White Flag of The Dead

White Flag of the Dead #1

by Joseph Talluto, Graham Halstead (Narrator)

White Flag of the Dead: Book 1 Surrender of the Living.

Millions died when the Enillo Virus swept the earth. Millions more were lost when the victims of the plague refused to stay dead, instead rising to slay and feed on those left alive. For survivors like John Talon and his son Jake, they are faced with a choice: Do they submit to the dead, raising the white flag of surrender? Or do they find the will to fight, to try and hang on to the last shreds or humanity?

Surrender of the Living is the first high octane installment in the White Flag of the Dead series.

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 2 out of 5]

CW: All of them

Book 7 of my zombie-a-thon!

Well I honestly don't know why I kept reading this and why I have moved on to book 2.

It's not bad. I think it feels flat and emotionless. Maybe it's the narration? The previous zombie series I read is filled with all kinds of emotions on every page (even if there were also heaps comments about emotions being a threat to masculinity). The characters in this novel feel a bit wooden and as a result I am not emotionally invested. I have moved on to book 2 because I am trying to hit my Zomvember target. Hopefully it becomes more realistic and less 'and then this happened, and then we did this, then we went here...'

[Tracy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I originally purchased this first book of Talluto's White Flag of the Dead series, I was curious about how the name White Flag came about. The answer was provided in the very beginning, and makes a lot of sense, reminding me this method was used during various times in history during plagues, wars, etc. Here, the method was implemented at the onset of the Zombie Apocalypse with authorities making a declaration stating anyone who was bit and/or most likely infected is to put a white flag on the front of their homes so everyone will have a heads-up, and know to avoid those occupancies and its occupants. The flags were supposed to also be used as indicators to retrieve the dead quickly to aid in disease prevention. Obviously, those good intentions were not gonna be possible in this situation. . .

The storyline is well written, making it easy for me to become invested in the characters. Found most to be believable and relatable. John is a strong, likable lead character, and his adoration for his son is quite endearing. A super cool mix of doting, loving father and fierce zombie slaying, trouble-shooting, rule instilling leader of his newly formed group.
Sarah is also a favorite (so far) for me. . . she is that perfect balance of being an old soul, with good intuition and insight, which is exactly what John needs at this point in his life to stay balanced. On the other side of the coin, Sarah is also a bad a-- zombie slayer, who always stands up for what she believes, not afraid to say what is on her mind, and seemingly transparent. Interested to see how her character develops independently and with John.

Will be picking up book two, as I want to see how things continue to transpire.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3 stars. This is a decent story about a man, John and his infant son as they try to make their way through the aftermath of a zombie infection. The story is compelling and the characters are worth rooting for, however, there are some serious flaws.

Good:
I cared about the characters and understood their motivation. This is important.

The author was pretty good at showing instead of telling - the exposition was mainly at the beginning of the book.

Action sequences will keep most readers enthralled - entertaining for sure.

I enjoyed reading about a group of survivors working together instead of constantly arguing.

Bad:
The authors politics invade the story too often. In the first page or two, the main character says that he watches Fox News because it has the least bias. For reals?! Fox is the least biased of news organizations? I had a chuckle and huge eye roll at that one and nearly stopped reading right there.

Other signs that the author is a probable Tea Partier - the main character again observes that the government safe areas will be terrible because everything big gov touches it destroys. Also, one of the "bad" guys is a politician's staffer. He's bad because he's in politics. More eye rolling from me.

The biggest issue is the grammar/formatting problems. In the kindle edition there are far too many missing periods and a severe lack of paragraph indentation. This is an easy fix so why not do it?

Some of the cheese was enough to throw me out of the story. Phrases like "thinking outside the box" and "bringing home the bacon" do not belong in a good novel. At all. I could give a few more examples but whatev.

Although there is a strong female lead in the latter part of the book, for the most part females are relegated to being raped or babysitting the lead's kid. {SPOILER} When John is elected as leader of the group, there is nary a women to confirm or deny him.

There are some repetition of sentences. "I personally was curious" was seen twice, as was a phrase involving "Cost Go". There were a few sentences clunky enough to make me blink and go WTF. Editing, seriously, look into it.

