Temperature: Dead and Rising

Temperature #1

by Adam Santo

Wickedly sardonic, this black fantasy for mature teen readers is first in a series of novels that features likeable members of the undead in a race to escape death. Dark, funny, and filled with suspense, Temperature: Dead and Rising by new author Adam Santo is a wildly creepy fantasy—and a corpse of a good time. When Sally Mertill is driving a carload of her friends back to Green Mountain Falls after visiting Pike’s Peak they’ll careen off the side of the mountain. With no guardrails it’s not surprising there are no survivors. And yet within two days a not altogether bad fellow named Bocnic Drewings will call upon the metal drawer where her body awaits autopsy, open it, and lead her on the adventure of a lifetime—well, that’s if she’d have survived the accident. The powers that be have chosen Sally to become undead and she’s the only other person time eternal who’s been given the power to raise the dead—and control them. When leaders of rival undead clans find out, they either want to control or destroy her, which makes Sally staying undead a bit of a challenge.

Genres: Zombies, Horror

192 pages, Nook

First published September 25, 2010

About the author

Adam Santo is a SciFi/Fantasy writer who enjoys the quiet moments that everyday life offers to sit idly writing stories. His debut novel, Temperature: Dead and Rising, offering a newly twisted tale about zombies and took the world for a ride they would soon not forget. Santo began plotting out the second paperback novel, Temperature: Bitter Cold, before the ink dried on his first book. Santo continues to write nonstop because he knows there is always a story waiting to get out.

When he is not writing, Santo enjoys quality time with his son and friends, spending the occasional weekend at a movie theater, and reclaiming his youth when his son challenges him to a video game. Santo currently resides in sunny Florida with his beautiful child.
Follow him at http://twitter.com/AdamSanto or the fan page http://www.facebook.com/PanhandlingFa...
Get updates from his newly created personal website at http://www.adamsanto.weebly.com

Reviews

[Rick-Founder JM CM BOOK CLUB · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully witty yet chilling novel,this black fantasy is as fun to read as it is thought provoking.
Rarely does an Author succeed in combining pure wit with fantasy in a way that doesn't seem forced- but Adam Santo has done just that. Characters literally jump out of the pages and embed themselves in your consciousness- a rare treat and a great find!!!
Rick Friedman
Creator
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB

[Heather Kegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This terrifying story begins with Sally awakening nude in a morgue with a mysterious man she's never met before. Bo has been charged with retrieving, Wakening, training and protecting Sally. Sally is now one of the undead, a regulator created to help keep balance among the supernaturals. As they venture through Colorado seeking out a safe place for Sally to begin anew they become acutely aware there is another group hunting her. The Church knows Sally is exceptional. She is a Slaver, she has the power to raise and control the dead. If they can dominate her the Church will be unstoppable.
As the story progresses Sally grapples with the loss of the life she was just beginning which brings an interesting twist to the horror of it. I've read a full spectrum of zombie books and have never found anything quite like this. Some of the mundane elements were over explained; while a few of the major plot points were vague. As I broached the halfway point I felt strongly connected to the characters, but still had no clue who they were or why. As I neared the ending most of my questions were sated and by the last few chapters I become very intrigued about the potentiation and continuation of the story. I must share that what I read was a proof copy and since these are very early in the editing stages, these specific issues will probably be ironed out by the final publication.
This story was a truly horrific, hard-core, but humanistic thriller. I can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy and re-experience this brilliant nightmare!

[Kitty Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Title: "Temperature, Dead and Rising"
Author: Adam Santo
Published By: Self Published
Age Recommended: 15 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 3

Review: Even though this book had some interesting concepts to it, I couldn't quite understand the idea behind it. It seemed to almost be half vampire, half zombie and I was always unsure about the main character, Sally. For some reason I felt she was taking the whole situation too easily and as for Bo leaving her so soon it was a little strange. She is supposedly going to be hunted by these other undead clans because of her power but he basically leaves her to fend for herself.

The story had some good elements and the plot was interesting but I feel that it could have been written a little differently and perhaps a few things changed to make it stand out more. I could never figure out exactly what Sally was suppose to be, whether zombie of vampire and the concept of the undead was something I just couldn't grasp. I suppose I felt like there could or should have been more of a back story to clear things up a bit.

