Aftermath by Owen Baillie

I'm always interested in reading zombie books that happen in different countries besides my own--Apocalypse Z and now Aftermath contribute to that category.  Though, we're all human, and would react the same way (run, hide, fight and scream loudly) when a zombie wanted to eat our brains for a tasty snack, there're little nuances that show a difference (from cursing to weapons).

This zombie tale takes place in Australia, though by the time our group of lovelorn characters appear in the picture the apocalypse has finished it's foul work, and the majority of humans are now walkers.
Our group of five have camped out in a remote area for a month, and they're ready to face civilization again--the world they left behind. The story tells the way they find out what happened, and the means they adopt to survive.

One major problem discloses the love stories, akin to high school romance, continuing throughout. Greg loves Kristy who loves Dylan. Callan loves Sherry, who doesn't love him anymore and just had an affair with his best friend. Yadda! Yadda! Yadda!
Can romance have a place in zombie books? My answer would require me to say yes--there's copious amounts of zombie tales, presenting romance--creative authors deftly weave a love story into a zombie book without doses of romantic pain for the reader.

In the event of a zombie apocalypse(with all the running and screaming and killing), would romance have a place in anyone's mind after an arduous day of surviving, accompanied by tormented fears of the dead (and undead) appearing during the night? Perchance, a captured moment, perceiving another's love--would potentially help survivors maintain their sanity.

One component of the story features various breeds of zombies--the genius type(genius for a zombie) proved incredibly fearsome. They conceive and reason, understanding how to create plans for their desired results(brains), including the use of  weapons, resources and tactics.
If I ever come into contact with a zombie, my fingers are crossed they're the slow shuffling genre, and not an agile walker that accelerates it's speed when a brain becomes available, or the intelligent strain featured in this story.

Though the book has distinct flaws--I would recommend it to all zombie lovers.

Even in Death by Jason D. Morrow

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆
Even In Death is the final book of the Starborn Saga  trilogy, and I have finally accomplished the feat of reading all three books. This was not always a painless task, and though I liked the books, at times they were tedious, and the complaint my mind produced over and over again-- how drawn out the story grew, especially in the third book.

Are all current books treated with more words than necessary to preoccupy the pages with meaningless filler of thoughts and platitudes? This only brings bouts of boredom (begging it to end) and forced reading, which doesn't speak well for the book.

The author gave an interesting idea of knowing who created the zombies, how he's still alive and evil, years later and controls the known world, and the fact mutants with superpowers live, who must battle zombies while laboring to find a way to kill the Screven leader for the betterment of mankind.

There's considerable excitement and compelling situations, and the book is not always boring. Numerous moments are stuffed with strongly written story telling, plus there's zombies, which is always a plus.
The conclusion of the story pleased me greatly as I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

There's  another trilogy to the story, and that's called The Starborn Ascension, which I'm having a debate with myself whether I will read it or not.
Though the beginning of the end is revealed in Starborn Saga, Starborn Ascension delves  intensely into the story and Evelyn (a key Starborn) is featured in the early telling.
Hopefully, one day I will derive the bravery need to start again.

Pines by Blake Crouch

My first indication that Wayward Pines existed became apparent when the current television show of the same name launched on Hulu. Matt Dillon stars as Ethan, the main character (and he's the actor my son Dillon is named after). 

There's a modern Twilight Zone twist to this story of a man waking up in a small town where no one can escape and no one is allowed to talk about their past lives. 

I love books where I can't comprehend absolutely what's happening, and the entire time I'm working on understanding the underlying reality, yet when I feel I'm close, I realize that I'm not approaching the truth at all. 

If a citizen can't pretend or tries to escape--a fete (or a Reckoning on the TV show) is called forth. This event allows the phones to ring in their homes, which brings out all the inhabitants to murder the offender. 

In the story, everyone participates which brings to mind the book called The Lottery, where a name is selected every year, and the townspeople stone the chosen one in the town square. The Lottery has an ulterior motive of keeping the earth satisfied for the continuation of abundant crops will persevere every year. 