The gun issue was addressed in an amazon review and is worth mentioning. I'm not a gun person so when the author goes off on the numbers and letters associated with the different types of firearms I was mostly left in the dark. It read like a big gun orgasm to me. And you know what they say about guys with big guns. If the author had taken the time to explain the fire power and shooting styles of what he was carrying (which, to be fair, he does a little bit of that later on), it wouldn't have read so NRA.

While I liked the main character, John, and wanted him to succeed, there was an element of Rambo to him. John can do no wrong, John never fails, John is the ultimate leader. He needed to screw up a bit for it be believable.

Finally, when you run out of disposable diapers and don't want to leave your stronghold to scavenge more, use your blankets, t-shirts, whatever! Cloth diapers should be the wave of this zombie world. Duh.


All in all, for $0.99, this was a decent read. Better than some, that's for sure. With a good editor this could become an excellent novel. I'll look forward to reading more from Mr. Talluto.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was it something really special as far as the zombpoc genre is concerned? No. Was it fairly believable and featuring a main character that's easy to root for? Yes, absolutely.

My one big issue with the book was that I wasn't a fan of how easily people handed leadership over to our main character, John (which isn't actually entirely unlikely let's be honest we humans like to hand decision power and responsibility to others whenever we can).

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay Zombie novel, interesting enough and probably will continue with the next one.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

'White Flag of the Dead' is much like every other zombie novel out there - a virus originating in a densely populated metropolis infects thousands before spreading to suburbia where the numbers turn seven digits before crossing borders and continents to turn the world into one giant meat market. What makes this tired old tale fresh is the sense of community amongst chaos. In the middle of a broken world, one man, John Talon stops surviving and starts living. Delusions of grandeur? Perhaps, but I like the idea of mankind taking a stand and fighting back; a slight deviance to the traditional survival horror genre zombie books so comfortably fit in.

Gory with a cause, White Flag of the Dead's true dread lies with ravenous gangs of survivors trying to squeeze as much anarchy as they can from a vastly dwindling human populace, making the zombies a welcome adversary. Like other genre books, there's plenty of action, violence, and suspense - add to that, a deeply emotional relationship between John and his baby son Jake and the hard man end of the world persona switches to loving father trying his best to make the world a better place. A nice touch and a theme I hope continues throughout the rest of the series.

In 'White Flag of the Dead', Talluto has built a world on the brink of destruction with a glimmer of hope for revival populated by a strong cast that's far removed from the standard 2d cannon fodder of cheesy b-list zombie novels. These characters mean something and you cant help but want them to succeed. I look forward to reading the second installment. 5 stars.

[Felicia A Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, thick volume of zombie mayhem and madness. I really did enjoy this book, despite the numerous editing issues. Not enough to take completely away from the story, but definitely in need of editing in a major way.

The writing was good, the story was good and full, and there was actually a conclusion. There is room for - but not necessarily a need for - a sequel. A lot could be done to continue this story, but it was wrapped up well, which I always appreciate.

Fuller than most self published works in this genre, this book is chock full of adventures, growth of characters and the birth of heroes. I don't really buy how John became the absolute boss of everyone and everything, and as others have mentioned, that was the best behaved baby ever in life. I have my own children, and I know for certain that NO baby is ever as good natured as Jacob was. I think he cried, like, twice in the whole book, and not even when he was in his father's arms in the midst of a zombie-killin' spree.

There were a lot of new ideas.....which are needed because, after you read 20 or more of these books, too much of the same thing becomes humdrum. I liked a lot of what Talluto did with his story.

What I liked best about this book was the fact that the people were not always on the run. They were able to hold, take back, and connect communities and towns after the Upheaval, and begin again, recreating a semblance of normal lives, even when surrounded by zombies and worse.

What's worse than zombies, you say? HUMANS.

[Camille · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn’t good. The characters were flat and the action was weak. The main character is portrayed to be the smartest and best at everything. He’ll realize something simple but then has to explain it in detail to his dumbass friends and then they all oooh and ahh over what a genius he is. Facepalm.

