus home since they were in daycare. He felt a slight flutter as he thought of the loss of his girls and grandchildren.
He had two of his guards and four staff members quarantined as they were exposed to the outside. He wasn’t willing to take the chance of this deadly virus spreading in the prison's population. He had Dr. Shipley running test and giving him hourly reports on how they were doing.
The Warden Started making a longterm plan for survival. Muncie was 300lbs, the Head guard for Pod C he was a cunning loud mouth who viewed the inmates as something disgusting on the bottom of his shoes. He was brutal. He thought nothing of planting contraband or brutalizing the prisoners. Crawford was second in command and wasn’t much better. So if they could provoke an inmate during their increased cell checks and that inmate or mates were sent to the “ hole” , that would stretch what food they had a little further.
Mr. Buda thinks outside the box with this series, I am interested in seeing where he takes this Zombie Lock up Series. Both book 1 & 2 were short and steady.It may have been better as one book.Yet that didn’t take away any of the entertainment factor. He doesn’t over do it with description and details of the story leaving that for the reader to fill in. Book one is the introduction, in book two we see more action and begin to get a peek into the Wardens mind.
June 28, 2017
Awesome!
I really enjoy this series so far. I cannot wait for the next book. I always found things about prisons to be interesting. I love the documentaries about them. So having a post-apocalyptic book about zombies and prisons, I'm in! I am excited to read the next installment of the series.
I really enjoy this series so far. I cannot wait for the next book. I always found things about prisons to be interesting. I love the documentaries about them. So having a post-apocalyptic book about zombies and prisons, I'm in! I am excited to read the next installment of the series.
August 21, 2017
Good old Zpoc with some new twists
If you like zombie stories, you really have no reason not to check this book out. It is 99 cents and reads with the quick pace of a thriller. The prison is an interesting take on the old gothic trope of an isolated setting. Total cliff hanger, but now we know this is just the intro to the series. A must-read for zombie fans.
If you like zombie stories, you really have no reason not to check this book out. It is 99 cents and reads with the quick pace of a thriller. The prison is an interesting take on the old gothic trope of an isolated setting. Total cliff hanger, but now we know this is just the intro to the series. A must-read for zombie fans.
November 2, 2016
Exciting New Series
This is a great new addition to my favorite genre. Characters are interesting and we'll developed. The story flows well and I can hardly wait for number 2.
This is a great new addition to my favorite genre. Characters are interesting and we'll developed. The story flows well and I can hardly wait for number 2.
January 16, 2017
Not sure where to start on this one. I’m not familiar with the works of Chuck Buda and Caged 1 is the first book of his that I’ve read. So, I’m not able to judge the overall body of work by Mr. Buda but I was definitely let down by this novella. The story takes place in a prison during a viral outbreak and zombies come into the picture later in the book. Overall, I think the concept was good and unique but the execution was lacking.
Caged 1 (Zombie Lockup Series) by Chuck Buda
There are some good things about the novel. The pacing was good, the action and plot kept moving forward and I never got bored with it. The concept of criminals locked up in a prison while the world was coming to an end was interesting to me. The evil warden and crooked guards were great in concept. Mechanically, the writing was solid and I didn’t notice any typos or grammar issues.
Unfortunately, this books has too many warts to be given much praise. There seems to be a few glaring issues with the plot. First, it is extremely had to believe that nobody, not a single guard and not even the warden gives two craps about what’s happening to their families. Second, not a single person in the story jumps ship to get home to get to their family. I can understand if the warden is a psycho and doesn’t care what happened to his wife or kids. I cannot, however, believe that not a single guard on duty just didn’t jump fence ( or even attempt to)to get home. Third, the wardens sees a report on TV and all of the sudden starts preparing for the end of the world and assuming everyone on the outside is dying already. There’s no mention if anything is going on in the surrounding area that would lead the warden and guards to think their families may already be doomed.
The next issue I have is every character is stereotypical to the hilt. Not only are they stereo typical but Swede is admittedly, in the book, noted as being a straight rip-off of the Heartbreak Ridge character. All the other characters come out of the prison cookie-cutter. There is zero depth to any of the characters and I’ll grant in a book this length it’s hard to get depth.
Some other things that bothered me a bit were steroids and a zombie book that had little to do with zombies. Steroids by nature are immunosuppressants so there is no way they’d work the way they are used in the book. I don’t expect many people will realize that but anyone with any experience in the medical field will notice it. Zombies are in the tile of the book but play very little role in the book, that’s a big strike.
