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Jeffrey Littorno

Autor/a de Soul Hostage

7 obres 24 Membres 7 Ressenyes

Obres de Jeffrey Littorno

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What starts off as just another ordinary day for best friends Joey and Thomas (ordinary when you're a criminal that is) takes an unexpected turn when they grab a hostage who claims he can lead them to a score so big they'll never have to pull another robbery. Well as they say, what sounds too good to be true usually is, and this claim was no exception. Something is just not quite right about this hostage from the very beginning, and then it gets worse from there. A very enjoyable story with an ending I nearly didn't see coming until I was 80% finished with the book.
I received a complimentary copy to review.
… (més)
 
Marcat
IreneCole | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jul 27, 2022 |
ABR's original Surviving When the Dead Have Risen audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

This was a great extension of the first!

There are new characters in this one. Fortunately they are for the most part pretty intelligent and are now starting to realize that life is not as they once knew it. It’s still only a few days in, however, so the entire zombie apocalypse thing is a new one for them. This explains a lot of their stupidity, like using guns, or even once A CHAINSAW! But, they realized that noise brings in the shells (Jeffrey Littorno’s usage for zombie) and they try to keep it down. After a while they even decide to control their gun use even though they know it will bring them closer to the shells.

The zombies are not talking as much. The characters are all trying to hypothesize why and what is going on. They wind up making up some pretty reasonable excuses for what is going on. I was impressed although it took them a while.

I really enjoyed reading about Lawrence. He seems to be able to snap back easily. He’s very optimistic even though he has lived a really hard life and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the others alive. Normally this means sitting back and watching the young girl that is with them. This is great! Having a hero like this just really makes me happy. He’s being a hero without being in everyone’s face about it. Especially around these egomaniacs.

Sadly, there were some of the same issues as book one. Constantly going off mentally like you’re Walter Mitty is NOT going to keep you alive. This should be a rule. Do not visualize stupid crap while in an apocalypse. I do understand that to a point nobody will want to be in that situation, but visualizing other crap and leaving, even for a few seconds, mentally will put you and everyone else at risk. In a word, it is: stupid.

Some of the drama is built off of dreams and visualizing again. I really hate these parts. If there is going to be drama, I mean it is the zombie apocalypse, then do not make it up! It just goes back to the last paragraph. There is enough drama around to not put yourself (or a reader) through this.

The audio was fantastic. Todd Menessess does a fantastic job of making me feel like the zombie apocalypse is real. I could listen to this narrator all day long. He is perfect for this type of story. I looked up Todd’s work and it seems like he has done many zombie stories. His voice totally fits the grit and terror that these stories evoke.

In short: A really good story. I liked the characters more in this one. Really enjoying Jeffrey Littorno’s take on zombies. It’s refreshing and bloody!

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.
… (més)
½
 
Marcat
audiobibliophile | Nov 9, 2015 |
ABR's original Surviving When the Dead Have Risen: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

There were certain things in this that really gave me chills! First off, zombies that talk?! That is an issue!

My daughter and I had an entire conversation about this. When zombies can do things that are too human-like, then we have issues. Like running. Why would zombies just stop running all of a sudden. Yes, they are dead, but those muscles were just recently dead. The ability to talk calls in the same question.

The idea of this really gave me the creeps! It was such a great addition, especially since these “zombies” or in this book they are called shells, have literally JUST DIED. And mostly from a cold. So, I really enjoyed this turn of events and how the author really went out of the way to make readers look at zombies differently.

There were a few other areas where I was creeped out but really the talking thing was the pinnacle for me, and that was at the beginning. The narrator did a freaking fantastic job of upping the creep factor to intense! And the audio was fantastic so in the creepy times, they were full on “get me out of here, I want to leave” moments. Not often felt, even with horror, lately.

That being said, although the narration by Todd Menesses and audio was fantastic, the plot gave way a bit. I don’t understand at all why there had to be an issue in the main couple’s marriage, nor why Kevin did the things he did. He would choose to do something that would make me shake my head, and not things that I know from being a zombie reader, I mean things like eating all of his food in one furious sitting! And then he got sick later which of course pissed me off! Blockhead!

The story has its ups and downs. I really liked how they got to calling them shells and it fits the story line, but a lot did not fit. I also wanted to have more empathy for the characters but the more mistakes they made, the less empathy I felt.

In short: This was an interesting story and I am curious about the second but not so much that I would put all my other reads aside. Although it is a good Halloween time read.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.
… (més)
 
Marcat
audiobibliophile | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Oct 28, 2015 |
ABR's original Surviving When the Dead Have Risen: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

There were certain things in this that really gave me chills! First off, zombies that talk?! That is an issue!

My daughter and I had an entire conversation about this. When zombies can do things that are too human-like, then we have issues. Like running. Why would zombies just stop running all of a sudden. Yes, they are dead, but those muscles were just recently dead. The ability to talk calls in the same question.

The idea of this really gave me the creeps! It was such a great addition, especially since these “zombies” or in this book they are called shells, have literally JUST DIED. And mostly from a cold. So, I really enjoyed this turn of events and how the author really went out of the way to make readers look at zombies differently.

There were a few other areas where I was creeped out but really the talking thing was the pinnacle for me, and that was at the beginning. The narrator did a freaking fantastic job of upping the creep factor to intense! And the audio was fantastic so in the creepy times, they were full on “get me out of here, I want to leave” moments. Not often felt, even with horror, lately.

That being said, although the narration by Todd Menesses and audio was fantastic, the plot gave way a bit. I don’t understand at all why there had to be an issue in the main couple’s marriage, nor why Kevin did the things he did. He would choose to do something that would make me shake my head, and not things that I know from being a zombie reader, I mean things like eating all of his food in one furious sitting! And then he got sick later which of course pissed me off! Blockhead!

The story has its ups and downs. I really liked how they got to calling them shells and it fits the story line, but a lot did not fit. I also wanted to have more empathy for the characters but the more mistakes they made, the less empathy I felt.

In short: This was an interesting story and I am curious about the second but not so much that I would put all my other reads aside. Although it is a good Halloween time read.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.
… (més)
 
Marcat
audiobibliophile | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Oct 28, 2015 |

Estadístiques

Obres
7
Membres
24
Popularitat
#522,742
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
7
ISBN
3