It started out ok. But it annoyed the shit out of me that he was prepping for a major catastrophe and killing zombies but it didn’t occur to him to call his wife and tell her to come home ASAP.

Just like the thing with Kristen at the end ... why talk to the bad guy for so long? Just shoot him because he sees you. The element of surprise can only help in that situation but instead he decided to chat and get someone killed. But even then ... we barely know the character so it’s hard to even care.

Everything was just sort of glossed over. They moved around the city with relative ease. They seemed to have zero worries about getting food and gas.

I gave it two stars instead of one because it wasn’t horrible and because it didn’t end in a cliffhanger and I appreciate that.

[Jeremey Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful. I stopped reading it. One main character who is boring. He has a baby. The baby is happy. He feeds the baby. He changes the baby's diaper. Sometimes the baby cries. He meets 2 other boring guys. They try to save a bunch of likely boring people. Guns guns shoot shoot bang bang dead zombies. I stop reading. Boring as shit.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book got mixed reviews, mainly because of the author's political leanings. The thing is, most characters in these zombies and preppers apocalypse books are likely to be republican, maybe NRA members, prepared to defend themselves and survive. Liberals who are anti-gun are not going to survive long in the books! I expect to have a bit of political bias in most of these books and I just don't get bothered by it mostly, unless it goes too far ie democrat presidents conspiring with terrorists to get guns off normal people. I also expect to see a lot of gun descriptions as this is the way to fight zombies in American set novels.

Anyway, to the book! John Talon has lost his wife to the virus and after a tearful goodbye, he decides to try and take their baby son Jake away from home by bike to seek somewhere safer. His brother Mike is alive but trapped inside his own house and wants to follow John's example and flee if he can. Despite seeing the worst of human behaviour during a supply run, John joins up with two men also trying to escape-Tommy and Duncan-for safety in numbers. A zombie attack leaves them stranded at a gas station and when they escape, civilians from the nearby houses join them in a run for a school and the chance to survive as a community.

There are two things about this book that I love: lots of action and plenty of zombies and evil survivors! There is a tension in the air through most of the book as we move from one action scene to another. The run to the school and the following battle was very exciting and well written, and the community growing introduces us to more characters like Charlie, moaning faced Frank, Nate, Sarah etc. The big scenes like the school and the supply runs bring plenty zombies to the story which keeps me happy but it was also about the humanity of the survivors and how important it is to work together to stay safe. John also has to juggle the leadership and safety of the group with his duties as a single parent, which adds a new dimension to the plot.

The plot is fast moving and ever changing. There are scenes of zombies chasing people, zombie attacks on cars and buildings, evil men holding hostages and demanding safe passage tolls, tense supply runs...all the things you expect from a fast paced zombie book. There is also the plan to set everyone up in guarded apartment blocks to give everyone space and privacy, and to actually have a more normal life despite the chaos. I liked that idea, instead of just living in a solid school building all the time. John and his friends are looking at building a gated community with safe parks and things to allow everyone a better life. It was ambitious but added something new to the story. I also liked the way the zombies were slowing developing and learning to adapt to the hunt. I'm not going to spoil the book but they were interesting changes and I look forward to seeing what they are going to do in later books.

I also liked that the two weak and moaning characters were both men. Frank whines, complains and tries to get out of pulling his weight, wanting others to do the dirty, messy and dangerous jobs. As for Kevin, the man is a piece of scum and I kept hoping that he would get eaten-I hate him! But despite disliking them both, they also add more interest to the story. I don't get the need to add a romance into these apocalypse books. Seriously, John has lost his wife yet it doesn't seem to take him long to get attracted to Sarah. Still, it doesn't dominate the story the way it does in some zombie books so it wasn't really annoying.

Niggles? Do we need to be told of every darn nappy change that Jake has? I get that he needs frequent changes but I don't need to hear about every one or every feeding he gets! Also at times, it seems that John is the only one who can work things out, as if nobody else has the capacity to think of a plan. John seems to have to spell everything out to other intelligent men. This is evident in the first half of the book but does improve as the side characters get more page time later. I love Nate, Charlie, Tommy and Duncan so seeing more of them appeals to me. Having John as less perfect and not being the go to man every time would make the book even better but to be fair, these are very small niggles.