The last thing on my list for this one is that it is an incomplete book. It’s not a book at all, it’s the first part of serial novel. Perhaps this is the intent, but it’s not stated so in the description. I think some authors focus too much on how best to maximize Amazon with frequent releases. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with authors wanting to make money or trying different strategies. I’m a huge fan of novellas as well but if this is the result of trying to make frequent releases, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
Conclusion
I wasn’t able to find many things that could redeem this one. The author had a great concept but I think this one was dead on arrival. Every author that’s been writing for long enough has a work that stands out as not up to par with the rest of their work. Maybe this is his Tommyknockers. I haven’t read any of his other books but they get good reviews I can only assume that they are better than this one. Maybe it will be the case that you have to read this one to get to better stuff in the next book in the series.
I really hate to write such a negative review because I understand when you write you’re pouring a lot of yourself into it. It’s not easy to put the amount of effort into something like this and put it out there for people to destroy. I have a ton of respect for any author that finishes a book, they’ve accomplished something I haven’t. My purpose here is to give constructive feedback and to give potential buyers my honest opinion.
Caged 1 (Zombie Lockup Series) by Chuck Buda
There are some good things about the novel. The pacing was good, the action and plot kept moving forward and I never got bored with it. The concept of criminals locked up in a prison while the world was coming to an end was interesting to me. The evil warden and crooked guards were great in concept. Mechanically, the writing was solid and I didn’t notice any typos or grammar issues.
Unfortunately, this books has too many warts to be given much praise. There seems to be a few glaring issues with the plot. First, it is extremely had to believe that nobody, not a single guard and not even the warden gives two craps about what’s happening to their families. Second, not a single person in the story jumps ship to get home to get to their family. I can understand if the warden is a psycho and doesn’t care what happened to his wife or kids. I cannot, however, believe that not a single guard on duty just didn’t jump fence ( or even attempt to)to get home. Third, the wardens sees a report on TV and all of the sudden starts preparing for the end of the world and assuming everyone on the outside is dying already. There’s no mention if anything is going on in the surrounding area that would lead the warden and guards to think their families may already be doomed.
The next issue I have is every character is stereotypical to the hilt. Not only are they stereo typical but Swede is admittedly, in the book, noted as being a straight rip-off of the Heartbreak Ridge character. All the other characters come out of the prison cookie-cutter. There is zero depth to any of the characters and I’ll grant in a book this length it’s hard to get depth.
Some other things that bothered me a bit were steroids and a zombie book that had little to do with zombies. Steroids by nature are immunosuppressants so there is no way they’d work the way they are used in the book. I don’t expect many people will realize that but anyone with any experience in the medical field will notice it. Zombies are in the tile of the book but play very little role in the book, that’s a big strike.
The last thing on my list for this one is that it is an incomplete book. It’s not a book at all, it’s the first part of serial novel. Perhaps this is the intent, but it’s not stated so in the description. I think some authors focus too much on how best to maximize Amazon with frequent releases. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with authors wanting to make money or trying different strategies. I’m a huge fan of novellas as well but if this is the result of trying to make frequent releases, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
Conclusion
I wasn’t able to find many things that could redeem this one. The author had a great concept but I think this one was dead on arrival. Every author that’s been writing for long enough has a work that stands out as not up to par with the rest of their work. Maybe this is his Tommyknockers. I haven’t read any of his other books but they get good reviews I can only assume that they are better than this one. Maybe it will be the case that you have to read this one to get to better stuff in the next book in the series.
I really hate to write such a negative review because I understand when you write you’re pouring a lot of yourself into it. It’s not easy to put the amount of effort into something like this and put it out there for people to destroy. I have a ton of respect for any author that finishes a book, they’ve accomplished something I haven’t. My purpose here is to give constructive feedback and to give potential buyers my honest opinion.
December 20, 2016
1 AND 1/2 STARS
Oh, boy. Where do I start with this one? While I will continue to enjoy listening to author Chuck Buda on his podcast show, The Mando Method, I'm fairly certain I will not be reading any more of his books. At least for a while, anyway. Caged is apparently the first in a series of zombie books which is advertised as a 'Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller'. I guess Buda thinks 'zombie' is a bad word and 'horror' is beneath him so he goes with 'thriller' instead. Maybe he hopes to get a larger audience with thrillers. As Joe Hill recently said at book signing, if you write horror, embrace it. Call it what it is. Don't be ashamed. But I digress.
