Customer Reviews

Dead End

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this book hoping for a new zombie apocalypse type of story, and I was once again disappointed. This book is just another rehash of the standard zombie story. The dead come back to life, chaos ensues, society as we know it collapses, and a small number of people try to make their way through the mess while staying alive. Not really a lot of wiggle room there for alterations, but I always hope that I'll find what I'm looking for.

Now Permuted Press really isn't my favorite publishing house to buy from because of Anthony Giangregario's childish antics and his poor editing and writing skills. But I decided to be fair and give him a chance.

I wasn't expecting anything great, and I wasn't disappointed. However instead of just complain, I'm going to list things I liked and things I didn't like, just to keep it fair. So let's dive right in!

What I Liked:

No explanation of why the dead started to rise. This may be just my personal preference, but when stories try to explain why there are zombies walking around eating people, it takes something away from the story and slows down the action. It's always been my opinion that if the dead began to rise and you were running and fighting for your life, you wouldn't really care where the zombies came from or why they rose from the dead. You'd be too busy trying to just to keep yourself and your loved ones alive, getting food and finding a safe place to sleep.

Slow zombies. I HATE running zombies, or "the infected," or whatever those things from 28 Days Later were. Again, just a personal preference.

Head shots kill the zombies. Romero type zombies that die when you destroy the brain, again, always my favorite type of zombies.

Now for the other side of the argument, which sadly is much longer than what I did like about this book. And I hope you're in for the long haul because I've got a lot to say.

What I Didn't Like:

The constant raping of women. Need I say more?

Timmy - We find out very early in the story that this character is 8 or 9 years old, and later on page 166 the author confirms that Timmy's age is 9. However the actions of the character are more like that of a 4 year old. I have several nieces and nephews and not one of them was this naïve, stupid and uncoordinated when they were 9.

Eve - When we are first introduced to Eve she is portrayed as a smart driven young woman who graduated at the top of her high school class with a scholarship and she was bound for college when the zombie apocalypse began. Yet as soon as the drek hits the fan she turns into the typical damsel in distress simply because there's a couple of big strong men who tell her she has to stay and be their sex slave. Never once does it cross her mind to simply steal a few days worth of food (Which she has round the clock access to), stash it somewhere, then sneak out during the middle of the night and strike out on her own. What happened to the smart, resourceful, opinionated young woman we were introduced to? Did all that just vanish because there are a few big strong men around and she has a uterus?

Paul - In the beginning this character is supposed to be our smart survivalist gun guy. Yet he continually says and does some pretty dumb things that no survivalist in his right mind would do or say. Not bringing extra ammo? No generator at his basement/bunker? Etc.

Now on to the nit picking -

Page 2, Zombies begin rising from the grave. I call B.S. on this one. First of all, in the USA, all graves by law have to be at LEAST 6 feet deep, the lid is either nailed, screwed or latched shut, and there are 6 feet of dirt on top of the coffin. I don't care if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're not gonna bust through a coffin, and then push through that much dirt. It's just physically impossible.

Page 4, Adam's parents die and he buries them in his back yard. Yes the whole world is dying, the dead are devouring the living everywhere, looters are running rampant, the dead are roaming the streets, it's not safe to go outside... yet he had time to dig two graves. Yep, makes perfect sense.

Page 5, Adam picks up the phone and realizes he has no family to call. Wait, you just said on page 4 that you had "extended family that lived out of state." I'm not a genius but I'm pretty sure that counts as someone to call to tell them that their brother/sister/in-laws are dead.

Page 10, The president of the US comes on TV and Paul says, "What do you think he's going to say?" WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE'S GOING TO TALK ABOUT!?! Gas prices!?! Trade relations with China!?! His stance on stem cell research!?! He's going to talk about the zombies and what the authorities plan to do about it! I thought this guy was supposed to be smart, what smart guy looks out his window, sees a bunch of flesh-eating zombies walking around, then wonders what the special report interrupting daytime television is going to be about!?!

Page 11, The president says "keep posted to your television..." ummm, don't you mean "stay tuned?"