John can be a bit alpha male sometimes. He keeps saying he's a reluctant leader but in reality he doesn't like the idea of others making the decisions in case they endanger him and Jake. It can be mildly annoying but understandable in his role as single father. His grand plan does seem to pop up suddenly and they rush into it but you can't really fault the logic behind it. It'll be interesting to see who he butts heads with as the series continues.

This book is loaded with action and emotion, and it doesn't go stale because the author keeps changing the scenes and the form of the action, which was good. Traditional zombie fans should enjoy this and I look forward to the rest of the series.

edited review December 2023

[Rodney Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really felt like a grumpy white guy's dream. There was a strong current that modern america was on the wrong path and the only way to set things right was to wipe the slate clean.

These are the things that I liked.
1) The characters are well defined and sympathetic.
2) The fetishism of guns was kept to a minimum. Guns are useful tools but I get tired of passages talking about guns in the same way teenage boys talk about breasts.
3) It was well paced.

Things I didn't like.
1) The protagonists were all very homogenous. I would imagine the whole group is white anglo-saxon protestant and straight.
2) The antagonists seemed to be the groups that are normally demonized by the conservative movement in the United States.
3) The only mention of a characters race was pointing out that a villan was black.

[Steven Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a high paced full action zombie novel full of twists and turns violence zombie slaying mayhem. The characters are great full of personality. The main character is called john and he sets out on his bike with his 4 month old son shortly after the zombie outbreak. No spoilers but lets say is high paced survival with lots of enjoyable characters and zombies! Not to mention the filth that our world unfortunately saves in the Armageddon only to try and kill rape and torture the living! Great book 5 star will start book to tonight!

[Jerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is standard zombie fare, nothing remarkable stands out.

[Kriss · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very hard to read for the first quarter of the book. The horror of possibilities because of a man and a baby. I struggled to be through it at first because of that on my. It terrified me.

When more folks entered into the equationthings started getting more B movie-ish. the story ... it was not plausible or even enjoyable. I kept expecting Thunder Dome! (Which I sort of got at the end «eye rolling»)…

The middle was dry and all tell tell tell. I got pretty sick of the constant explanation of weapons carried and Rambo-like ninja black ops training he seemed to have. John was believable at the beginning and I like him but it just got the point of me going "really?? Come on!! Give me a break!!" What kept me reading we're these pockets of good story telling. Maybe the need to have the story end with the baby OK. It was No consistent. But I slogged through so something worthwhile was there.

It needed a good edit. There were parts which I would have rated a four. The story grabbed me. I had nightmares so obviously if doesn't suck. It was OK. 2.5 smack average in the middle. I probably won't bother with the rest of this series. The only thing tempting me is to finding out more about the intelligent fast paced zombies. Meh. Who knows.

I've owned the book for over a year. I.can't remember if I bought it or got it as freebie on a KDP day. I needed some zombie goodness. As you can see it took me awhile to slog through. Would I recommend it. Not to buy an only of you were bored. I don't know. I'm struggling. This just had really good part and others which made me feel like I was on an acid trip. an others whet I wanted to scream and a few times a sigh of relief. 50/50 on a ya or nay

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

when you go to your favourite fast food restaurant, and if your anything like me, order the same meal as its what you enjoy, theres sometimes a sense of ... ho hum.... as its not necessarily a new experience, but you know that you are still going to enjoy it.

At first i felt White flag of the dead was going to be another zombie story that i would enjoy but not be impassioned with - but i found myself thankfully surprised that it had enough twists on the formula to make it vibrant, colourful and interesting.

A key thing for me is having read a few zombie apocalyptic stories in the recent past, ive found a lot of them focus on some time after the cataclysmic event in question - where a community has been established and they are fighting to keep that together. but rarely have i read something which describes, with some actual pragmatic thought anyway, how this community actually comes together, hyow its rules get establish and the sacrifices and choices that are made to keep this pocket of humanity from being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of writhing biting dead flesh.

I thought the author went to a perfect amount of detail with the actual mechanics of what the group (and chiefly its leader) is trying to do, which coupled with some deftly handled fast paced action makes for a great tale, and much recommended to those who crave some zombie action. I greatly look forward to continuing with the series.

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry Mr. Talluto, this wasn't my cup of tea for several reasons. The main problem I found was that the main character was...irritating, for me anyway. He constantly is walking up to other survivors introducing himself, 'I am John Talon [I never intended to lead this bunch of survivors but I'm going to continue giving them orders like I am a five star general]' Outwardly he constantly doubts his desire to lead, but then he's always the guy with all the answers and it didn't feel like it matched up to his internal struggle.
We get a lot of detail about his baby which is very boring, like all the stuff he feeds him and how he plays with him (by day he takes down dozens of zombies and barks orders and then he comes back to the refuge to coo over his son).
Lastly, the major problem for me, but I appreciate that other readers who know about guns might not feel the same, is the author uses A LOT of detail about guns which was hard for me to picture what he's taking about because I don't know all the names and calibres. It wouldn't have been much of a problem if the story wasn't thick with these details, I felt like I was reading blind during these descriptions.
A good read for gun enthusiasts, but for me as a zombie apocalypse aficionado I found it wanting in terms of character structure.

[Kym · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can never resist a Zombie book, it's a great weakness and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Therefore, I've read a veritable shit ton of books in the genre and I know generally what to expect.

This book isn't the worst I've read in the genre but it's not the best either. The problem here is that there's far too much time spent on certain details (the weapons used, the physical description of individual Zombies being fought) and then not nearly enough character development. I just don't really care about the protagonist. Telling me the same two or three things about his motivation and actions over and over and over doesn't provide any depth.

I dunno, the writing overall shows a lack of maturity. I believe there's a lot of books in this series so I'll assume that the writing and the story get better but I'm not particularly intrigued enough to read the rest. Again, it's not a horrible read but there are much better Zombie books out there.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars.

[Bee Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a terrible hypocrite.

Ten minutes ago I slammed a book for grammar, and now I'm going to praise another book which has some linguistic issues of its own.

White Flag of the Dead is not terribly well-written, in the purely mechanical sense. There are some problems with words, and I'm fairly sure that even in America educational types know how to spell 'hors d'oeuvres'. My spell checker certainly does, even if I'm not 100% clear on it. So yeah, not without its problems.

"Then why four stars?" I hear you ask.

Because if you tell me a good enough story, with interesting enough characters, then I don't care. You can make me not care by making your characters interesting enough and your story fun enough.

I devoured all the books in this series over a weekend, and I'm not even sorry.

[Seekordsiis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gritty man, a baby and a zombie apocalypse. The man is inventive and brave, keeps his wits and morals, and never gives up. The baby is a very well-behaved baby. The zombies are full of not-so-nice surprises - and so are the humans the man meets (and if I wrote any more I´d spoil it all). It is a story of survival and re-building, focus on the second. Could be compared to WWZ in a sense, but is more of a light reading.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

White Flag of the Dead starts out interesting with a unique point of view: dad with an infant. Sadly, the book veers into cliche territory about a third in, and doesn't recover. I might consider reading the sequel...except for the couple dozen other zombie books on my Kindle that promise me a better time.

[Carrie Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it five pages before I gave up. Too gross and the main character was annoying. I lost it at the line "I usually watched Fox News because at least the bias was harder to see." Let that line be your guide as to whether or not you want to read this book.

[Caitlyn River · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book accidentally - well, technically I stumbled across the ninth instalment accidentally which then led me to this one - and I must say, it was the best discovery I've ever made. It ticks so many boxes for me, has everything I want, there are zombies by the butt load - a huge zombie fan couldn't ask for more.

Like almost every other piece of zombie media out there, this novel starts with a virus that very quickly and violently sweeps across the world. Our main man John, and his infant son Jake, are left to fend for themselves in this new found world of the dead.

After his short depressive episode, John quickly realises that every day is a gift and he needs to fight to stay alive - his driving force very quickly becoming his son, because if John isn't there what will happen to Jake in his absence? After fortifying his house, John starts deciding that perhaps it's time he moved on and he up and leaves with Jake with only the bare essentials until he comes across two more survivors and joins forces with them.

