Alive for Now

Infected Dead Series, Book 1

By: Bob Howard

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

Set on the coast of South Carolina, an unknown infection has caused people to die and come back to life as reanimated corpses, attacking any living person.

This is the story of the survival of one man who was the benefactor of a shelter that helped him to live through the onslaught of the infected dead. Beginning with the initial days of the apocalypse, Ed Jackson watches the world die from the safety of his shelter, but there are others who are also trying to stay alive as they seek refuge. He must decide who he will take into his shelter and who he will reject, and those decisions will help him to form the bonds he did not have even before the end of the world. He and his new friends are faced with the dangers of the dead world as they are forced to leave the safest shelter anyone could possibly have in order to do more than simply exist in a zombie-infested world.

©2016 Bob Howard (P)2019 Tantor

Great read

I enjoyed the characters. Ending was not what I expected. I'm hoping there will be a part 2. ty

Loved IT.

THE narrator is as important as the story and he does an absolutely amazing job. His voice keeps u attentive and wanting to hear more. The story is very good and characters are relatable. There is never a point where you feel like skipping ahead,

Beginner zombie novel.

If I were to use one word to describe this book, it would be “convenient”. Everything seems to work out for the main character, Eddie. This is a nice, clean, friendly book for a beginner in the zombie genre. Everything just works out perfectly, and fits into a nice box at the end. As a seasoned zombie book reader, this is a little too vanilla for me.

👍

Wouldn't you love to be given an island. Then the world drop,s into a hole.

overall decent

the story is okay. everything is to convenient. the four survivors honestly to me aren't good people. alot of little things tells me their stupid and cowards. they leave the bunker the first time. for no other reason but to see stuff. didn't need anything or have a good reason. the three on ship where survivors were when the zombie outbreak happened. as soon as it got dangerous zombies broke out. the three quickly ran and got off the ship. which would be fine. except they all three were in leadership roles. they didn't attempt to help anybody. or so their job. they quickly abandoned ship. helping themselves. when they get saved by the main character. the quickly become snobs. if you listen to this story you will see what I mean.

Comfort Zompoc

If you've read a bunch of Zompoc/Apoc literature where the author keeps killing off the characters you've grown fond of (I'm looking at you, Sarah Lyons Fleming!), then think of this as the "comfort food" version of zombie literature.

Sure, bad things happen, and bad people happen, but somehow the characters we've grown fond of seem to get really lucky. This series does require a certain suspension of belief, and there are times you'll think to yourself "Really?!" but still. Think of it as comfort-food. It's yummy and comforting and maybe doesn't challenge you but that's okay sometimes. (If you liked "The Last Tribe" by Brad Manuel, you'll probably like this one, too.)

The characters are likeable, and there's enough action through the series (I'm now on book 4) to keep you going, but if you're really into militaristic shoot-em-up type apoc lit where the action is non-stop, this probably isn't going to be your type of thing.

The narrator is excellent. I always find male narrators difficult for female voices but this one's bearable, and the main male voices are very well distinguished. He has a comfortable voice, too, which helps with the whole comforting feeling of this series.

Really, there's a pandemic on right now, and I'm turning to books that make me feel, well, reassured. Cheered. If you like zombies but are tired of everyone dying all of the time, then give this series a try.

How convenient

No real struggle here, nothing unique, and so many moments of "how convenient" happening that this story should be a hard pass to anyone thinking of getting it. Graham's narration is spot on as usual and the only reason I stuck through the whole story. The story itself was lame, seriously, don't bother.

Tame

It’s a believable scenario. There will be people lucking into great prepper places. It is not so believable that it’s 2 men and 2 women immediately finding each other and all but the lucky prepper hide out dude have valuable talents. But it’s ok.

Story is good, characters are terrible

This reads like your uncle planned out his perfect zombie apocalypse plan and thought so well of it that he wrote a book about it.

There is nothing special about any of the characters. They hive-mind think and fall into the most generic stereotypes for characters in a zombie tale.

They laughed hysterically at things that were mildly humorous and said the most off-brand things at the strangest times, making the dialogue unrealistic and phoned-in.

Of course, in any horror story, characters have to make poor decisions to progress the plot, but the decisions they make arent necessarily poor... just unrealistic given the situation.

Suspending disbelief is essential in fictional stories, but in a contemporary zombie apocalypse story on current day earth, suspending disbelief of physics is a big ask.

Like strapping a boat shuttle to the bottom of a small 4-person sea plane and flying it to where its needed. Wouldnt work in any way shape or form. Couldnt take off or land without crashing. Probably couldnt keep the thing in the air either.

These sort of reality-breaks dont happen often in the story, but enough that it aggravated me to read them.

I was more interested in the downfall of society painted by the author than what happened to the characters.

I dont want to listen to the next book to find out what happens to the characters... they could die in a horrible fire and id give mild interest. No, the only thing keeping my interest is what happens with the group eating the infected seafood.

But i have a strong suspicion the next book is centered around the other hostile groups with the zombies becoming a background nuisance, as seen in the later episodes of "The Walking Dead" tv show.

I was hoping for more of a "The Remaining" story. oh well. Thanks for helping me kill time Bob, but this is a missed opportunity for me.

Book

Hi Bob! Love your books! Can't wait to continue listening to them, especially at work.