Page 13, The phrase "State police," is used, in that exact way. State is capitalized and police is not. State AND police should both be capitalized, it's the name of a branch of state government. Did anyone edit this thing?

Page 15, The word "China" is capitalized when it's being used to refer to wedding china, not the country. It's official, no one edited this at all.

Page 15 (again), "The zombies merged to form one entity..." Were they combining to form Voltron?

Page 16, A van crashes into a building across the street and Adam and Paul just watch as a man and a woman are dragged screaming from the wreckage and are eaten alive. Then they hear the crying of a child, and suddenly they spring into action! Adam states, "I can't let a kid get slaughtered!" But he'll sit and watch the kid's parents get slaughtered and not bat an eye? Nice guy huh?

Page 16 (again), Josey (Paul's wife) sees the men tooling up for battle to go save the crying child and says "Will you two hurry!" So what is she? Chopped liver? What's stopping her from grabbing a gun and running to help the child too? Just a few pages ago Adam stated what a "strong efficient woman" she was. Plus later we find out on page 94 that she's an even better shot with a gun than her husband is. So remind me again why she can't leave the shelter to go help? Is the fact that she has two X chromosomes stopping her?

Page 17, Paul and Adam leave the shelter to go save the child. Paul says to Adam, "Make sure the safety is off or this is gonna be a short trip." Ummm, I'll admit it's important to take the safety off your weapon before you fire it, but if he forgets that means the whole mission has to be aborted? It takes less than a heartbeat to take the safety off a pistol. The author obviously doesn't know much about firearms. (More on this later).

Page 20, This is where the moronic Timmy is introduced. The 9 yr old whose parents were just slaughtered in front of his eyes, yet he asks, "Where's my mom and dad?" Moron, did you not see them just being ripped from the car and being devoured by the living dead not 10 feet in front of you!?! Did you not hear them screaming as their flesh was being ripped from their bodies?!

Page 20 (again) Paul states now that they have Timmy that they have to get moving because they have "depleted their ammo." First of all, Adam has his revolver (6 rounds), plus a Browning pistol (which has a 10-13 round clip depending on the model), and Paul has a hunting rifle, (5-10 rounds depending on what kind it is) A possible maximum total of 29 rounds, and a minimum of 21 rounds. On the same page it says there are only 12 zombies around, how exactly did they deplete their ammo? Plus I thought Paul was a "Smart survivalist," what kind of "smart survivalist" forgets to put a few extra clips/shells into his pockets when he's going into a combat situation?

Page 20 (yet again) Adam is carrying Timmy on his back and states that Timmy is "50 pounds of dead weight." Are Timmy's legs broken? He can't walk/run himself? What kinda 9 year old can't run 100 feet from one house, across the street, to the back yard of another house and into the basement?

Page 22, The lights go out because the power grid has finally failed, plunging the basement into darkness. Paul responds with a very colorful curse which I won't repeat here. So they're screwed? What kind of "smart survivalist" doesn't have his own generator? Heck I have one in my house, it's just enough to keep the fridge, lights and hot water heater running when the lights go out during an emergency. They're cheap and easy to get. So if a schmuck like me can get/afford one, why can't this "smart survivalist" have one?

Later we go on to meet the Reverend, our medicated schizophrenic man of God. His medication has run out and instantly he begins hallucinating that a statue of Jesus is talking to him. First of all, the man is very intelligent. He knows he has been medically diagnosed as a schizophrenic. He states that he has been taking his medication for 10 years and has been a normal fully functional member of society. Yet as soon as he sees a statue talking to him he instantly believes it's real? He doesn't question this? He doesn't think, okay I knew this was coming? As someone who worked with actual schizophrenics I can tell you that the change from medicated to unmedicated does not go this quickly, and most of them are able to understand what is real and what isn't as the medicine is being removed from their system due to withdrawal. The author obviously did no research whatsoever on schizophrenia. I don't mind when authors use schizophrenia as a plot device, but at LEAST get your facts straight.

Page 25, The reverend runs to the doors of the church and closes the doors. However he only "catches a brief glimpse outside." Yet from that glimpse he can take in all the smashed up cars, the many dead bodies, and count how many zombies are outside? That's a pretty thorough "brief glimpse." On the same page he uses some lamp oil to make some improvised Molotov cocktails to burn some zombies. I don't have a problem with that, but the way that the author writes it is just all wrong. It states that the fire quickly dispatches the zombies but dies before it can "burn the hard wood of the stairs." Okay first of all, if the fire died before it could burn wood, then it didn't have time to get past the zombies' skulls to destroy their brains and kill them. Bones burn at 1,598 degrees Fahrenheit, wood burns at 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit. You do the math.

Page 36, Adam stops outside to answer a call of nature in the bushes. Yet for some reason when he's "grunting," he doesn't notice that someone has grabbed his ankle. Can't say that I've ever been "grunting" so much that I wouldn't be able to notice someone grabbing my ankle.

At this point there is something upstairs in Paul and Josey's house banging around knocking things over and crashing around. It turns out it's a zombie who's like 7 feet tall and is like 300 pounds, and build like a linebacker, yet it's blind because it's eyes were clawed out by zombies. Now this was a really cool scene! In the ocean of this badly written book, this scene really stands out! Kudos to Anthony G on this scene!

Well except for when Paul tells Adam not to shoot his gun when they are upstairs for "fear that it will attract more zombies." Yet they'll "Laugh long and hard for a full five minutes," without a second thought?

Page 54, Adam states that his mother is laying dead in a bed 25 feet away. Noooo... on page 4 you said you buried her. Did you dig her back up and put her back in her bed?

Page 79, We switch to a FEMA/Army rescue station, where the soldiers have "their rifles hanging at their sides." Since when does anyone have their rifle "hanging at their side"? Do you mean they have their weapons over their shoulder on the strap? Or are they on patrol with the gun across their chest, the barrel pointed at the ground, the butt of the rifle at their shoulder and their finger on the trigger guard? The only time a soldier's weapon would actually be "at their side" would be if they are in formation during a drill or in parade formation standing at attention. Again the author knows very little about firearms.

Page 90, "Eve slumped in her pew, tired and exhausted." Tired and exhausted are two different degrees of the same emotion and shouldn't be used in the same sentence to describe one person. You don't say "I'm starving, and I'm hungry too." You don't say "I am ecstatic and I'm happy too." You don't say "That coffee is scalding hot! And it's a little warm too." If that wasn't bad enough, the author makes the EXACT SAME MISTAKE on the next page!

Page 95, Timmy gets to go outside and he "runs around the yard like a wind-up toy." Again, what 9 yr old does this? This is more the behavior of a 4 yr old.

Page 95, Zombie cop is in riot gear (Reminds me of L4D2). "The man's entire body was encased in his uniform." So then how was he bitten to turn him into a zombie if his entire body was protected?

Page 96, A zombie cop smells the sweet scent of warm human flesh we know as Timmy and comes crashing through the hedges to find the boy. The zombie gnashes his teeth, raises his arms to attack...and he just stands there. Literally. He just STANDS THERE. Paul calls Timmy away from the motionless zombie, and Timmy doesn't want to. Does he not smell the rotting corpse in front of him? Does he have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever? Did no one tell him that there were flesh-eating zombies outside the basement and that he should be careful?

Page 97, The zombie cop was "bitten on the neck." Okay so his entire body WASN'T covered by the riot gear after all, so he must have not had the face shield down when he was overwhelmed, right? Nope, Paul tries to shoot the zombie cop in the face and the bullet bounces off the face shield. Okay so the face shield IS down. So then how did he get bitten on the neck? Modern riot gear has it's face mask end like 2 inches above the chest. The zombie that bit him was able to squeeze it's head into 2 inches of space to bite him? But then why is he worried? The zombie doesn't have the intelligence to know how to move the mask up, so he can't bite Timmy. If the face shield can stop a round from a 9mm pistol then it sure as hell can stop a zombie's teeth. You know what, screw it, let's move on.

Page 104, Our heroes raid a convenience store for supplies. Adam goes to grab a case of beer from the freezer, and a zombie grabs his hand. (Land of the Dead), yet he doesn't realize he's been grabbed until he tries to stand up with the beer and feels the resistance. How do you not feel when someone is grabbing your wrist? I don't care how bad you want some beer, you're gonna be able to feel when someone grabs your wrist.