Very quickly - and I mean very quickly - this trio plus infant of survivors becomes a whole community of just over 100 in the span of a few pages, and John finds himself the leader of all these people. Months pass rapidly within the confines of this minuscule book and we find John leading a group of survivors who are very steadily re-establishing themselves in this undead world.

Whilst I did enjoy the book, there are many things that could have been done better. I - on rare occasions - found that sentences could have been constructed better, and often ended up repeating the same thing before the full stop came around. The other main gripe - there was just so much going on for such a short book. We would suddenly jump weeks or months ahead in time to see where the group got instead of seeing how it is that they managed to establish it in the first place.

Negatives aside, it is the first book in the series and they're no doubt bound to get better as the story progresses. I actually found myself saying "I'm so glad there's more books after this" within the first few chapters. The author definitely got something right because this drew me in from the absolute start.

I very much look forward to reading the rest of the series!
(I may or may not have already started on book two)

[Edie Kennard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Talluto's White Flag of the Dead is a refreshing take on the zombie genre. The story follows John Talon as he navigates a world ravaged by the Enillo Virus, a plague that reanimates the dead into flesh-eating monsters. What sets this book apart is its focus on the psychological and emotional toll of survival, rather than just the visceral action. Talluto crafts a truly gripping and gritty tale, exploring the depths of human resilience and despair in the face of unimaginable horror.
One of the strongest aspects of this book is its cast of realistic and relatable characters. John Talon, in particular, is a standout. He's a flawed but ultimately good man driven by the primal need to protect his infant son in a nightmarish world. His struggles and fears feel authentic, making him a character you can easily root for. The supporting characters are equally well-developed, each with their own motivations and backstories that add depth to the narrative.
Talluto masterfully creates a tense and suspenseful atmosphere that permeates every page. The sense of dread and uncertainty is palpable, keeping you on the edge of your seat as John faces constant threats from both the living and the dead. The author doesn't shy away from depicting the brutality of this world, but he does so without reveling in gratuitous violence.
Beyond the action and suspense, White Flag of the Dead offers a thought-provoking exploration of humanity. The book delves into questions of morality and survival, forcing characters to make difficult choices in a world gone mad. It's a testament to Talluto's skill as a writer that he can weave such profound themes into a genre often associated with pure escapism.
While the story is generally well-paced and engaging, there are a few moments where the narrative drags slightly. Additionally, there are some minor inconsistencies in the plot and character development, but these are minor quibbles that don't significantly detract from the overall experience.
Overall, White Flag of the Dead is a gripping and gritty zombie tale that will appeal to fans of the genre. It's a well-written and thought-provoking story with realistic characters and a tense atmosphere. While it has a few minor flaws, it's still a highly enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Kristel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Halfway through the book, I thought I would give it 3 stars, later it went down to 2 and that final debacle with Kristen at the end, put it at a one.

The longer this book went on, the more the main character annoyed me. Pretty early on I actually renamed this book 'Mr Perfect and the Zombie Apocalyps', because it appears John is just good at everything. Excellent zombie killer, great leader, great dad, man with great ideas, liked by all (except the characters who are obviously AH's). Maybe realistic characters is too much to hope for in a zombie book, but how about just slightly relatable.
Another problem with this book is all the other characters hardly get any attention. It is all about John. There isn't even a lot of dialogue, just John's thoughts. We also don't get to see the characters spending any time together outside of going on raids. In the entire book there isn't a single meal together or an evening spent with friends. There is hardly any attention given to how the community works now, aside from zombie fighting and raids. The story lacks any kind of depth, which might be excusable if the story focused more on horror and suspense, but it didn't really have that either in my opinion.
Lastly, there is just too much happening in one (not even all that long) book. We have zombies arriving, the world falling apart, John living at his house, John starting the first community, the community moving to a second location, John moving part of the community to a third location and looking to expand even further. In ONE book. The result is a story that goes: "We moved into the new building. 3 week time jump. I'm planning our excursion to set up the first outpost." Again, no depth.

