Customer Reviews

Eve of the Dead

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

As a fan of zombie flicks and books I felt that this book had the makings of a good book.There were some typos, but I can over look that if the book is good.The author could have given the reader a bit more info on the characters or maybe why the zombies started to pop up and chow down on folks, but oh well you cannot have everything.
Your characters are young people who take refuge in a Super Wal Mart (I wonder what Sam Walton would think of that?) after there is an outbreak of zombieitis across Florida.I did like that some of the main characters were members of a rock band and that they could use the weapons in the store to take out the zombies.The author goes into great detail about the survivors versus zombie battles but who is complaining because I like detail.
I agree with one of the earlier critics that this reminded me soooo much of Dawn of The Dead in survivors take refuge in a mall.There was something missing from this book that I cannot quite put my finger on.
All in all this was a pretty good book and I will read the authors next book when it comes out.

Eve of the Dead is a tale of zombie apocalypse, as anyone could surmise by the name of the book. It takes place in northern Florida around the time the dead have begun to walk and tells the story of a group of five friends who are trying desperately to survive the ever increasing swarm of ghouls that are trying to wipe out humanity. Thrown in to the story's mix is a young couple who are also trying to survive in their small trailer out in the sticks as the government imposes Martial law and the National Guard and Police try to maintain control of the populous but are failing miserably.

To say that this story pays homage to the works of Romero would be inaccurate. Instead, this is closer to a carbon copy of one his most famous films: Dawn of the Dead. I would say that this work is a combination of both the original and the remake, with some elements of both poking through.

The young men take flight from their barricaded home and pull into one of the rescue stations as they begin to run out of food and hope. They flee the station when they realize it is a chaotic mess with the National Guard and civilians clashing constantly. They end up at a Wal-Mart Super Store (or Mall, for all intents and purposes), which is where any attempts to present a different story than "Dawn" is ditched entirely. Some of the identical traits to the one or the other of the "Dawn" movies:
-One of the characters ruminates why the zombies want in to the store so badly and comes up with this: perhaps because it was such an important place to them when they were alive.
-There is a character who is bitten and whose bandaged wound is squeezed mercilessly by another zombie later.
-There is a truck that is viewed by the characters bashing through the parking lot of the giant store via closed circuit televisions.
-For a brief time the characters all have fun frolicking in the store before everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
-The store is invaded by other human interlopers near the end and one character grows enraged, stating "This is our place now" before he starts firing at them.

Now I realize that some of these are minor details, but if you have ever seen either Dawn movie all of the above probably sounds familiar to you. I can understand wanting to pay tribute to the man who started it all but unfortunately Nathan Tucker has done so by making his story so similar to THE movie that is, along with "Night of the Living Dead", the foundation upon which all other zombie stories are built (at least in modern film and books). The characters were not tremendously well fleshed out or detailed in ways that make them memorable or unique and so my mind had a tendency to wander back to the movie this book mirrors so closely, which probably made it even easier for me to see all the glaring similarities.

A lot of the book is taken up with battle scenes with the undead. I am a fan of gore and enjoy its liberal usage in most of the books that populate this genre but I have never needed a shot by shot, blow by blow account of every bullet fired and every punch thrown especially when a good part of that particular book is about the main characters clearing and re-clearing out a giant superstore filled with the dead buggers. This is a prime example of where less would have truly been more. Pick out a few choice morsels of destruction to run with along with some of the more interesting attacks/kills and leave the rest to our imagination.

Now I come to the editing problems this book had. Overall, I give the author credit for making sure his grammar and punctuation were correct...for the most part. But though he succeeded in that regard he failed badly when it came to creative description of his characters. A thesaurus may have helped. As the previous reviewer pointed out quite accurately the author has about one or two ways of describing each person in the book; especially anyone who is physically larger than average. On one page alone the same character was described as "the big man" virtually every time he does or says anything, with "large" sprinkled in on occasion to perhaps break up the monotony. There are at least three "big men" in this book with the prerequisite "huge hands" and "large arms". There are other repeats and most either describe someone's size (thin, big, small, etc.) or their hair color (the young black haired man, the red headed man, etc.). To a certain extent it is reasonable to sprinkle that throughout a book but not in paragraph after paragraph ad nauseum.

So, you may be asking why two stars vs. one with all the negatives I have brought up. Well, the answer is that I do believe that this author does have some talent. Whether it will be realized in a future work remains to be seen but he CAN write and that shined through here every now and then. He desperately needs to make an effort to further develop his characters, get more creative with his descriptions of them, and avoid copying a grand master of the genre he is tackling. If he can manage all of that, Nathan Tucker might be able to pull off something interesting to read. Besides, I have to reserve one star for the truly horrid, which for me is "Aftermath of the Dead", which I could argue is one of the worst books ever written, let alone the worst zombie book ever put to paper. That this book has twice as many stars means it is something you can actually read with out your brains melting inside your skull and blood shooting out of your eye sockets. I cannot say the same for "Aftermath".

I would be willing to read another book produced by Mr. Tucker, but I sincerely hope he works hard to hone his craft before he gets published again.

