The Curien Island chain is infested with the walking dead… and they wear glass jars on their heads tightly sealed to their necks. Yeah – that should give you a horrific visual. Drug traffickers collide with the locals and the US Navy. It’s really quite a mess as the world falls apart. On top of that, Rand Bergeron, creator of the virtual reality gizmo and sex programs, is right smack in the middle of this as well. It’s quite logical that a twisted religious cult would rise up out of all this mess, lead by Sonntag. I loved hating on Sonntag! He was the most despicable character but also a powerful force that pushes all the other heavy hitters around.

My favorite character was Libby West. She’s trapped walking this thin line under Admiral Fall. She wants to keep her men safe and also help the remaining humans but Admiral Fall has some twisted ideas. West tries again and again to hold to some healthy morals as people around her stray ever further into one flavor of depravity or another.

It took me some time to get into this book. First, the zombies jar heads (while an awesome scary image) just wasn’t practical. Where do they get all these jars? What happens when they break? Zombies are clumsy. Then the story spent time on this fancy new tech from Bergeron which was at odds with this nitty gritty zombie infestation. But once all the characters clashed together, the story worked a lot better for me.

Tuan Jim was a fun character because he kept popping up in unexpected places. I loved it when he squared off with Sonntag. Martigan, while an important character, was only so-so for me. Hannibal Mo was more memorable, along with Kurtz and how they lend a much needed helping hand to Butch (a stow away).

The story takes a devious turn in the last quarter that I didn’t see coming. Yet I did wonder about Bergeron’s virtual reality collars. They have a little needle that slips between the vertebrae…. and injects something? There was line about the collars needing a refill? So I had questions about the collars and their final use.

All in all, it was a mash of fun ideas that could have been tightened up a bit. Most of the characters were one-dimensional and I wanted the details about the tech to be clearer. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Jennifer Fournier did a great job with this narration. She had a variety of character voices, complete with accents. Her male voices were believable. There were plenty of emotions in this story and Fournier portrayed them well. 5/5 stars.

*I read this book for my own enjoyment.

When Jack receives a text from his fiancee asking for help, Jack is determined to transverse the divided country and dangerous lands to come to her aid. From California to the far East coast he goes, crossing battle lines in America's civil war.

We get two stories in this book. Where Jack is currently as he tells his story of why and how he got here. Each chapter is one of the two places, keeping the feel as though he's in the moment. It's easy to follow as he does have a lead in at the end of current chapters to let us know he's returning to the story.

This world is crazy divided! So many issues in America. The country is divided by these issues and at war with itself. Everyone's beliefs have come to strong points and they will stand by them. We see these strong differences as Jack travels across the country and lives through each place. This story was written and published over a year ago, but it's something that strongly relates to the many different beliefs in our country, something that makes us strong but could easily divide us as well - like it does here.

The different divisions of America have their own slang to go with their beliefs. At times the slang slowed me a tad as I was reading, making me think on what the words meant again. Thankfully Stephen has a glossary for the words at the beginning. I suggest taking a glance over these so you are aware going in. I did and it helped place the words. But eventually I came to read the words and keep going, aware they were slang and what they meant.

When the book started, I was curious to see how Jack would get away from the firing squad. Then I grew curious of what Jack tells he's come across on his way to help his fiancee, and what trouble she was in. As his travels start, I became interested in the world that was new yet old. There were small curiosities that I wanted to know more about, like the woman that decided to travel with him. In the sections where Jack is currently I was lead to wonder if Jack's really telling a tall tale or if it was all true. I wasn't sure, and wanted to find that out too. And I learn all these things.

Jack's story shows how he's grown to become friends with people in two of the three fighting fractions in America. These three shouldn't be friends, they are of the different divisions of the world, but they are. They've risen above the lines of Red, Blue, or White and beliefs that are strong to become more. We see it through what they live through and their actions to help each other.

Thinking on the three friends, I really like the moral that is portrayed here. There is a reason behind the story and something to think on. A feel that all can be friends no matter beliefs, as long as you are willing. Something wonderful about this book, through all these characters live through and the moral you pick up on in the end, there is a lightness to the story that makes the traveling Jack's done seem as though it's a story to keep him safe from the firing squad. There is a ease at which the characters converse that keeps the story light.

This journey all fits together in the last few chapters. How all the people Jack meet on his journey are connected in the world. We learn why Jack is here. And does Jack finally find Lara?

For me this was a light, fun read that had more depth to it than I realized until the end. It was enjoyable.

A man wakes up, face down in the pool with a bullet wound in his chest. He doesn’t remember his name, his life or how he got there – or how he died. Or how he’s still walking around.

 

He is a zombie and he has so much to learn about that – a full list of questions in fact. As he learns how to survive as an alcohol soaked member of the undead he finds his habit of asking questions sets him up to solve many other cases.

Braineater Jones, zombie PI, with many questions, few answers and a whole whacky noir world to navigate.

 

 

 

This book gets definite points for originality. Sentient zombies – but sentient rotting zombies, sentient rotting zombies with a shelf-life, memory issues and a society which semi-acknowledges them but only to put them on the very bottom of the social ladder. It’s definitely an interesting concept

 

That setting is the late 1920s/early 1930s and has a very film noir setting with shades of Prohibition (prohibition is over but the town is still dry) which is especially difficult for the zombies who need alcohol to keep their mental facilities. Without which they degrade quickly and become braineaters, marauding monsters of movie legend. Which is a fate that awaits them eventually anyway as their bodies and minds rot

 

This makes Braineater a slur among their community and more than one vampire is outraged by Jones, who doesn’t remember much or anything of his human life, chooses to use it as a name.

 

The story itself is very very twisty in classic Noir style. We have shocks and surprises. We have twists and turns. There’s lots of double crossing and lots of misdirection and lots of people being the complete opposite of what you expect them to be. The whole idea of what’s being explored and examined changes from chapter to chapter with Jones both desperately trying to drag up some memories of his past life, some indication of who he was and why he died – or who killed him since he has a big bullet hole. Throwing in just learning what it means to be a zombie on tip of that – there’s a lot to get through.

 

And that’s something of the problem. There’s a lot to get through and the book isn’t that long and we just sprint through it all. Along the way we kind of lose things like motivation, development or exploration. I don’t know why Jones has decided to become a detective. He doesn’t exactly do a lot of work to figure out who he was nor to really try and regain his memories. He becomes super suspicious about people and I’m not quite sure where the suspicion comes from. He develops friendships and positions where I’m not sure where they’ve come from and many of them apparently become passionate and deep very quickly.

 

It feels like we have an excellent book, or even an excellent series of books, with complete interesting world building and a really twisty complex storyline. But then it felt like an over-eager editor decided to cut huge chunks of development and exploration from the book leaving it all a bit too fast and just a bit hollow and unsupported in places.

 

 

Interestingly this book has a preamble from the author in which they are conscious that this story is written at a time where prejudices were overt and common and that the voices of the characters reflect that. Basically it has a foreward warning that recognises and cautions that overt sexism, homophobia and racism will be present in this book to reflect the time. It’s interesting and positive to have this kind of warning at the front of the book and an overt acknowledgement that this language is harmful to people.

 

At the same time it’s almost surprising because I have read waaay worse without the “excuse” of a historical context – it’s almost like the warning should be in another book. Sure the language is far from appropriate but largely not gratuitous in its references. I appreciate the warning but have to say the book itself, which contains POC and bisexual people and women, doesn’t apply anachronistic acceptance but nor does it really revel in the bigotry it could. There are Black characters, a fairly major Latino character, a bisexual protagonist and some powerful women.

 

 

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I am a huge fan of vampires - books, movies - and feel great disappointment when they fall flat. When this came across my desk, I was both excited and a little weary. I am a big fan of Stephen Kozeniewski's writing... and definitely had high hopes with this one.

 

This was, hands down, an amazing vampire book. It was different, but gave me that warm feeling I get when I read about authentic vampires. You know what I'm talking about. The ones that are pompous and vicious, who have no soul and don't care... the depraved and evil ones. All wrapped up with that sarcasm I love from Stephen's characters.

 

Cicatrice is my favorite in the book. He reminds me a lot of Viktor from Underworld, but with enough differences to make me truly intrigued. Carter, the Vampire Hunter, is perfect. Both are extremely well written.

 

And the one targeting the vampires?! Just wow.

 

There is action and adventure. There is heart-pounding, suspense-filled moments... that all end in ways that you don't expect them to. And the end of the book left me wanting so much more from this story. So good. And a definite NEED TO READ for this holiday season.

 

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This is one of the first audio books I have listened to where the narrator went utterly cheesy with the voices . It could have failed horribly but it was actually the perfect choice. Steve Rimpici had me cracking up, and yet somehow managed to still get me invested in the story.

Braineater Jones was an entertaining listen both for the story and the narration. While the basic idea of a dead guy walking and investigating what happened to him has been done before (Down Solo), the twists that the author put on it were refreshingly unique. I enjoyed seeing how things were going to play out and found myself constantly surprised. There was a section at the end that I re-wound and listened to like three times just to make sure I was perfectly clear on what had happened. A hazard of driving and listening, I guess.

This is not a book to listen to if you are easily offended. There are multiple elements that could offend. If you are sensitive to abortions/miscarriages/thoughts of dead babies, you may want to give this a pass. However, I've lost a child, and I had no problem with it. The way it was used was disturbing and weird enough that it never really 'clicked' as a problem for me.

I think this was a great job overall .

I received a copy of this book for a group listen in Goodreads.