The citizens (though not all) murdering in Wayward Pines yearn to kill for pleasure, and frequently dress in elaborate costumes for the event. The disregard for human life forms the shadows of our past--enjoying the slaughter of thousands in the colosseum, the beheadings and hanging in subsequent years.

Today, we feel above such depravity, though on reflection, the fear of how quickly humans may fall back into vast savagery if forced into certain situations brings about uneasiness.

With the revelation of the truth, I felt happiness and pity for the residents of this meager town. This isn't your mama's Mayberry, and the scary monsters outside the walls aren't Yankees.

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆
Thirteen At Dinner is another name for this mystery leisurely created by Agatha Christie.
Brilliant is the word used to characterize our acclaimed Poirot and his superb detective skills. Mais Oui, he may be the best our world has to offer in this slow moving book.

As you can tell from the title, Lord Edgware does indeed die, killed by an American actress, his wife, though only in name. Eye witnesses asseverate she attended a dinner party during the time of the Lord's demise, though others vow that she's present in the Lord's home that night.

If only someone could assist Inspector Japp  to solve this grievous mystery. Ahh, there's someone who hates murder and hates for the wrong person to  hang ("they're hanging everybody out there" was a hit in the 1930's), and will not stop until he sees justice served.

It's unfair that Poirot couldn't have a mutant superpower, or perchance he does. Physical powers would not work--the slight chance of harming the love of his life, his mustache, could not be tolerated. His super power might be reading minds--that would explain his frequent successes.

What would his superhero name be: Captain Justice, Iron Detective, Captain Mustache, Super Knowing Guy or The Belguim Force Of One? Poirot would perceive a suitable name though once the teaming hordes of humanity acclimated his power, mere humans would never approach him and might potentially run from him, even Hastings and Miss Lemon.

Lord Edgeware, an appallingly horrid man, relished unhappiness in others-- is it a shame we should care when evil men are murdered? Should the general public revel in the ability to dance around the village singing Ding Dong the man is dead, the evil man is dead, when a horrid creature expires.

Undoubtedly, this could never happen--people would kill indiscriminately, and announce to the world that the deceased was atrocious and evil, whether they were or not. Murder rates would climb exorbitantly, and Poirot would shake his head in sadness and retire for concretely this time (unless he's also murdered).

If you want to learn how Lady Edgware kills her husband while miles away at a dinner party, please read this book. Don't initiate a reason to generate Poirot's anger, since he may be a superhero. I'm just saying.
I would still like to travel the world with Poirot in the 1920's or 30's--the fantastic lives we would live.
When we were done and over time, I would have a prolonged need to find my way back to the future to glance at pictures of cute animals, view Doctor Who or watch an insane woman, onYouTube, smashing in the McDonald's drive-thru window--they didn't have chicken nuggets available. How could I live without technology?

The Martian by Andy Weir

By now, The Martian has thousands of reviews from mere bloggers to the "experts." Goodreads alone has twenty thousand, and that is a trivial amount compared to the entire internet.
I  will add my soulful few words, struggling to find a place, in this swirling mass of thoughts and feelings in hopes that it will coalesce effectively with the throng.

Boredom, anxiety, humor and intrigue describe the story of one man isolated on Mars, and how his innovated mind constructs solutions for the pervasive obstacles he encounters. His technical knowledge  makes him one of the smartest humans in our solar system--this advances a few problems in the story line for me. He's just too smart (he can create water) and the detailed work involved has the capability of generating boredom.

Humor permeates throughout  showing a wonderful dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud often. What a pleasant surprise, as I thought his struggle to survive each day would constitute a story of dire seriousness. Several reviewers have called his humor juvenile, but I don't think they understand that in it's simplicity is it's genius.  I could sympathize with his hardship of watching Dukes of Hazzard and other minimal 70's TV shows. This is all that's available to him, not to mention 70's disco music. How he kept his sanity, let alone his sense of humor, is a mystery.

Anxiety is another aspect of the story transfused constantly with every catastrophe that he overcomes. I knew that he must persevere to the end yet there were moments so intense, that often I put down the book, and had to come back to it at a later time.

Not many people could survive in complete isolation of the only human on a planet--he never gives up and he never surrenders (oh, that's another movie).
When he arrives home, he'll be the most famous man in the past or future history, and I wonder if that would make him isolate himself on a  farm somewhere out in Idaho, or sign up to live forever on Mars out of the limelight. Elvis could handle this type of fan worship, but mere mortals might find it hard to cope with.

I could not afford this book, so I put my name down on the library waiting list on March 31. It was a long interval, but worth the long patience, and now it's time to wait for the movie.

Cry by Jacqueline Druga

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

Outer Limits meets War Of The Worlds meets The Twilight Zone in this novel of alien suspense.This book has elements of all three--Outer Limits for gore, War Of The Worlds for alien terra-forming the earth and Twilight Zone for the surprise finale.

In War Of The Worlds, it's the germy atmosphere that killed the aliens--human patience would be our greatest quality while waiting for the microbes to perform their job. In Day Of The Triffids, salt water killed the evil, poison plants, though plain water accomplished the trick in Signs. Numerous times exceptional old fashion warfare provides optimal results, though frequently we lose.

The people in Cry don't have a magic solution against the invaders, though they're able to find something the aliens avoid and that's liquor.
This makes a pleasant day for alcoholics! Drink and earn a pass over on one of the alien's drive by searches, stay sober and turn into a disgusting blob.

If aliens destroyed our world by terra-forming and changed the entire ecosystem where the world is imperceptible to humans  and there isn't a large amount of oxygen left for the few survivors--extreme sadness would permeate all humans. Then to find out that the aliens turned our bodies into a bloody mess to fertilize their plants--extreme agonizing anger would infuse our souls as we helplessly watched from hiding places.

The ending arranged a cruel shock for me as I held out hope the aliens demonstrated feelings of remorse. They started taking humans instead of killing them, and I hoped they'd realized too late we're sentient beings.
Correcting their mistake would establish a habitat where humanity could hope to augment an appearance of accustomed existence.
Yes, we would be in a large see-through dome, and yes the aliens would watch us from platforms....wait a minute, I observed this same set up at the zoo in a large gorilla habitat.

Parts of this book are slow and disjointed, occasionally copious amounts of  info appear that we don't need, and regularly there's not enough. I still highly recommend the book--since it took a lengthy amount of time for the entire story to become clear.
You may hear the Leave It To Beaver theme song in your mind while reading the end.

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The Boys From Brazil is a phenomenal film from the early eighties, and now to find the movie is based on a book by the notable author Ira Levin surprised me immensely.

Before launching myself into the horror I knew would be ahead of me, I contemplated on the quality of the storyteller, would I feel saddened by the inferiority of the book compared to the film or would I believe the book was at least equal or superior to the adaptation?

The film, starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, brought the story of future Hitlers to the screen that is spellbinding. Except for a few editing problems and the obligatory sex scene, the story works in a way that is driven by dread in a delightful way.

The flow of the book is effortless, and I'm sure every writer would wish to possess the talent of Levin, who weaves a story that guides us where he wishes the reader to blindly follow, and we follow willingly. 

Cloning is a chilling prospect to think of, and consistent in books and movies, it's shown as someone's despair--frequently the cloned being whose body parts may be desired.

Levin chooses to make the cloned beings as living Gods to nazis and living monsters to the rest of the world. 

The thought of Mengele's success in cloning ninety-four Hitlers by his vile and inhuman experiments during WWII on innocent children creates a story filled with an unfairness that is hard to fathom.

The atrocities of Mengele and all the other monsters, from Hitler down to the lowest echelon, should be told. Every human on earth should know the stories of the innocent in hopes this will never happen again. I'm one of those persons that shy away from the stories of the horror-filled lives so many endured--the pain is too overwhelming sometimes to bear, especially when children are involved.

The Boys From Brazil tells the horror yet also tells an interesting tale of madness, that we feel safe in knowing will never come true. Though somewhere in a secret vault of evil beings, is there a vial of Hitler's DNA waiting patiently for science to catch up?

Torn by Jacqueline Druga

Snakes, giant roaches, giant ant piles so large a child could fall in and never recovered, rabid dogs, the black plague plus new viruses, planes falling from the sky, giant sunspots blasting the surface of the earth and a new ice age encroach upon the homo sapiens of the earth. That's the end of my review--enough said!

