In the Pandemic

Try Not To Die #3

by Mark Tullius, John Palisano

Welcome Aboard the Cruise Ship Aria. Prepare for the Ride of Your Life in this Suspenseful Choose-Your-Own-Adventure!
As the Heliovirus ravages the guests and crew of the cruise ship Aria, teenagers Dylan and Amy face a quarantine while their loved ones fall ill. Docked indefinitely in San Francisco Bay, the teens and those aboard face another grave threat as a seeded terrorist group uses the situation to their advantage. With every choice possibly being their last, will Amy and Dylan have what it takes to survive?

In the latest entry in the Try Not to Die series, authors Mark Tullius and John Palisano have collaborated to bring forth a lightning-paced, hair-raising, adrenaline-fueled thriller. In this book, readers can make choices at the end of each chapter. Some will allow them to continue the adventure, while others lead to creative, gruesome deaths.

Will you be able to do whatever it takes to save your life? You will certainly find that out because after all, the choices are yours to make!

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

My writing covers a wide range, with fiction being my favorite to create, with two dozen or so titles under my belt. There are 21 titles in my YA interactive Try Not to Die series and 30 more in the works. I also have two nonfiction titles, both inspired by a reckless lifestyle, playing Ivy League football, and battering the hell out of my brain as an unsuccessful MMA fighter and boxer. Unlocking the Cage is the largest sociological study of MMA fighters to date and TBI or CTE aims to spread awareness and hope to others that suffer with traumatic brain injury symptoms.

I live in sunny California with my wife, two kids, five cats, and one demon. Derek. He makes special appearance on my social media

You can also get your 3 free books by signing up to my newsletter. This letter is only for the brave, or at least those brave enough to deal with bad dad jokes, a crude sense of humor, and loads and loads of death.
Derek and I would love to have you join us!

Here are all my links -
Newsletter - https://subscribepage.io/TulliusNews
https://youcanfollow.me/MarkTullius

Reviews

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun way to read a book!! It is like an adult "choose your own adventure" like we all read as kids. The author released a chapter a day. We had to choose what the next step the main character had to take. Fun! I think that everyone would have a blast reading it!

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a mind f* if I've ever read one. It took me several tries to complete the book without dying. Clearly I'm not the best at surviving in a pandemic! I re-read the book with my kids and they only did slightly better than myself. lol. I look forward to reading more of these books! Definitely a five star read!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

[Michelle King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this choose your adventure style book. Reminds me of the ones I read when I was a kid. It was well written with a good storyline. A great YA book that adults will enjoy also. I look forward to reading more from Mark Tullius.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Try not To Die At Grandmas House was just alright but I figured since that was the first book the rest in the series would be improved. For my second Try Not To Die book, I chose this one: Try Not To Die In The Pandemic.

😪

This was just bad writing and came off like a 13 year old trying to write a horror book. I gave it a chance and then tried to get to the end after how much I kept rolling my eyes. Typical guy meets girl on boat story and the book revolves around them. Fuck the family and any other characters. So much potential being on a cruise ship but no, let’s just stick to 2 stereotypical boring characters the whole time.

The good thing was this novel was a short read. The writing was so predictable I knew exactly what choice the author wanted me to make most of the time so I was able to get to the end in a short amount of time.

There’s a lot of other Try Not To Die books that sound very intriguing so hopefully those offer more than this one did.

[Jessica Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this! It reminded me of an adult version of the Goosebumps books. I could spend hours reading and rereading this!!!!

[Larisa Kudisheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not really finished. I tried getting into this book. I really did but I was just not prepared for this emotionally. I felt very alone. There where zero support from other characters in the book. It might be because it's pick your own adventure book and I kept making wrong choices. I don't know. It was just way too overwhelming for me.

[Ciarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off really entertaining, especially because of the choose-your-own-adventure format. However, I realized pretty quickly that it’s quite easy to “cheat” to find the right choice simply by checking if the scene ends in more options or a “try again.” So maybe it’s my fault, but about halfway through my enjoyment really plummeted. I found there wasn’t enough to the characters to make me feel emotionally invested in their survival. The non-stop action and violence also got old when it was never paired with anything else. Overall it was an extremely one-dimensional story when you take away the interactive element. I think it would be cool to read a choose-your-own adventure story where it splits into multiple timelines, and each choice changes the character in some way. That would be a lot more difficult to write, but an interesting read!

This book would best suit a teenager, especially if they are a reluctant/high-interest reader. I’d also recommend readers to not do what I did and actually read the scenes in full without skipping ahead to see if it’s a dead end. More fun that way!