So in the end I am having a lot of trouble understanding the good reviews this book has gotten. The story and the characters might have potential, but nothing is ever done with that potential. It's like seeing a dish with a lot of tasty ingredients, but realizing that the cook didn't season anything and most of it is undercooked.

[Mika · Rating 2 out of 5]

A potential great story for its genre but instead ridiculously alpha. What we have here is a zombie story told in first person mode and an author, as it seems, living out his childhood daydreams as the fluent John Talon, about a world filled with macho men whose names starts with consonants. With God's sent they can communicate and understanding each other just by nodding their heads and smiles. Waiting for a zombie apocalypse to happen they provide themselves with coat of arms just lying around in the basement. A world order where women would be the best care takers, but only a handful would be enough adequate for something important, as fighting zombies (or to be impregnate for the survival of human kind perhaps).

I won’t criticize grammar or language due to my own faults I usually make. This as I understand was self-published. Much respect! Also, I read that Mr. Talluto came up with the idea by reading The Zombie Survival Guide. Don’t get me wrong, as I would have used that for the base. But, there is nothing that removes this story from what we already read hundred times already or seen in various action movies. It follows the typical protocol of story plot. He even mentions the zombies for the walking dead. This story is filled with typical stereotyping and political jibber jabber that undermines the level of his intelligence and understanding of social behaviorism. Talluto should train on his creativity and skills for upcoming authorship. Two stars for trying. Won’t see you later!

[Erika Bain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Enillo Virus hit hard. It hit fast and spread wildly. People are rising after death but that's not all, no. They are attacking the living, tearing their flesh from their bones. Grabbing and scratching until they can latch onto something, anything to suppress their longing, their hunger...YOU.
 
White Flag of the Dead is not what I was expecting. Since watching The Walking Dead, I have looked for zombie apocalyptic novels to quench my thirst. Joseph Talluto was the first to do so for me. He understands what it takes when it comes to writing about zombies. 'So what does it take?' you might ask. Weeeelll, lots of gore and blood and descriptive writing, what else? As zombie lovers we want the violence and the survival and we want it from the second we open those books!
 
In White Flag of the Dead Book 1: Surrender of the Living, John Talon will do whatever it takes to keep his infant son Jake alive. He promised Ellie, and he promised himself. He has one job; make sure Jakey survives. When it comes to survival, what would you do to protect the ones you love? John has been named leader of his group. Being leader comes with responsibility he never dreamed of asking for, he just takes it head on. The fight is not easy, it never is and it never will be. Not only do they have to fear the dead walking among them, but the real monsters in this new world; they're the living. And they won't back down without a fight...
 
Without doubt, if you love zombies and apocalypses, gore and survival, you'll love this book. Are you a Walking Dead fan looking for a new group to follow until the next release? Look no further than Joseph Talluto and White Flag of the Dead.

[Russell Signs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big Mark Tufo fan, so once running out of his books to read, I gave Joesph a try. His style of story telling is a bit different but all in all I have been able to stay hooked. As for other readers complaining about bias...well bias sees bias. As an avid reader I have learned to read past the politics since life seems to revolve around it, though most cannot. There are no sides in politics...except them and us. As they say, “it must be true because the internet says so”. Back to the book...the thing that interests me about these “Z” books is the opinions of the authors on how society will react if faced with the possibility of human annihilation. Who will become the heroes, and who will revert to be the worst. Though I think Joesph has a decent opinion in this story, in my opinion it will be much worse. As bad as the mental health situation these days...those on meds will no longer have them, those who were borderline will now require treatment and those who should have been treated will be even worse off. If billions on earth turn and the uninflected are only in the millions world wide, man will finish themselves. Joseph does elude to this and this story rides that fine line. I will keep reading!

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read : January 31, 2023
Rating : 4 Stars

This was pretty okay, there were a couple of things that were a little bitsy sexist in nature but thankfully nowhere near to the amount usually featured in the zombie sub genre.

I'm talking about the men defending and the women sheltering with kids on the second floor or
that the women did the pantry reorganising/babysitting /school instead of fighting /gathering stuff /clean up of bodies etc.