This book was awful really awful. I wanted to like it but the plot just got worse the further in to it I got. on top of it all the only women in this book is just T.S.T.L.. this could have been a good book but there were to many inconsistencies it seemed like...The main characters find out that there are zombies and within a hour or so it seems all the T.V and news stations are down but there is power and even when there is no power things work. in one section the woman and her boyfriend are in their trailer with no power but they still have water cause the book explains they have a well but without power how does the well pump work? and even though they have water and heating gas they woman has not washed for days why??? the author over used the phrase "the big man" way over used it he also used it for several different characters. every time the author did not know what to do with the characters they went to sleep. I think this is the authors first book and if he had some one to review it, it may have been better I will be watching to see if he puts anything else out I think with time he will get better. all in all i would avoid this one.

I have to agree with the other one star reviews. They have said it all. The story lacks imagination and in fact is unbeleivable! These rocker drunks are taking out military personel? Come on! I just couldn't get behind the characters. The writing was simple and perhaps that is great for younger readers but not if you are a fan of the zombie genre and looking for more.

No explanation of how the zombies just show up in a small town in full force. There is no chronology of how the infection came to be. Lots of holes and not enough of a "wow" factor.

Sorry... but my recommendation is pass on this one!

I really enjoyed this book. The descriptions were very good and painted a good picture in my mind of what was going on.

The novel is full of action, and there is never a dull moment. It is a real survivor horror story and the action is very intense.

This book is very scary, and it makes you think. It is a must read for zombie and horror fans alike. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the zombie and survival horror genre.

This is a real action novel. If you love zombies and stories about the end of the world like me, then you'll really enjoy this book. It is very well-written and is a fun read. I am a big fan of zombie movies, especially those of George Romero. This book really did a great job of recapturing the Romero feel in a modern way.

This book is terrible. Is Nate Tucker in 5th grade, because the book seems to be written by a kid? The plot is basically Dawn of the Dead in a Wal-Mart instead of a mall. Thee are about five or six main characters, all of them about the same age, poorly developed and nothing to really distinguish one from the other. Several hours of my life have been wasted that I will never get back. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. A much better zombie book is Day by Day by Armageddon. At least the main character (and author), are in the military so the book pretty much makes sense in a tactical way.

this book was the least impressive zombie apocalypse novel i have purchased from amazon.... the plot was one of many that seems to have been ripped right off the romero idea tree... seriously, why re-hash the same tired idea over and over??? i fully appreciate how much love and work it takes to write a novel, but come on! make it your own!

I'm assuming all the "good reviews" came from friends and family of the Author cause this is the worst Zombie book I've ever read. And I've read alot of them. How it even got published is beyond me. I was going to throw it away but decided to wait and review it first so U don't waste your money on it.

Plot concerns five late teen/20 year old slackers and their reactions and attempts to save themselves from the Zombie Apocalypse but it's so unbelievable it's BAD< BAD< BAD.
Here's MY favorite low points: (least the ones other people haven't mentioned so much)

1. They get attacked by Zombies on the way to get a pizza. Apparently NONE OF THEM ever saw, heard or read anything about Zombies in their lives. Cause they have "no clue" what these "creatures" are and what is happening.
2. They barracade themselves in one of their homes. They block all the windows and doors with "plywood". WHO has that much plywood just laying around? Oh and they keep hammers and nails right with the plywood too, handy eh?
3. They have enough food for 5 men for a week. WHO keeps that much food in their house? Unless you are expecting a Zombie attack...
4. ALL the TV stations go out the first day basically. Zombies work fast in this book.
5. As they prepare to leave the heavily boarded up house, once they run out of food, they just open a door and run for the car. Thought the doors were boarded up?
6. It's the end of the world and they only have one or two thoughts of their families and where they might be and their fates? I'd be a LOT more concerned about the fate of my family/friends/relatives than the idiots in this book were.
7. They find a TOTALLY unlooted Walmart Superstore. How lucky!~! NO ONE but the slackers even thought to head there to get guns and food when Zombies took over the world! Even the cops didn't think of it!
8. Spoiler: People get bit by Zombies but going back to point 1 above, NO ONE has any clue that you might become one IF you get bit, they are all totally shocked when it happens. Yeah right.

Don't waste your time or money on this book. Wish Amazon would let you give ZERO stars cause this book deserves a Zero!

This is being billed as a "break neck pace and action of pulp zombie fiction at it's finest to create a story that will leave you begging for more" the only thing I am begging for is a refund. The author of this book seemed to run short of ideas when it came to sudden appearances of zombies. In many instances a character was grabbed by a "cold hand" on either a leg, arm,ankle or shoulder. The characters were so poorly written that when somebody would die you didn't even care. The author also for some reason liked to comment on every characters hair. If it was a black zombie they had afro's. Old woman zombie, yup curlers in the hair If a character woke up their hair was matted. There was characters with black hair, with blonde hair, long hair,wavy hair, short and frizzy hair. At one point I was convinced this book was written by a hair dresser during their lunch break.