Page 106, Adam says to Paul, "Maybe you can spell me for a while." What the heck!?! That doesn't even make sense! I can't even think of a situation where you'd even say that sentence!

Page 117, A family (mother and father) shows up with a sick little girl with a bite on her arm. Should we just call them the Coopers? (Night of the Living Dead).

Page 129, We already have many rape scenes in this book, do we really need a dream sequence where a man's member is bitten off by his zombie wife, and it's described in graphic detail as the blood oozes out the mangled stump?

Page 130, A 9 yr old child is unable to hold a cup of water straight so he doesn't spill any of it and chew something at the same time? Again, Timmy's character would make much more sense if he was 4, not 9.

Page 132, As they drive into the city that the convenience store is on the outskirts of, an old newspaper blows up onto one of the gas pumps, and the title reads "City Overrun With the Dead, Evacuation Ordered." (Day of the Dead)

Page 141, While on the road Adam is jumped by a zombie and he jams his knife into it's ear to kill it. (Dawn of the Dead. We've almost made a complete circuit and stolen something from 4 out of 5 of Romero's films! All that's left is for them to run into a group of students filming a documentary about the zombie uprising and we'll have come full circle).

Page 177 A car from the church drives up on our friends and everyone gets out of sight, except for the incredibly moronic little Timmy, who runs out into plain sight while yelling, "I want to see the car!" He's 9 yrs old, and he's been in and around cars his entire life. Why is he so excited to see this particular car? It's not like he's gonna run up and be like, "Oh wow! This car can fly and gum drops come out of the tailpipe!" It's just a car. Yet again, this is something a 4 yr old would do.

Page 181, Paul is shot by Roy. Roy shoots him with a 9mm pistol and Paul "goes flying." Yes you read that right, a bullet from a 9mm pistol sent a grown man "flying" when he was in a sitting position. Okay first of all, a 9mm bullet is about the size of a pencil eraser and doesn't have enough power behind it to send anyone flying. Now if Roy had shot Paul with a shotgun at point blank range, THAT would send him flying. A 9mm would only knock him back a step, maybe two.

There is more to this book and I could continue, but I think I've gotten my point across. The book is filled with inconsistencies, there are plot holes everywhere, and there are grammatical errors all over the place. It's very obvious that the book wasn't edited by anyone but the author himself.

This book is just a carbon copy of every other novel that Anthony churns out every 3 months, and it's just as bad. You'd think someone who's an author with dozens of published works under their belt could afford a halfway decent editor, but I guess he doesn't feel that's necessary.

I will say this though, the book had promise and if the author did some more revisions to the story, did some actual research into medicine and firearms, and hired a good editor, he could have made this much better. As it is, it reads as if it was a second draft of a manuscript that was submitted to a publisher to be considered for future publication.

And now I shall sit back and await Anthony to spam this review under his many screen names, and for him to rally his friends and family to flame me as he does with anyone who gives him a bad review instead of listening to constructive criticism and learning from it.

Suzy Q, where are you? ;-)

I am a big fan of zombie and apocalyptic horror and have enjoyed every other title I've read from Permuted Press, however this book is so poorly written and the story so flat I couldn't force myself to read more than a few chapters, despite wanting to give it a chance since I paid full price for it at a local brick & mortar book store.

I usually have to force myself to stop reading similar books and couldn't put down Day by Day Armageddon, Dying to Live, and Thunder and Ashes, all from the same publisher. If you love the genre, Permuted Press has a lot of incredible titles, but this is not one of them.

Giangregorio seems to have a whole slew of zombie novels here on Amazon, none of which had any reviews before the first reviewer took a chance on this one. I was a little leery with numerous titles and no reviews, worried that somehow I was not privy to some sort of self publishing joke. There are plenty of bad zombie novels out there and I have read quite a few. I am not one to avoid anything with a zombie in it, so I was bound to try this author out. I am just glad to have had someone else take the leap before I did.