Jail characters with such clichéd names as 8-Ball, Joker, Drippy, and BJ feel straight out of a bad 1980's TV movie-of-the-week. They all spout embarrassing dialogue and make decisions that just make you shake your head and pray the story gets better. Ridiculous character choices such as the Warden deciding his wife and children are not worth even checking on during the outbreak are laughable and completely unbelievable. That the prison guards seem to not own cell phones or listen to the radio or television to discover what is happening in the outside world is beyond suspension of disbelief. And after reading this book, I need to suspend my disbelief why I even managed to finish it. This also might be the first book I have read where the author's name is not on the cover. Why? Is Buda embarrassed to put his name on it?
Not only is there no atmosphere, tone or style, but the violence, when it happens, is bland and predictable. Mr. Buda also needs to understand that if books are enjoyable, one does not need to have a cliff hanger at the end in order for the reader to come back for the next installment. A stunt like that feels cheap and only pisses off the reader. Like the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, each installment should have a satisfying conclusion within a continuing larger story. Also, a high daily word count means absolutely nothing if the quality of what you are writing is subpar. Unfortunately, anyone who has read other zombie books will not take away anything new from Caged. Perhaps Buda's other books are more engaging, but this one misses the mark on many levels by a mile.
Oh, boy. Where do I start with this one? While I will continue to enjoy listening to author Chuck Buda on his podcast show, The Mando Method, I'm fairly certain I will not be reading any more of his books. At least for a while, anyway. Caged is apparently the first in a series of zombie books which is advertised as a 'Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller'. I guess Buda thinks 'zombie' is a bad word and 'horror' is beneath him so he goes with 'thriller' instead. Maybe he hopes to get a larger audience with thrillers. As Joe Hill recently said at book signing, if you write horror, embrace it. Call it what it is. Don't be ashamed. But I digress.
Jail characters with such clichéd names as 8-Ball, Joker, Drippy, and BJ feel straight out of a bad 1980's TV movie-of-the-week. They all spout embarrassing dialogue and make decisions that just make you shake your head and pray the story gets better. Ridiculous character choices such as the Warden deciding his wife and children are not worth even checking on during the outbreak are laughable and completely unbelievable. That the prison guards seem to not own cell phones or listen to the radio or television to discover what is happening in the outside world is beyond suspension of disbelief. And after reading this book, I need to suspend my disbelief why I even managed to finish it. This also might be the first book I have read where the author's name is not on the cover. Why? Is Buda embarrassed to put his name on it?
Not only is there no atmosphere, tone or style, but the violence, when it happens, is bland and predictable. Mr. Buda also needs to understand that if books are enjoyable, one does not need to have a cliff hanger at the end in order for the reader to come back for the next installment. A stunt like that feels cheap and only pisses off the reader. Like the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, each installment should have a satisfying conclusion within a continuing larger story. Also, a high daily word count means absolutely nothing if the quality of what you are writing is subpar. Unfortunately, anyone who has read other zombie books will not take away anything new from Caged. Perhaps Buda's other books are more engaging, but this one misses the mark on many levels by a mile.
February 7, 2017
I really loved this take on the zombie apocalypse! Sort of an OITNB zombie style type book. The characters are interesting and what I would expect prisoners to be in prison. I would like a little more background on some of them to know why they are in prison and hope in future installments we do get a look into their lives prior to being incarcerated. As the first book delves into what is happening on the “outside” the inside isn’t a great place to be with a warden who is a little nutso and looking out for himself. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens in the next book. If you like the zombie genre, then this is a great story for you to get into.
April 19, 2017
The apocalypse has come, the world is falling, except for a out of the way prison in the woods. But the warden needs to prepare the prison for life after the collapse of civilization... at the expense of the prisoners. But the prisoners aren't going down easy.
Good start for a series - this short novella is a quick and easy read.
*I got this book through GoodRead's Giveaways - an excellent source of interesting books!
Good start for a series - this short novella is a quick and easy read.
*I got this book through GoodRead's Giveaways - an excellent source of interesting books!
May 24, 2017
Slow pace to a different take on the typical zombie story. If it wasn't advertised as a zombie story, it would take a while for the reader to realize that. Very quick read, makes it easy to want to continue reading the series. Hopefully the action picks up in future installments. Looking forward to the next one.
December 1, 2016
Great book! Never read a zombie book that takes place in a prison! Well worth a read! Looking forward to the next book! Recommended!
May 15, 2017
What a messed up story
Loved it. What would happen to to prisoners inside a prison. With a corrupt warden and worse guards. Can't wait for the next.
Loved it. What would happen to to prisoners inside a prison. With a corrupt warden and worse guards. Can't wait for the next.
October 11, 2017
I got 3/4 of the way through and gave up. Just got so bored. Could not finish it. Too much talk about zombies but very little interaction with them. Oh well.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews