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The Zombie Chronicles #1
Outbreak
It was the start of another ordinary day at the office for Max, he was emailing a friend when one of his other early morning co-workers called for his help, someone was having a heart attack. Rushing to the aid of his fallen co-worker Max knew one thing, it wasn't a heart attack. Heart attack victims didn't bleed and didn't start chewing on anyone they could catch either. Once the victims died they came back to life with only one goal; to consume the living. Now Max was stuck in a rapidly deteriorating situation thirty miles from home, where his wife and two kids were sleeping away the warm mid summer morning. He had to get back to his family and get them to a safe place, if he could find one. Forming a group made up of his coworkers Steve and Tom and a police officer called 'Stewart' they make their way into the city to save the ones they love. The newly returned, however, were not all mindless shamblers and some of them had a plan...
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2009
89 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
July 6, 2012
I liked this book.
Yeah, I kept wincing every time anybody got chomped upon but then that's what I do whenever I watch a zombie flick or even serial killer movies.
I get that zombies able to use reason may put off some zombie fans but I found the idea scary as hell and interesting.
Jimbo was really really smart and he was the one to watch out for, instead of Nancy.
Hope like hell that Nancy's "dead" for good and can't wait to read the next book in the series.
Yeah, I kept wincing every time anybody got chomped upon but then that's what I do whenever I watch a zombie flick or even serial killer movies.
I get that zombies able to use reason may put off some zombie fans but I found the idea scary as hell and interesting.
Jimbo was really really smart and he was the one to watch out for, instead of Nancy.
Hope like hell that Nancy's "dead" for good and can't wait to read the next book in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2012
I love this book. I love the entire series. I've read countless zombie novels, my kindle is full of them. This book is one of the very few that takes the idea of zombies and makes it his own. If you're one of those "Zombies have to be slow and stupid" people, this probably isn't the book for you. If you like genuine characters, and a unique twist on zombies that makes them even scarier, then you should give this a shot.
January 2, 2013
I bought this book for $1.02 off of Chapters. It is worth every penny.
Let's start with the flaws. Oh, the flaws.
The writing is terrible. The author swaps between past and present tense randomly. The characters have stilted, unnatural-sounding speech. Punctuation and odd paragraphing feels like I'm editing a sixth grader's first story. Contractions are rare, which honestly makes people sound robotic. Mark Clodi consistently makes the same spelling mistakes: cubicle instead of cubical, conscience instead of conscious, etc. etc.
Pretty much every character irritated me. It didn't help that nobody could talk like a normal human/zombie. But every third sentence there was swearing at each other, the comments they made were irritating, and I just generally found it hard to like anyone. Every time I wanted to, they'd make some random comment or action that made me start hating them again.
Case in point: zombie boy captures human boy. Zombie boy sits on human boy to keep him still, then pulls out his PSP to play Silent Hill. Human boy asks to watch, and for 45 minutes they curl up together to play before zombie boy passes over the PSP for human boy to pass a difficult level. After that, they decide to go together to the nearby electronics store to get human boy his own PSP so they can play together.
Couple actions like that with the really random asides the author makes...that bear little to no importance to the story. Normally I like those little side comments, as long as they're humourous and vaguely useful to the story (Terry Pratchett). But there's something weird when a woman and kid decide to go shoe shopping and several pages are devoted to them shopping for flip flops - the worst possible choice of footwear for a zombie apocalypse.
And the zombies. Wow.
I swallowed the zombie that thinks. I swallowed the zombie that sees and feeds on human energy to live. I swallowed the zombie that regenerates. I even swallowed the zombie that looks human and is smart enough to trick humans and decide it needs new clothes to better camouflage itself among the living.
I just gawked when the zombie decided to do laundry, though.
Speaking of zombies, there seem to be not a lot of them. Aside from Team Girl Gang and Team Psychic Schism, we don't see a lot of zombies. This is a major city! Shouldn't the dead be swarming every bright light and careless whisper? There's a surprising lack of chance combat with regular zombies (it's assumed that not all of them are smart); it's way too easy for the characters to move around.
I showed this book to a friend - one with an LD that makes books hard to read - and even he could see the errors that litter the first chapter. But he made an observation I liked: "He tried to do too much."
The author has an idea and a plot. He wants to get from point A to point B. The thing is, he doesn't know how to do it well. If the characters need to know something, or to get moving somewhere, or establish a relationship, the author gives them the most ridiculous pretexts to get going. Characters will spout off ridiculous comments just to get the appropriate reaction. Characters will see something and jump to the most 'obvious' conclusions. A chapter is devoted to two guys approaching the main group and explaining how zombies work. Long, meaty paragraphs that accurately describe how the zombies started, how they work and why. How did these two figure it out? An armchair discussion over beer while they were holed up.