These were all noticeable enough for me to pick them up but not bad enough to spoil my reading in general because while the mc is a dude, his counterpart in action is a competent women that does not get pushed down so that saves a lot of it.

What I also liked about this was the fact that our mc really, genuinely cares for his kid and didn't get written as without emotion.

I find this always nice in male driven and dominated stories with a perseverance type plot.

Why is it always the teenagers that go total lord of the flies though? I mean, awfull people do awfull stuff but in most apocalypse/ end of the world type of books the teenagers are always batt-shit crazy XD

I'll definitely read the next book.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

White Flag of the Dead kicks off with an intense, apocalyptic premise—the world devastated by a virus, the dead rising, and survivors forced to make impossible choices. It's a fast-paced, action-heavy read that wastes no time throwing the main character, John Talon, into the thick of chaos alongside his young son.

John is the kind of protagonist you’d expect in a doomsday scenario: endlessly resourceful, always one step ahead, and seemingly unbeatable in every fight. While this makes for some adrenaline-pumping scenes, it also veers into the cheesy at times, with John feeling more like a survivalist superhero than a fully fleshed-out person. His near-flawless performance in every situation can pull some of the tension out of the story.

That said, the book does capture the desperate mood of survival and offers moments of emotional connection, especially in the father-son bond. Fans of zombie fiction who enjoy rugged heroes and nonstop action will likely have fun with it, even if it leans into the familiar.

[Gareth Otton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been on a bit of a Zombie binge recently and I am pleased to say that this book is up there with one of the better ones. Looking through other reviews I see that most of the complaints about this book are for poor grammar, but I listened to this on audiobook so that of course wasn't a problem.

+ + + + + + + + + + THE GOOD + + + + + + + + + +

1 - EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT - Normally these books focus on the outbreak itself and having the protagonist be a badass, putting off character building moments until later. This book takes the opposite approach, building the character first and then doing the kickass stuff. In my opinion, this is definitely the right way to go about it because when the character finally starts going into danger, I know and care for his survival.

2 - HUMANITY IS NOT ALL EVIL - My biggest complaint with all of these zombie books is how quick humanity descends into evil. In most books, every stranger is either a killer, rapist, or at best someone looking to rob you. In this book those elements of human society are evident, but they aren't the norm. It's a refreshing change.

3 - NOT PRO MILITARY PROPAGANDA - Another complaint with these books is that they push a strong pro-military agenda. Though this book does descend into a bit of gun-porn from time to time, by and large people are taken on their individual skills, and their martial talents are improved through training after the fact. I don't think there is a single character who was in the military which again is a breath of fresh air for this genre.

4 - FOCUSED ON REBUILDING -I like that there is a quick focus on rebuilding society. So many of these books glory in going from one dangerous place to another, never trying to bunk down and make their lives safer so people can survive and thrive. I enjoy seeing people come together like this and making something out of nothing.

5 - PROACTIVE PROTAGONIST - My final pro (that I thought worth mentioning) is that the protagonist is proactive. He doesn't wait for Zombies and other antagonists to come at him and force him into action. Everything that happens in this book is usually a result of him actively going out and trying to stop trouble before it can happen. It makes him instantly more likeable and keeps me eager to read on to see what he will do next.


- - - - - - - - - - - THE BAD - - - - - - - - - -

1 - POOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT - Outside of the main character, the larger cast doesn't get much in the way of character development. Sometimes we don't even get introduction scenes, just brief sentences to describe who they are when that information is needed. I understand that with a large cast of characters it is implausible to flesh them all out, but the problem was that some of these characters were dying and I was struggling to remember which was which and if I should care.

2 - A LITTLE GENERIC AT TIMES - The problem with all of these Zombie books is that they are a little samey. This one does enough different to keep me interested, but I wouldn't mind it taking a few more twists and turns here and there to differentiate this from the crowd.


= = = = = = = = = = = THE VERDICT = = = = = = = = = =

Overall I am really impressed with this book. It is well paced, I'm strongly attached to the main character and his son, and I am eager to see what happens next.

It's an easy 4-stars, and with a touch more originality and character building, I could easily have pushed this up to a 5.