Still it was worth the read and I do give it 3 Ravens. I would recommend anyone that may be interested in something a little different to give it a try!

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...

[Darlene Floyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book! You immediately get pulled in to the scene. I can't wait for the next book in this series and think it would make a great movie!! :)

[Starlene Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read. The best book I've read in forever. Just waiting for the second part to come out. It hooks you in the first 5 pages and you can't put it down. Well written.

[Chrystal Mahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was a little leery of reading a book that had so much going on. I am glad I actually took the time to sit down and absorb it. This is not your typical Dawn of the Dead zombie movie, there is a bit of a twist. Comical in nature, the book takes on the feel of the DD counterpart, Shaun of the Dead. It is not dense and that over the top, so you can stop right there with that thinking. SD defiantly is a preference of taste. A creepy sarcastic comedy. Is there such a genre? If not, there is now. The book opens in a morgue, with Sally. Although we know from the descriptions where she is, or where some of us might think she is, Sally doesn’t seem to really understand the full effect as to what has happened. She is cold, nude, and has no memory of event that led her into the box of steel. Bo has come to rescue her, and let it be known she is going through an Awakening for the undead. While trying to grasp the concept that others are not extremely happy with her presence, Sally is forced to deal with being undead, and never being able to go home or be seen my friends and family. She was in a terrible car accident with her friends, who were all killed, just as Sally was. The rival clan, The Church, want Sally. They want to dominate her to use her powers to control the world of the undead. Sally has been given a gift. The powers that be have chosen her to be the one given the magical gift to raise the dead (known as a Slaver). Once they rise, she has total control over them. This is a huge responsibility for someone brand new to the world of the undead. It touches on some comedy within the horror of the undead storyline. Imagine finding out your dead, but not. You have to change your appearance, your life, the food you eat and the clothing you wear. Bo left her to take care of things on her own, along with a bag of money. So what is the one thing a woman will do first? Shop. Off to the drug store for basic necessitates. Deodorant? Yes. Toothpaste. Check. Tampons? Oh, crap. Why would she need those? Who has time to think about these things when an army of undead are chasing after you? You are just going to have to read this story to find out.

[The TBR Pile *Book review site* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enter Contest here: http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/1/post/2...

This book started off in a cloak and dagger manner with spells, disguises, and magic all kept on the hush . Our hero Bo is given the task of introducing our heroine Sally to her new life, and ends up with more than he bargained for.

Bocnic is a badass, full of knowledge, skill, and secrets that tantalize. With a painful past and an air of humanity that keeps him for being too big for his britches. I ate up every morsel of information revealed about Bo, and I’m craving more. :Coughs: Hint hint Adam. Our hero is a treasure trove of potential I know Adam has only begun to scratch the surface of.

Sally is your average twenty- six year old on a trip with her college girlfriends, until a fatal wreck ends her life, and the powers that be decide to bring her back. Full of sarcasm, spunk and an awkwardness I found to be an adorable quirk. Sally is an unlikely heroine. Fate deals her a wicked hand when she develops a rare power that makes her a hot commodity. She might be dead, but she's more alive now than she ever was her whole life. Her adventure with Bo is filled with twists, turns and an underlying attraction that adds an extra spice to the plot. There's just something about Sally that stirs Bo's long dead emotions.( no pun intended) The dance they do as he tried to resist was another source of amusement and anticipation.

Forget everything you thought you knew about the undead. Because Adam Santos has his own concepts. They don’t eat brains or go pasty, and a head shot won’t kill them. This brand of zombie is immortal, wields magic, and dates back to the days of the pyramids, and beyond. The fresh blend of myth, legends and his own evil genius creates an intriguing environment I am hooked on. The details, wit, and dark feel of this book earned more than a five star rating. It earned Adam a fan. This book is a savory treat you can really sink your teeth into. But be forewarned it will leave you wanting more! I recommend this read to anyone whose looking to get lost in a new world for a while.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from the GoodReads First Reads program and I am glad I did. This book is about a girl who becomes undead. She is helped by another undead Bocnic and they are on the run from a group, known as the Church, that wants to eliminate the undead. Throughout the book Santo introduces many paranormal characters including vampires and a yeti. Santo has a great writing style and I have to admit I finished this book quite quickly. That could have something to do with the fact that the book is quite short though. I know that the book is left open for a sequel but I felt that the author could have made this novel a bit longer. It seemed that just as I was getting into the book and then it was over. Not only was it over but it was over with a cliffhanger. I liked the character of Sally (the undead); she was self assured and strong. There is a scene where she jumps out of a moving vehicle (just after she finds out how she originally died). In this scene Sally just seems kick ass. She thinks that Bocnic is trying to hurt her so she throws herself out of the car. She is anything but meek although this could have been to her detriment but I found it to be a positive attribute. It shows us that from the get-go she is willing to fight for what she believes in. While this novel is, I suppose, considered to have paranormal elements to it, I don't feel that it is forced or in your face. Some novels in this genre go a bit too far and end up losing their characters for the sake of fantasy worlds. This is not the case for this novel. There are paranormal elements but Santo is able to keep the authenticity of this characters in the midst of this. Overall, I quite enjoyed this novel but I wish it would have been longer. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