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly fun! Do you ever crave the feeling you used to get when you read a Choose Your Own Adventure Book as a kid? These Try Not to Die books will satisfy that craving with the added bonus of horror and brutality that some of us want as adults! When I was younger, I always tried to figure it out as quickly as possible to get to the end. Adult Sally is very different, I read every possible outcome throughout this book. The deaths were all different and gruesome, and I didn't want to miss any of them. This one is set on a cruise ship at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic. Sound familiar? The plot itself was a fairly simple one, it would have to be in order to be able to jump around continuously without getting ridiculously confused. But it was still enjoyable following our teenage MCs around the ship while they tried to stay away from infected people and fight pirate-like terrorists that have taken over the ship. I would highly recommend one of these books when you're in the mood for some nostalgia, but want to read something a bit more grown up.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been awhile since I've read a choose your own adventure book and this one was, for the most part, well put together. There were a few decisions where the link didn't work, but I was able to scroll forward to where it was and a few didn't seem to line up as smoothly as I expected, but these issues weren't enough to ruin the book. Don't expect to use clues to lead you to the correct path, because they all seem like random outcomes, but I still had fun retrying the scenarios. For those who don't want to stretch the story out with dead ends, you're given the option to read the survivor version where it reads like a traditional adventure book and you don't get bogged down with making decisions for the characters. But when the authors have gone through the trouble of writing the extra parts so you're able to decide, why wouldn't you try to guess what the characters should do.

[Mal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adult, horror themed CYOA? Yes please! I received a copy from the author in exchange for reading the book, that does not influence my review. I haven't read a 'CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE' style book in nearly 2 decades. This is a unique spin with 'TRY NOT TO DIE'.

I greatly appreciate a theme to the villains. Having them named after birds made it a hell of a lot easier to decipher passengers from terrorists early on.

*SPOILER*
About a third of the way through this book, there is a kiss. It didn't feel grounded in reality considering the characters were trying to avoid being found. It felt a bit too YA in that moment.

The pacing was great. Thinking you picked correctly and having to go back and re-select was fun! I found myself hoping the author would take greater risks. Some moments felt a little too safe. Overall, a very fun & enjoyable book.

[PAR · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the opportunity to read all of the Try Not To Die Books and I have to save I have loved them all. Now we did each of the novels with my teens as if it were a board game - and choosing different endings. It was fun and we all took turns reading and send our family members down various endings. This particular novel really helped us to dig in and bring out some of our feelings about the pandemic. This is really appropriate for the YA group. I was a bit worried at first but the way Mark wrote the novel and how he interspersed the various twists and turns helped us all to laugh at ourselves. I note that Mark is talking about making a board game - and really hope that happens!. I received this novel from the author. This is my honest and truthful review.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

😳 wow

The author's talent in painting vivid mental pictures through words is undoubtedly praiseworthy. The story's realism and its ability to immerse you into its narrative to the point where you felt like a participant rather than a mere reader is a commendable feat.

Setting the narrative against the backdrop of a pandemic, a scenario that is all too familiar in today's context, was a daring and effective choice by the author. It not only added a chilling layer of relatability but also heightened the sense of fear and apprehension, further engaging the reader on a profound level.
I anticipate experiencing nightmares as a result of this reading experience is a testament to the power and impact of the author's writing. Encore!!!

[Alexander]

I won this as a goodreads giveaway and I'm not sure what I was thinking when I entered it. I couldn't get past the first chapter not because of bad writing but because everytime I thought it was safe to pick up, another wave of COVID-19 shot up. The author does put a disclaimer about publishing a book in the middle of pandemic and I'm grateful for that but for me this wasn't what I should have read.

[Sammi Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

TNTD in the Pandemic
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024
Is a choice and a flip of the page away from dying. What a bloody fun way to die over and over again. I can’t wait to read ALL the ways the end will come in the pandemic. Mark Tullius has teamed up with so fabulous writers to bring a whole collection of them fantastic interactive book to us. I am not walking but running to get my hands on all of them. You should to, you won’t regret it.
Thank you for your review.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to DNF this one. Honestly, it had nothing to do with the story based around a pandemic, but rather, it was just boring to me. I wasn't invested. Made it half way and kept finding other stuff to do instead of finishing it. So, I gotta just DNF it so I can move on to something else and stop dragging this out.

[Zimbellina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Choose your own adventure set on a cruise ship during a pandemic.

This was great! Creepy feeling on the cruise ship plus the added stress of a group of criminals keeping the boat hostage for a bit. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

An adult Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book about living through an epidemic on a cruise ship. Entertaining.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Good story, very fast paced. I really enjoyed it. Hoping they find a way to save everyone on the ship and on land.

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Survive if you can

Imagine being on a cruise when a pandemic occurs. Could you survive? The choices you make led you to your fate. Amazing characters and story line.

[One Sentence Audio Critic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I encourage readers to try the inventive audiobook structure with interactive audiences choices. The model.is still a work-in-progress, but worthy of our support. Available on HoopLa.

[Becci · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy has a mistake in it, the page number is wrong, but luckily it was the wrong answer page so I was able to get to the end.

[Destiny Pifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great "Try Not to Die" book that is a choose your own adventure type book. I loved this book so much that I gave it to my son to read.

[Crystal DeBoard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so much fun and I did much better in this one than some of the other TNTD books. Make your decisions and see how you do, or enjoy the survivors edition and just read the story :)

[Tina Kroh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining. There are so many possibilities that I ended up going back several times to follow new paths and try to see where every single choice lead. And the storyline itself was pretty cool. We can all relate to a pandemic.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that I will always die if ever faced with an intense situation. I learned that younger people are not as adept at making decisions as my smart brain - or the opposite - whatever - just know that I died way too many times