Sunday, May 6, 2012

Review: Zombie Whisperer by Caterina Torres

Four Starts to Zombie Whisperer by Caterina Torres


I've been reading the short stories on Caterina Torres' blog and I like them, so I expected to like this story. Aside from some typos here and there, it was a good read. There were times when the details bored me, but that's personal preference. (Anyone who knows me, knows I don't care for details at all.) It held my interest throughout and made me want to read and read. I hated when I had to stop reading to do other stuff. And that is what earned Zombie Whisperer four stars from me, it pulled me through to the end and I liked it.

Jane Smith wakes from a week of being sick with the flu to a world full of zombies. She finds her boyfriend and  they start to travel from the West coast to the East-heading for Jane's mother's house. As they drive, Jane realizes she can hear zombies in her head. As if that's not messed up enough, Jane and her boyfriend stop at a gas station and are captured by people who appear to be military. Things go from weird to weirder and plans begin to unfold.

Like usual, if you'd like spoilers (though I think you should just read it), click the read more button. And I really mean SPOILERS!!! So please, make sure that's really what you want before clicking to read more.
Of course, you clicked it, right? Fine...

Jane is held captive by who she thought was military personell, but are really the crazies behind the zombie outbreak. And her sweet loving boyfriend is a part of the crazies.

Cassidy Ryan is the leader of the 'terrorist' group who unleashed a virus on the US making people turn into zombies. Cassidy can read the zombie's thoughts AND control them. Thing is...Jane can too. Oh yeah, and Jane is Cassidy's half sister.

Jane and her boyfriend Josh are captured by Cassidy and Jane learns later that Josh is not the man she thought he was. Once their prisoners, Jane doesn't see Josh for a very long time. She find Josh later and he's being made to do Cassidy's bidding. But later, Josh gets infected with a worse virus and ends up being on Cassidy's side because of it.

While in 'jail', Jane meets a little girl who doesn't talk and she takes the little girl under her wing. When Jane finally escapes, she brings the little girl with her. Problem is, Jane escapes only to be caught by the government.

The government questions Jane and thinks she's on Cassidy's side. Once they learn that she isn't, they drop the terrorist charges on her. But before anything good can happen, Cassidy attacks the secret underground camp that the government is holding Jane in and Cassidy kidnaps Jane again.

Jane wakes up at a house and realizes Cassidy's followers are there. By the end Jane beats Cassidy and the government takes her into custody. In the end, Jane and her 'family' live in peace.

Like I said before, there are typos in the book, but not bad enough that you can't overlook them. And there were a couple chapters that completely lost my interest because of all the details. But overall, the story itself is good. It's a bit of a different take on zombies, it's original and interesting, and so worth reading. I recommend this book to everyone. Go check it out. Check out Caterina Torres' website and read the short stories on her blog, they're good. I look forward to reading more stories from her.


2 comments:

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Every book is gonna have a typo or two in them. I know mine does. So does George R.R. Martin's. Only anal retentive people insist on absolute perfection. All I have to say about that is "good luck in finding perfection."

Kela McClelland said...

I had a reply posted, but I couldn't leave it up. Sometimes misunderstandings happen, and I'm sorry you misunderstood what I was saying Michael.

I didn't mean that the typos in this book were 'horrible' or anything. If I'm reading a book and it has typos throughout the entire book, I'm going to point it out in a review. I've put the typos comment in other reviews.

I know that typos will happen. I know NOBODY is perfect and there is no such thing as perfection. I don't seek it nor do I expect it.

I apologize for the misunderstanding. I didn't mean that typos aren't okay or that I don't think they happen. All I wanted to do was disclose to everyone who may read it that you will notice typos as you read. That's all. Sorry for not wording it right or not making the comment clearer.