[Susanna Mahoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover attracted this reader to want to read what was between the covers. Thinking it was another zombie book, I was pleasantly surprised by the writings and incorporation of all sorts of characters from vampires, werewolves, ghosts, even the Sac squash creature, oh don't forget the shift changers. The book borders on horror but there are comedic scenes in it. I read one to my teens and they went off to debate making up their own fantasy characters.
The sarcastic twist on life in general keeps the reader entertained and compels them to want to complete this short story. The lure of wild insane lusty sex about to occur and proof.. The tricks and devices to contain the characters are genius; golden handcuffs, liquid portions, and other trinkets. The traitors following their enemies. The fighting scenes. The visions of horrific death, makes the reader's heart race. The addition of other characters being hunted and the action scenes make this book worth the purchase price alone. The element of chase keeps the rider anticipating the capture or rescue of the heroes., as they are chased into hid-outs.
The conclusion is powerful yet leaves the reader wanting more.
In the author's words; The coming trial looked bleak. There were only so may ways that a you dismember a body, unless Mathyas was busy dreaming up new and crueler ways to deal the sentence out. Bo would not put it past him to try out new twisted torture to liven up the crowd.
This is a keeper and should be stored in your library. A book to take out to chase away the blues at the same time get your heart racing.

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Receiving this book through the GoodReads First Reads program was a pleasant surprise, indeed.
Even though I am writing this review a bit removed from when I finished reading the book, I can still vividly recall the story and the world Santo created. Sally and Bocnic are interesting characters, drawing you into their 'lives' (using that word loosely!). Sally is a blank slate, whose story is just beginning. Bocnic is mysterious and has a rich history, the edges of which have only been hinted at. That's to say nothing of the other curious characters who flesh out the supernatural world. By the end of the book I found myself wishing I had the next in the series waiting on my bedside table.
My one criticism is that the book could use some (more?) editing. Little hiccups in the writing pulled me out of the story from time to time, but not enough to kill the experience. I am looking forward to the sequel!

[Isis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was honored to receive a copy of the ebook for free, in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.

Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to meet zombies like you've never met before. Mr. Santo has a whole new vision for the genre, and it is as unusual as the story is entertaining. Full of fascinating characters that follow a well developed story arc, you can't really go wrong with this book. Just get comfortable before you crack the spine, because you won't be going anywhere until you've finished this from cover to cover.

Sally Mertill wakes to find herself in a morgue of all places, only to find herself looking up into the face of a total stranger. Completely confused, Sally asks what is going on and who he is. Explaining that his name is Bocnic, but everyone just calls him Bo, he tells her he is there to help her & will explain everything, but first they must leave before anyone sees them. In a state of semi-shock, Sally goes with him, making it to a car he had parked just outside the side door to the basement of the hospital.

As they are driving away from the morgue Bo tries to explain to Sally that she is now one of the undead. Not like comics or horror movies, but undead nonetheless. He asks her the last thing she can remember, which was friends visiting her in Denver. She took them on a tour of the area including hiking, then everything goes all foggy and she can't recall a thing. She panics and begins to think this guy is a whack job, and she was nuts for trusting him, so she does the only thing she can think of and jumps out of the moving car. It was moving fast enough that her tuck and roll didn't work too well, as she bounced upon impact, causing her to untuck. By the time she stopped moving she was wrapped around a street-post, and only able to move her head.