What distresses me the most, however, is the afterword, where Mark Clodi admits that this book took years to self-edit. It doesn't show, and it's a bit depressing to know that he gave his best effort, and you're looking at it.
If you plan to self-publish, I'd honestly recommend getting this book for free or at a severe discount, then going through it and finding all the errors the author made and not doing them. Have a plan. Do your research. Get someone else to edit the work for you if English is not your strong suit. It's so much better for that one person to tell you that something's wrong before you publish, rather than get an irate review like this done up.
Let's start with the flaws. Oh, the flaws.
The writing is terrible. The author swaps between past and present tense randomly. The characters have stilted, unnatural-sounding speech. Punctuation and odd paragraphing feels like I'm editing a sixth grader's first story. Contractions are rare, which honestly makes people sound robotic. Mark Clodi consistently makes the same spelling mistakes: cubicle instead of cubical, conscience instead of conscious, etc. etc.
Pretty much every character irritated me. It didn't help that nobody could talk like a normal human/zombie. But every third sentence there was swearing at each other, the comments they made were irritating, and I just generally found it hard to like anyone. Every time I wanted to, they'd make some random comment or action that made me start hating them again.
Case in point: zombie boy captures human boy. Zombie boy sits on human boy to keep him still, then pulls out his PSP to play Silent Hill. Human boy asks to watch, and for 45 minutes they curl up together to play before zombie boy passes over the PSP for human boy to pass a difficult level. After that, they decide to go together to the nearby electronics store to get human boy his own PSP so they can play together.
Couple actions like that with the really random asides the author makes...that bear little to no importance to the story. Normally I like those little side comments, as long as they're humourous and vaguely useful to the story (Terry Pratchett). But there's something weird when a woman and kid decide to go shoe shopping and several pages are devoted to them shopping for flip flops - the worst possible choice of footwear for a zombie apocalypse.
And the zombies. Wow.
I swallowed the zombie that thinks. I swallowed the zombie that sees and feeds on human energy to live. I swallowed the zombie that regenerates. I even swallowed the zombie that looks human and is smart enough to trick humans and decide it needs new clothes to better camouflage itself among the living.
I just gawked when the zombie decided to do laundry, though.
Speaking of zombies, there seem to be not a lot of them. Aside from Team Girl Gang and Team Psychic Schism, we don't see a lot of zombies. This is a major city! Shouldn't the dead be swarming every bright light and careless whisper? There's a surprising lack of chance combat with regular zombies (it's assumed that not all of them are smart); it's way too easy for the characters to move around.
I showed this book to a friend - one with an LD that makes books hard to read - and even he could see the errors that litter the first chapter. But he made an observation I liked: "He tried to do too much."
The author has an idea and a plot. He wants to get from point A to point B. The thing is, he doesn't know how to do it well. If the characters need to know something, or to get moving somewhere, or establish a relationship, the author gives them the most ridiculous pretexts to get going. Characters will spout off ridiculous comments just to get the appropriate reaction. Characters will see something and jump to the most 'obvious' conclusions. A chapter is devoted to two guys approaching the main group and explaining how zombies work. Long, meaty paragraphs that accurately describe how the zombies started, how they work and why. How did these two figure it out? An armchair discussion over beer while they were holed up.
What distresses me the most, however, is the afterword, where Mark Clodi admits that this book took years to self-edit. It doesn't show, and it's a bit depressing to know that he gave his best effort, and you're looking at it.
If you plan to self-publish, I'd honestly recommend getting this book for free or at a severe discount, then going through it and finding all the errors the author made and not doing them. Have a plan. Do your research. Get someone else to edit the work for you if English is not your strong suit. It's so much better for that one person to tell you that something's wrong before you publish, rather than get an irate review like this done up.
May 25, 2011
I have a love/hate relationship with self-publication right now. Publishing your own novel gives a voice to authors who might normally never be heard, but I can't help thinking that there might be a reason why they aren't published. It's also my opinion that if one is asked to pay for a self-published book, it better be good.
I bought this one for my Sony Reader because I thought it sounded promising.
This would have been a two star rating except for the following:
- it's unintentionally funny (page 127 - I would hope the building has an outside entrance; this is one example of many);
- a lot of editing errors (the author claims to have fixed these after re-reading his book 11 times);
- it's sexist (near the end - a comment about good thing his wife didn't gain any weight after they were married..... grrrr....)
- some of it just didn't make any sense and is just there to prolong the story - in the middle of a zombie infestation in which most of the city is affected, do you really think that 1. the power would still be on and 2. you'd be concerned about your laptop or hand-held video game?
However, the idea is still good - intelligent zombies who feed on humans for energy. Too bad the zombies sound like they come from a trailer park though.
Please for the sake of everyone else who might read this book, get yourself a better editor.
I bought this one for my Sony Reader because I thought it sounded promising.
This would have been a two star rating except for the following:
- it's unintentionally funny (page 127 - I would hope the building has an outside entrance; this is one example of many);
- a lot of editing errors (the author claims to have fixed these after re-reading his book 11 times);
- it's sexist (near the end - a comment about good thing his wife didn't gain any weight after they were married..... grrrr....)
- some of it just didn't make any sense and is just there to prolong the story - in the middle of a zombie infestation in which most of the city is affected, do you really think that 1. the power would still be on and 2. you'd be concerned about your laptop or hand-held video game?
However, the idea is still good - intelligent zombies who feed on humans for energy. Too bad the zombies sound like they come from a trailer park though.
Please for the sake of everyone else who might read this book, get yourself a better editor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2012
DISCLAIMER - I am pretty much a Romero Zombie Purist. I have also read a lot of uninspired, paint by the numbers Zombie books and stories in the past 3 years, so if you are going to switch it up - it better be damn good and create a world with characters I want to visit over and over again.
Mr Clodi succeeds were many have failed. I enjoy the company of many of these characters and care about where the groups of survivors end up.
His writing and stories improve with each book, trust me, the training wheels come off after this novel and you can tell he wholeheartedly believes in the world that he creates.
SPOILERS BELOW:
There are walking talking Zombies, some run, and a a few have telepathic powers and are able to control those that they have "turned".
They have the ability to see "Predator" style - the colors/life-force of the living, and are actually eating the lifeforce of the living along with the meat.
Some of the Zombies do not like being controlled by their masters who have turned them - so there are some unique story arcs that I really appreciated.
So if you need a change of pace Zombie book with some supernatural mixed in, take a chance here - I guarantee you will at least like the characters if you don't agree with the premise.
Mr Clodi succeeds were many have failed. I enjoy the company of many of these characters and care about where the groups of survivors end up.
His writing and stories improve with each book, trust me, the training wheels come off after this novel and you can tell he wholeheartedly believes in the world that he creates.
SPOILERS BELOW:
There are walking talking Zombies, some run, and a a few have telepathic powers and are able to control those that they have "turned".
They have the ability to see "Predator" style - the colors/life-force of the living, and are actually eating the lifeforce of the living along with the meat.
Some of the Zombies do not like being controlled by their masters who have turned them - so there are some unique story arcs that I really appreciated.
So if you need a change of pace Zombie book with some supernatural mixed in, take a chance here - I guarantee you will at least like the characters if you don't agree with the premise.
March 31, 2012
May not be the "popular" zombie idea, but its a fresh twist, and makes them scarier! I enjoyed it immensely!
November 4, 2012
Surprisingly clever.
March 17, 2013
I greatly enjoyed this zombie book. The play between zombie and human is an interesting twist. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books.
August 8, 2013
They already have a name for intelligent zombies who are really fast, can regenerate when hurt, and communicate with their thoughts, they are called vampires.
October 2, 2019
I so wanted to like this
There’s stuff to like about this book - some good characters, interesting twists, I’m from Colorado and actually lived near “Max’s” Arvada house growing up; it was cool knowing where the characters were from my own experience - but I could barely finish it. The horrible proofing and editing, run on sentences, are awkward writing I’m guessing done that way in an attempt to make conversations conversational. It was so bad I felt like I was losing IQ points trying to get through it, and instead it was just stilted and weird. I know I can be judgmental (as a writer and editor myself) and tried to be a little more flexible because there obviously was a lot of thought put into trying to make this story different, and as stilted as it was the characters were good, but a major overhaul/editing job is the only thing that could fix this, I would guess unlikely since it’s been out so long. I really hate writing this but in the end if the author does plan to write again maybe, hopefully, these comments might help. I hope so anyway.
There’s stuff to like about this book - some good characters, interesting twists, I’m from Colorado and actually lived near “Max’s” Arvada house growing up; it was cool knowing where the characters were from my own experience - but I could barely finish it. The horrible proofing and editing, run on sentences, are awkward writing I’m guessing done that way in an attempt to make conversations conversational. It was so bad I felt like I was losing IQ points trying to get through it, and instead it was just stilted and weird. I know I can be judgmental (as a writer and editor myself) and tried to be a little more flexible because there obviously was a lot of thought put into trying to make this story different, and as stilted as it was the characters were good, but a major overhaul/editing job is the only thing that could fix this, I would guess unlikely since it’s been out so long. I really hate writing this but in the end if the author does plan to write again maybe, hopefully, these comments might help. I hope so anyway.