This is definitely a self published work (I have not heard of the company Xlibris before, but I am guessing that they are much like I Universe and others giving an author a chance to print their own stuff). There are definitely typos in this story, a lot of too for to and vice versa, some misplaced " marks, etc. but really one of the better self published efforts. A good editor could have really sharpened this story up and tightened the errors and a few awkward phrases here and there but the author has done a good job of creating a vivid story with characters you can appreciate as real and grow attached to through the story.

Our main character is Adam, who is coping with the death of his parents at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. He is taken in by his neighbors, Paul and Josey, who are hiding out in their cellar as the world around them crumbles. After a few weeks stuck underground they begin to run out of food and start to search for other survivors.

Don't expect any major twists on the Romero zombie formula. For me that is not a problem, as I enjoy the traditional stuff as well as the variations that are out there. For me, zombie stories are about the scares and the character development. Give me the gore and the emotions that go along with a worldwide apocalypse where the dead have come back to eat the living. We get a healthy dose of slimy humans reminding us of how much worse we are than the undead who cannot help being what they are. The depravity of mankind is fully on display in this tale.

Again, nothing shocking here but a solid story by an author I am certain I will be checking out again. If you like your zombie stories traditional, with a side order of wretched humanity thrown in, this is a good book to pick up.

I almost put the book down after reading the first page. Characters are 2D, not individuals in the slightest. All the tense moments fall flat, and overall the story is very predictable. Not to mention he managed to make classic mistakes that writers are taught not to do in any basic writing class.

The best part of the book was the short story they tossed in the back, not the title story. It was surprisingly very good, and I enjoyed it. Perhaps the author should stick to short stories.

this was the first and last i picked up for this series, its way too long for a book thats not very captivating, i found myself skimming through most of it. the main characters are boring and as uninteresting as the book and also seem to be alot dumber that the zombies. dont bother wasting your time on this one. no good cliffhangers. no good plot lines. theres just no good in this book.

I liked the story, maybe it's because I'm in the Army, not as smart as some English professor. I just fly helicopters, you know, simple stuff. I read the book, like I've done many z-books and got sucked into the story. Sure the main character may have done some dumb things, but that is the story, I'm not reading an RPG, it is not me. I'm reading about characters in a book. As for grammar, who cares if there was a few bumps in the road as long as I got the whole picture of what was going on. This book is not as bad as some people say, it's a good story and if you are a z-book lover then it is one you should get. The ending was cool, of course I beat myself up over it and scream WHY???? But that is what is cool about it, events in the story STICK with you.

Where do I start. Good idea of banding together but the idea of a large group of survivors letting themselves be treated like slaves? Far-fetched at best. Add in that it is poorly written with almost a "see Spot run" style makes this one to avoid.

Just got a kindle and bought a bunch of zombie novels. I had a hard time getting into the story at first but was able to make it through the whole story eventually. Some grammatical errors here and there but I tend to not let that take me from the story. A couple of characters I liked but for the most part I didn't really care who bit the dust.

I would recommend this if you have nothing better to do but if you are really looking for a great zombie read...you may want to skip this one.

Salvatore Scibona's National Book award shortlisted debut novel, //The End//, transports his readers to the Italian suburb of Elephant Park, Ohio, circa 1953. Rich characters populate the landscape, from the baker who refuses to admit that his POW son has died before returning home, to the aristocratic abortionist who imagines herself the guardian of the community she feels slipping away.

Layered, nuanced, and often poetic prose testify to this author's extraordinary gifts. Unfortunately, as with many debuts, overwrought, oversculpted writing and a self-conscious structure occasionally teeters on the edge of pretension and threaten to overwhelm the story. At times, you feel his characters trying to hold their own against Scibona's intermittent desire to craft every sentence into a masterpiece. Thankfully, more often than not, the characters win this struggle. Make no mistake, this novel sprawls across the page, showing more than a few electric flashes of brilliance; when it shines, //The End// can make you catch your breath as multifaceted characters wrestle with their demons. While challenging, this novel has strengths serious readers of fiction will recognize and appreciate and will join me in looking forward to Scibona's next effort with eager anticipation.

Reviewed by Jordan Magill

Great zombie book, I couldn't put it down. An excellent read. One of the best I have read in a long time