Bo immediately backs up to hide her from oncoming traffic while he goes over to her and explains that be all rights she should be dead. In fact, had she been living she would be dead now. But now that she's undead essentially nothing can kill her. The whole time Bo is putting her back together, breaking and resetting bones, popping joints back together and finally fixing her spine he tells her more about her 'new' life. How it will take her body a while to fully die before the magic that sustains her truly settles in, which means she will still need to eat, use the restroom, and will still feel pain. Once finished it takes Sally about 30 minutes before she manages to get up again & stagger to the car, surprising Bo by just how fast she recovers.

They hole up in a hotel room for a day so Bo can explain the undead 'life' to Sally. He ends up staying longer than planned as he discovers that she is one of the undead effected by the sunset, what the undead call the "sun-downing crazies" - and in Sally's case lust is her "crazy." Eventually Bo leaves her, giving her a pile of cash to get herself started again.

Before heading out to buy necessities Sally turns on the TV to find her picture is plastered everywhere. There is a story of her accident and how she just walked out of the morgue, that clearly a mistake had been made and she must have wandered away in confusion. Everyone was looking for her. Sally hacks off her hair with the blades from her razor and to help change her appearance, then ventures out for supplies, including hair dye.

Meanwhile Bo sees the story and rushes back to the hotel room. He plans to take Sally to an undead camp outside of Aspen, when members of The Church try to catch them. The Church is an evil organization that has been around for ages, dedicating themselves to ridding the world of the undead. For some reason they have a really intense desire for Sally. They manage to elude The Church agents, and Sally goes to the camp to begin her training with the shaman, Larry.

It is at that point that things go from wild to crazy, as the threats to Sally, and by extension Bo, multiply drastically. What has happened to brings all of this down on Sally? Will they both survive? A serious cliffhanger ending, but since I'm lucky enough to have the second book in the series I'm not too upset about it.

[AudioBookReviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

My full Temperature: Dead and Rising audiobook review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Sally wakes up naked in an unfamiliar place with no memories of how or when she got there. She is in the city morgue with a male stranger standing over her. Only to find that all of her friends that were in the car while touring Pike's Peak in Colorado were all killed. She was brought back to life through black magic and a centuries old undead sorcerer. Even though Sally is "alive" once more, actually she is now undead. She is now, for lack of a better term, invincible. Even though her body still thinks she is alive, therefore craving for food, drink and even sex. Now they are both on the run from the Church, not sure if this means the Christians or just a fanatic organization of undead hunters.

This was an interesting black magic undead adventure that was interesting. I feel like the story was told really fast with little description drawing me in. I think it was the narration that prevented me from connecting to anything in the story. Allowing my attention to be swayed.

Full of paranormal creatures, sex, violence, mystery and intrigue. Santo truly has a vivid imagination and I think that he will continue to evolve as the series does. For that reason I will not shy away from more of his work.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

[ReadandRated · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-fi/fantasy isn't a genre I usually read (although I confess to having loved the Twilight series), so it took me a little while to get to grips with the premise of main character Sally being undead.

The opening scene in the morgue was great, very atmospheric. The bit where Bo and Sally first drive off in a car was again very good, it had a realistic feel to it. Overall, I thought the world created by Santo was great, with the Church being the bad guys and heaps of mistrust and suspicion throughout everyone else - even though they were effectively on the same side.

The descriptions of magic and spells were all believable and it was easy to follow the concept that Sally has great powers than expected which I guess will develop further in future books.

I've stuck at 3.5 stars for a few reasons, there were a couple of areas where it was a little confusing, there were a few typos and it just felt it fell short of having a killer hook.

Having said that I think, especially for the teen market, this debut novel has the makings of a great series, Temperature: Dead and Rising was inventive, packed full of magic and fantasy with a healthy dose of sexual tension and I think the rest of the series will improve and develop as it goes along. It's a nice touch that the book has a sprinkling of humour throughout which means that the story wasn't scary!

[Ginger Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because of all the positive 4 star reviews. After reading it I truly believe that those who gave this 3 or 4 stars MUST be the authors friends and family. While I respect anyone who self publishes- the writing leaves a little something to be desired, the character development is severely lacking and while the concept is great; it is just poorly executed. Hopefully the author can pull everything together in the next installment because he created a whole new angle on the whole paranormal/zombie/undead world. Unfortunately in this 1st book, the choppy dialogue and poor writing style were a huge distraction from what could've been a good plot.