November 19, 2019
SmartZombies?
This is the stupidest zombie apocalypse book I have ever read in my fifty one years of living! Grammar mistakes aside-and they are numerous - the stupidity of the characters makes me wanna eat them myself! A woman forgot a kids shoes, so she's thinking of hitting up Target......during a "Smart" Zombie Apocalypse, no less....Even for free this book is not worth it........
This is the stupidest zombie apocalypse book I have ever read in my fifty one years of living! Grammar mistakes aside-and they are numerous - the stupidity of the characters makes me wanna eat them myself! A woman forgot a kids shoes, so she's thinking of hitting up Target......during a "Smart" Zombie Apocalypse, no less....Even for free this book is not worth it........
April 22, 2025
The best part about zombie fiction is that every author brings a unique perspective and tells a different story. Mark Clodi does exactly that, and does a great job putting his heart into The Zombie Chronicles. It's got a good story arc; fast-paced, well-written, good characters, and he keeps you in it until the end. I've read almost the entire series now, and it's quality stuff all the way.
Read
August 14, 2021Read: August 15, 2021
Rating : DNF
I tried, I really did but I just can't make myself read more of this.
The editing is atrocious, so much so, that perhaps under all that terribleness there might be a okay story but I can't find it.
Rating : DNF
I tried, I really did but I just can't make myself read more of this.
The editing is atrocious, so much so, that perhaps under all that terribleness there might be a okay story but I can't find it.
November 22, 2017
Wow
This is a really exciting read! It has tons of action, loads of danger, and great characters. The zombies are some of the scariest out there too.
This is a really exciting read! It has tons of action, loads of danger, and great characters. The zombies are some of the scariest out there too.
June 15, 2019
40 pages in and although it is well written, I was not drawn into the story at all.
June 27, 2019
Good book. Max starts out as a wimp and turns into a fine warrior. Easy read
April 19, 2020
Many typos but a good story. I'll need to read the other parts to the series as you pretty much need to to know what happens to the characters.
May 6, 2020
Really enjoyed this take on Zombies.
it showed what I would think humans would fall to if something like this would happen.
it showed what I would think humans would fall to if something like this would happen.
June 14, 2013
An interesting find on the free books list in my iPhone iBooks bookstore. The zombies in this story differ from the "normal" stereotypical zombies we know of: mindless, slow, shuffling, rotting corpses intent only on devouring the living. There are some zombies like this in the book, but there are also "smart" zombies: ones who can talk and look normal, and ones who are fast and have super strength. The zombies are also able to regenerate after receiving wounds; they can grow appendages back and heal fast. Some remember their lives prior to dying.
On the other hand, there are still some of the basics: virus spreads through bites, they can be killed by destroying the brain, that sort of thing.
Also, when these zombies bite and turn a person, they gain control of that person and can command them.
Max and his coworkers, and a female police officer are trying to make it through the city to each persons home to rescue family and retrieve things they need. They pick up some new people along the way and lose some too. The story ends with them completing the task of getting to the last house and getting the last of the family members who are still alive and around. They have a few epic battles of course, and make a deal with a "smart" zombie to go their respective ways and leave each other alone. It ends with the bunch of them having to leave, but where will they go?
I think I will definitely read the next book in the series since it was a decent story, but I'm not chomping at the bit to get it. It's more of one of those books you'll read when nothing else is around. Definitely not bad, but not fantastic either.
On the other hand, there are still some of the basics: virus spreads through bites, they can be killed by destroying the brain, that sort of thing.
Also, when these zombies bite and turn a person, they gain control of that person and can command them.
Max and his coworkers, and a female police officer are trying to make it through the city to each persons home to rescue family and retrieve things they need. They pick up some new people along the way and lose some too. The story ends with them completing the task of getting to the last house and getting the last of the family members who are still alive and around. They have a few epic battles of course, and make a deal with a "smart" zombie to go their respective ways and leave each other alone. It ends with the bunch of them having to leave, but where will they go?
I think I will definitely read the next book in the series since it was a decent story, but I'm not chomping at the bit to get it. It's more of one of those books you'll read when nothing else is around. Definitely not bad, but not fantastic either.
March 27, 2015
the book, Outbreak by Mark Clodi is a great book. This Book is very good with a lot of meaning. This book is a good moral check for what kind of position you would be in if something like a natural disaster or a zombie outbreak like in this book. This book was very enjoyable for numerous reasons involving the vast amount of details that are in the book explaining the current situations.the plot of the book was also very good,Max ,the main character, is trying to return home from his office job when the office clears and he does not know that there are zombies taking over the lower levels in the building. along the way he meets a police officer and some other people which help him on his journey. Just from that little excerpt from the previous sentence, you can tell that the plot will be really good.
August 2, 2015
I hate to start ANY Book and not finish it, but I just could not force myself to continue reading past 25%. I like the idea of the story and I like seeing the Zombies from a more internal perspective but this...it was just too much. I felt like the writing didn't flow at all. I found myself having to reread several parts, which was almost like torture since the dialogue in this book is more than a little annoying. I only read a quarter of the book and the spelling errors were too much to ignore.
I read some of the reviews for this series and I was excited, thinking I would have stuff to read for awhile. Now I feel like I was tricked. I will not be reading any more of this book or this series.
I read some of the reviews for this series and I was excited, thinking I would have stuff to read for awhile. Now I feel like I was tricked. I will not be reading any more of this book or this series.
February 2, 2021
I really wanted to like this book as I think it had promise, but in the end it just disappointed. I was really looking forward to the author’s different taken on the traditional ‘brain dead’ zombie. Unfortunately I think he tried to do many things in one go. Not only were we to experience the situation from the zombies point of view but we had them evolving a kind of heat sensitive eye sight, talking, plotting /planning and the healing and enthralling capabilities usually ascribed to vampires.
If the story had been limited to one of these new aspects I think it may well have worked as a zombie novel, but introducing them all resulted in something that wasn’t a zombie novel, but more a story about cannibalistic super humans.
If the story had been limited to one of these new aspects I think it may well have worked as a zombie novel, but introducing them all resulted in something that wasn’t a zombie novel, but more a story about cannibalistic super humans.
November 17, 2013
When the undead begin to think on their own and become almost invisible. The way this book unfolded was truly believable. This book was a new twist to the old stories but the twists were even believable. You take a million people attacked all at once by an unknown and see who lives and who dies, then you take the ones who die and give them a brain to think with and change their demeanor to act like they should when they are dead and wow you got this book. Yes there were a lot of typos and grammar errors. The author needs an editor or proofreader. All in all if you are not some sort of grammar freak you will like this book.
December 18, 2013
This had the potential to be an awesome story. The part about zombies developing further when feasting on humans was original, at least to me. However, there were a LOT of errors in this story that made it hard for me to get through. Normally I am a quick reader but I kept finding myself pausing to bitch about the errors instead of enjoying the story. At this time, I am still debating on whether I want to continue this series. The first book was free but the others cost cash and I'm not sure if I want to pay for mistakes.
May 16, 2013
I got this book as a free download and I liked it. It had a bit of a different twist on the zombie subject and I found it very interesting. It is the first book of three and I will be checking them out just to see this through to the end, and hopefully get all my questions answered. The book started out with a bang and it never really let up. I did like the characters and really hope they will make it.
September 23, 2013
It's a two star in writing, dragged down mainly by its abrupt and bounce around opening. Good premise and the story flows pretty well after the first half. Characters aren't worth noting, though I like the dynamic of the child zombies and vampire-esque take overall.
It built into something entertaining at the very least, though, so I would have landed on three stars if it wasn't such a strange progression and build to the meat of the story.
It built into something entertaining at the very least, though, so I would have landed on three stars if it wasn't such a strange progression and build to the meat of the story.
September 6, 2014
I loved the chain mail idea! stealth wouldn't be an option but it certainly would work well against zombies. I picture this is how things would go for most people in the real world during a zombie outbreak - one step forward, ten back. You can easily put yourself into the shoes of the characters and really immerse in the book. I look forward to reading the next in the series.***Spoiler: smart zombies are far more frightening!
January 31, 2016
What could have been a brilliantly original take on the zombie genre is completely ruined by the lack of a proof-reader. Run-on sentences, grammar mistakes, elementary spelling errors, and the author's annoying habit of either sticking commas in where they're not needed, or omitting them where they are, ruin what the silly, stilted dialogue (getting paid-per-word, perhaps), and ridiculously cartoonish characters did not.
August 26, 2015
Totally different take on zombies which was quite interesting. The action and survival mode kicks in right from the get go and never lets up. The characters are very different from other zombie books I have read and you hope they get their act together before it's too late. I would recommend Mark Clodi gets added to your authors to read list and start with this book. Keep it up Mark, looking forward to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews