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Thirteen Hours
Hans longs to be accepted by his academic peers. When he discovers a cure for the ongoing zombie crisis, he thinks he's finally achieved that goal—only to be stripped of his rank and unceremoniously tossed out on the streets.
With nowhere else to turn, Hans, his wife, and her lover Joan look for solutions in other areas, cobbling together a lab and supplies by scrounging the back alleys of London. The only thing they lack is a body to experiment on.
When the body of a young man shows up, it's almost too good to be true. Hans has only thirteen hours to work, but he's determined to prove himself. The clock is ticking, and nothing is ever as easy as it seems…
With nowhere else to turn, Hans, his wife, and her lover Joan look for solutions in other areas, cobbling together a lab and supplies by scrounging the back alleys of London. The only thing they lack is a body to experiment on.
When the body of a young man shows up, it's almost too good to be true. Hans has only thirteen hours to work, but he's determined to prove himself. The clock is ticking, and nothing is ever as easy as it seems…
73 pages, ebook
First published January 3, 2017
13 people want to read
About the author
Francis Gideon
50 books43 followersFrancis Gideon is an editor and writer. He has appeared in Microscenes, Gay Flash Fiction, and JMS Books. He lives in Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 3, 2022
This one just didn't work for me. It felt disjointed, as if too many story threads were forced together, and the logic of the story fell apart early on when I found myself on the side of the academic bad guys. As much as the country longs for a cure to the ongoing zombie crisis, turning them into immortal cyborgs hardly seems like the best idea.
For a book that was advertised as the story of Hans, his wife, and her lover, it's really the story of Hans, his scientific discovery, his hurt feelings, and his infatuation with a dead man, a stranger whom he inexplicably wants to wake up and love him.
Character motivations didn't make much sense to me, and the story shifted too often to make sense.
For a book that was advertised as the story of Hans, his wife, and her lover, it's really the story of Hans, his scientific discovery, his hurt feelings, and his infatuation with a dead man, a stranger whom he inexplicably wants to wake up and love him.
Character motivations didn't make much sense to me, and the story shifted too often to make sense.
February 20, 2017
I received a free copy of Thirteen Hours through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book started with a very bold statement "I have found a way to cure the undead masses", which unfortunately was followed by patchy backstory. I had hoped the backstory would be explored further but was disappointed when this never happened.
Personally I thought the characters could have been developed a bit more, and the interactions between them needed a bit more developing to make them more authentic. The relationship between Therese and Joan didn't ring true and this was made even more apparent by the overbearing m/m sex scene at the end. This didn't fit with the rest of the plot at all, and came across as the author's main focus which explained why the rest of the book felt flat and rushed because it was just build up to the sex scene at the end.
Thirteen Hours was a quick read, I finished it in just under an hour but wasn't for me.
The book started with a very bold statement "I have found a way to cure the undead masses", which unfortunately was followed by patchy backstory. I had hoped the backstory would be explored further but was disappointed when this never happened.
Personally I thought the characters could have been developed a bit more, and the interactions between them needed a bit more developing to make them more authentic. The relationship between Therese and Joan didn't ring true and this was made even more apparent by the overbearing m/m sex scene at the end. This didn't fit with the rest of the plot at all, and came across as the author's main focus which explained why the rest of the book felt flat and rushed because it was just build up to the sex scene at the end.
Thirteen Hours was a quick read, I finished it in just under an hour but wasn't for me.
February 6, 2017
A 1.5 star review. I'm being very generous in rounding up.
If goodreads hadn't told me otherwise, I'd have assumed this was Francis Gideon's first book. The plot showed definite potential, but was very poorly executed and the characters were two-dimensional and caricatures. The writing was choppy and needed editing, and at a mere 73 pages, the author wanted to do far too much, and had to rush through the various stages of the plot (which actually turned out to be a good thing... I doubt I would have finished it, had it been much longer). For a book containing zombies, it was awfully tame, with not even the fear of an attack to add tension to the story, and unfortunately the main love-story seemed tacked on and completely unbelievable.
A shame.
If goodreads hadn't told me otherwise, I'd have assumed this was Francis Gideon's first book. The plot showed definite potential, but was very poorly executed and the characters were two-dimensional and caricatures. The writing was choppy and needed editing, and at a mere 73 pages, the author wanted to do far too much, and had to rush through the various stages of the plot (which actually turned out to be a good thing... I doubt I would have finished it, had it been much longer). For a book containing zombies, it was awfully tame, with not even the fear of an attack to add tension to the story, and unfortunately the main love-story seemed tacked on and completely unbelievable.
A shame.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews