Infected and Other Short Stories

By: Janine R. Pestel

Narrated by: Lucie Starling

This book features four short stories of horror, occult, and the paranormal.

"Infected" - Jason begins to feel and act strangely after a chance encounter with an attractive young woman the night before.

"Harry" - Harry can't remember how he got to the scene of the accident, or what he was doing before the accident happened. When he finds out, he will wish that he still didn't remember.

"The Servants" - Madeline is rich and very arrogant. So arrogant, that she fires her human servants and replaces them with robotic servants...with deadly consequences.

"The Visit" - A woman awakes to find her Marine Corps son standing at her bedside. He is on his way back to base after returning from deployment in Afghanistan. They spend the next few hours talking about and reliving the past.

©2016 Janine R. Pestel (P)2017 Janine R. Pestel

Infected...and Enjoying It!

Once again, I enjoyed Janine Pestel’s horror shorts immensely. Infected was great with Jason waking up to pain and realizing the person he had picked up at the bar the night before had bitten him! He then proceeds to have the worst day of his life. Harry was like an episode of the Twilight Zone with Harry being the only one who doesn’t realize what is going on. That is, until it is too late. The Servants, which I have listened to before was just as fun a listen as the first time. Madeline is spoiled, rich, and cheap. She also does not possess any loyalty to anyone. A combination that will not serve her in the end. Perhaps my favorite was The Visit. When her son suddenly appears by her bed in the middle of the night, she gets up to make him coffee. Little does she know the true reason for his visit.

All of these tales are enjoyable and together they make a diverting couple of hours. The only criticism I can offer is for Janine to flesh out her characters and plots a little more and make these stories more intricate and longer!

The narration by Lucie Starling was a good one and she added to the spine tingling nature of the stories themselves.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

Decent short stories

Any additional comments?

For the most part, these are decent short stories. There was only one that I didn't care for. I liked the narrator's performance. I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.

Quick book, but fun!

This book went by way too quick. But I enjoyed most of the stories! It's hard to get invested though when the stories are so short, but the author did a good job of keep you hooked. Narrator was great too.

I recieved this book in exchange for a honest review.

It's not Walking Dead, it's Twilight Zone

The cover art is a bit misleading.

If you don’t expect to be particularly thrilled or chilled you’ll enjoy these four short stories by Janine Restel. Any of them would fit into the original Twilight Zone series nicely.

The first two stories: “Infected,” and “Harry,” have a definite Richard Matheson feel to them. “The Servants,” has more of a Ray Bradbury vibe.

My favorite of the four is the final one, “The Visit,” which reminded me of early Stephen King. It’s a bit sentimental but in a good way.

Based on this selection I’m interested in reading more from Janine Pestel.

The narrator, Lucie Starling, did a good job with the different characters. I agree with other reviewers that the overall audio production was less professional and more semi-pro, which is to be expected with self-published works.

Overall I’d give the collection a B-.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast

4 very different, yet interesting stories!

I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed these tales. First story was my favorite. Interesting take on the genre. I received this audiobook for free for an honest review. But this I would recommend for any lover of horror stories.

Dead Things Mikey, Dead Things

This contains 4 short stories and all are quite different from one another. The first is more like your typical zombie story while the others are a stretch to be considered zombie stories. The last two stories were quite good and stood out enough that after listening to them I forgot about the first two. Doubled back and listened to the first two again and enjoyed them more the second time, especially the second story. All 4 stories were at the perfect length and I am glad that they were not longer. All in all I enjoyed these stories and look forward to more from the author.
My main issue with the audible book is that I didn’t really like the narrator. Her narration voice was fine but when she switched to her character voices I just didn’t feel like it fit the story. Some of the way she spoke the dialogue made it seem like bad B movie lines told by an actor who has no acting experience. I have listened to The Servants by another narrator and it completely changed the feeling of the story.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Interesting Collection

Any additional comments?

The audio quality was not great.

I liked three of the four stories in the collection. I felt that the last story, "The Visit", seemed to drag on. The second story, "Harry", also was a bit long winded but not nearly as bad.

Each story had an interesting premise and fit the descriptions. However, I did feel that they were a bit predictable. I would enjoy it if the author expanded on these ideas.

The cover art is misleading.

This was worth the time spent listening to it and I would recommend this collection, but only to people that enjoy short stories with a Twilight Zone feel.

*This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Zombites!!!! Let these stories gnaw on your brain

Biggest problem was the audio itself. The stories are not your run of the mill Zed tales. Each one stands out, and provides a fresh perspective on the zombie genre.

The visit was a bit draggy, but it was still good. These stories make you think. I really liked the robo servant tale a lot. The only reaso this isn't 5 stars all around is because of the audio itself. I found that I wish the audiobook had more content, i.e. more stories, as the 2 hours practically flew by. I am a zombie fanatic, and really liked this book better than the majority or Romero films.

The first story made me glad that I am married and not messing around in the single world.
The second gave me a Memento vibe, what with the memory loss and all. The third story, well robo servants . . .what can go wrong? And the fourth, a bit talky, buy still good as gravy.

The price is right for these 4 shorts, and your mouth will be watering for more from th author by the time you are done . . . or maybe you will be craving human flesh!

Zombies. Zombies? Zombies!

The author will spin you zombie tales. They are not the zombie tales you are used to. They will stretch your imagination. They will present you with scenarios that will shock you in their glaring differences. They will entertain you. Be ready...I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Great quick read

Infected: and other short stories by Janine R. Pestel was a good read. This book consisted of "Infected", "Harry", "The Servants" and "The Visit". These were great stories of horror and the paranormal.