Perhaps there's a story, roaming around within all these catastrophes, though sadly the telling of this extensive adventure leaves an impressionable abyss of deficiencies. First the myth of the reversal of the poles, causing extreme harm to our ecosystem equals the myth of humans using a limited ten percent of our brains. Yes, there is a reversal of the poles towards the times of extreme millennia, though the damage will be minimum. This isn't the first time speculation of extreme devastation will occur, nor will it be the last, though if there was a remote possibility of this occurrence, Druga has covered all her bases.

Ellen Bret (Bret's character is a cheap knock off of Ellen) and Dare Dare are hardly likable as the leading love interests. Were there components of evident and legitimate feelings emanating from the characters? Me thinks not! Though each character speaks massive amounts of words, sentences and paragraphs-- an ample blank emits from their personalities.

Though her Beginning series can become rather tiresome, I love all of Druga's books. She has a way of showing the best of humanity through the most trying times. The people in this story are smart and witty, but not the compassionate beings they should be. When Darius and Bret are jumping off the plane (with parachutes) and he tells the flight attendant (who will momentarily die due to the plane crashing) a witty quip showing her near demise--I felt disgust for his lack of empathy.

The very ending, which occurs 1500 years into the future was quite funny. An artifact they believe was the ancient people's bible turned out to be The Stand by Stephen King. Through the humor presents the fact that bits and pieces of society from ancient times don't always tell the full story.
Plus there is a sadness that all the work completed to protect the future of humanity is lost, and no one will ever know the sadness and sacrifice the people in the book suffered through, it's all but a puff of smoke in the past.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

We've all seen parents who are slightly abusive to their children in public settings--which always brings to mind how are these children treated in private?
In reality, essentially all parents love their children, even the abusive ones(their knowledge of parenting is nil) though they're  those few who don't care and would rather slap every time, and they never mete out a single hug.

That's exactly the premise of this story which transpires in the distant future. Every time a child cries, a slap will occur if the mother's nearby. Children aren't hugged or loved, and no one feels the need to reach out with tenderness or caring for others. This is a fascinating glimpse at a village, where every human is severely dysfunctional, resulting from the sick and defective parenting of each home.

The village offers no order or stability as when the men prepare for a hunt. All the spears are assembled rather hazardously, and the men fight for the best weapons, frequently men become injured before their quest has started.
The story of Kira shows what happens to a young crippled girl that was saved due to her mother's strength that fought off efforts to throw Kira into the field to die.
After her mother's death, her world becomes newly structured and she's sheltered in a way she only dreamed of before, but at what cost to Kira and two others she shares her life with?

Thank God that love still flows in our world, and humanity still possesses immense empathy for each other. Selfishness still exist, though we would never turn our heads away from the abuse of children or murder people for their defects.

The only problem I have with this book is the ending, and I hope the third in the series will expand the story.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

One hundred years ago, boundless books were published that no one remembers today, and it's possible that no one would wish too--this series will be the same one hundred years from now--barely amusing for a brief period, ultimately thrown away once the expiration date breaches it's prime.

Books similar to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder generally haven't a speck of interest in my reading wants though sporadically, simple to read/slight love interest/mysteries, seem to hit the spot. Extreme thought will not be a requirement and the effortless ride will soon end with a vague feeling of apprehension that sufficient amounts of strong content are missing.

Disconcerting characters and events fill the story while Hannah's actions would deliver people of the real world in jail for trespassing and removal of evidence.

How did Bill, Hannah's brother-in-law/police officer ever achieves detective status? Bill seems  inept at anything which requires an aptitude higher than eating cookies.

Why did Hannah come back to help her mother who obviously can take care of herself? Do mother's in real life genuinely coerce their daughters to marry? This has been a theme in books since Pride And Prejudice or conceivably from the beginning of time, yet in this day and age, are mothers still pushing unsuspecting men on their daughters?

Hannah's able to solve the crime, plus she gains the admiration of two men, which will hopefully keep her mother subdued.

I've decided to read the second book, which has an exceeding vacuous title (Strawberry Shortcake Murder), I'm not sure if I will be able to continue for the entire 19 book series, but I might try.