The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People Paperback – February 26, 2012

Hold onto your sanity and get ready for a zomberific, drug-induced and time-travelling good time! 7 Habits of Highly Infective People is a solid zombie apocalypse tale which has many things that sets it far beyond the rest of the pack. We are invited into the first person ramblings of one Bosley Coughlin, who has endeavored to shed himself of ego by using mystically enhanced drugs and instead manages to throw his consciousness into a girl in a dreadful future where zombies flourish and the remaining humans fight for scarce food. Upon returning to his own body and time, Bosley struggles to stop the infection as it begins, while we continue to follow the struggles of young Ocean in the future. The plot is engaging and twisty, the horror is immediate and tense, the characters are fully realized; but what really sets this trippy tale above all others of the like (Are there are stories of the like?) is the beautiful writing of one Mr. William Todd Rose. The writing is so evocative, descriptive, and powerful that I am sure I would read just about anything this man chose to write. He doesn't, however bog the narrative down with his talent, and masterly resorts to a quicker pace toward the center of the volume to keep things moving. Without giving anything away, the narrative wraps itself up with a shining continuum bow, which also sets it above many of the time travel stories I have read. I agree that William Todd Rose is a talent to watch, and what better vantage point to begin doing so as the trippy perspective of one (very dude-like) Bosley Coughlin. Check it out!

I have to admit, I read the first chapter and almost deleted it. One of the main characters is a serious drug addict and at first I thought the book would just be about his delusions. I'm glad I kept reading. There are 2 POVs - the drug addict who travels through time and the girl he sees in the future that struggles to survive in a disease and zombie-infested land. The story gets more intense with each chapter. Though I generally don't care much for drugs and those who use them, this book portrays "Bosley" without excuses, with the ugly, bad and good, and makes him very human and believable. The other POV character, Ocean, is also well-written. Being able to make both the girl and the drug addict seem so real with completely different personalities takes real talent.

I also have to admit I'm not a zombie fan, it's an overdone concept and I'm tired of it. Even so, I enjoyed every page of this book. The plot was well written and the suspense kept me on edge the whole time. I will be looking for more of this author's books.

WARNING: If you do not like profanity, you will not like this book. It is full of it. In context, I understand why the author wrote it that way, but I know some people do not like to read profanity.

I'll be perfectly honest--I don't like time travel stories. The few I've tried to read which I've thankfully forgotten have always been a mix of one thing or another: convoluted, nonsensical, unrealistic (in the sense that they are staying true to the times they are travelling to,) that sort of thing. That isn't to say that all of them are like that, but The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People was not a book I would've willingly picked up based on its description. But given that I usually try to give all books with a unique idea a chance (especially, in this case, time travel mixed with the undead,) I decided to give it a go.

Boy, I'm glad I did.

The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People begins with a narrative that might appear as off-putting as it is interesting. Told from the perspective of whom we initially assume is a crazed druggy, the novel begins by telling us of Bosley Coughlin's exploits with a great `Eye' that shows him a vision of the distant future, which is not pretty in the least. Even he can hardly believe the idea of an America and a young girl who, at only fourteen, is struggling to survive and starving amidst the undead, but when a woman he knows begins exhibiting what he calls `The Seven Signs,' the future becomes a distinct possibility, and he must do all he can to stop it.

Perhaps the most distinct and well-done thing about William Todd Rose's The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People is its ability to seamlessly transport you between not only two different characters, but two different settings. Told, as I said, partially from Bosley's view in the present, the narrative shifts to the future where we run into Ocean, the fifteen-year-old girl whose fate our present-day narrator desperately wants to change. This presents us with an incredibly-easy and cohesive story to read. It seems like it could be two distinct tales, yet at the same time are intertwined; one plotline is so radically different in idea from another they don't seem to make sense; and the two narrators, an older man and a young girl, seem completely unlike one another, yet here's the thing: it's so seamless that your subconscious allows the two to merge to make the story one. That's no easy feat, all things considering, but Rose's power not only lies in interconnecting plots. Suspense, here, is key. Never is a chapter ended on a cliffhanger that doesn't make sense, and while in some cases you would rather just skip ahead to see what was going to happen, Rose wrote the suspense so deliberately that the events coincide with one another. It's like watching two rows of dominos fall at the exact same time. The pace never falters, the dread never lets up, and the mystique of the matter continues all the way up until the end, and persists even after it.

The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People is one of the best genre novels I've ever read. I can't call it just sci-fi, and I can't call it just zombie-horror, but I sure as hell can call it amazing. Five stars to this incredible work of fiction. This marks Rose as a name that has to be watched.

I have always had a fascination with how an apocalypse first begins. This book does show that, but it also shows much more. I found this book to be highly ambitious. What I mean by that is that the author brings so much to the table here. At first, I found the narration to be confusing. I was not sure if I would be able to finish it. The switching from person to person and past to future made me wonder if it was going anywhere. I can safely say that it does. Stay with it. I thought the author did a great job of tying everything together.

I have to say that it is extremely rare for me to be surprised by the plot of a story. I have read so many that they sometimes just mesh together. It is the rare circumstance that I am completely surprised and blown away. This story did that. Also, I loved the ending, and I have not been able to say that too many times as well. There were many things that I loved about this book, but I could not give it 5 stars due to the errors in it. This usually does not bother me, but the errors really take you out of the story in my opinion.

All in all, as a huge zombie, infected, apocalypse fan, I did enjoy this story.