The Dead Weight

By: Jo Salazar

Narrated by: Meghan Sinclair

After failing out of multiple foster homes and narrowly escaping juvenile detention, sixteen-year-old Quinn is undergoing therapy and rehabilitation at a residential treatment center. When Quinn and her best friend, Keisha, sneak onto the roof of the treatment center to look at the stars, they have no idea they’ll be getting a front row seat to the start of the zombie apocalypse.

As zombies, or “carriers” as the news calls them, infiltrate the treatment center, escape becomes essential. Quinn and Keisha make a pact to leave together, but several unexpected tag-alongs complicate their plans.

As the girls battle the carriers and wrestle with their doubts about each other, who will survive and who is just dead weight?

©2024 Jo Salazar (P)2024 Jo Salazar

Excellent Zombie Apocalypse Fun

A perfect read for my 50th book of the year! Zombie apocalypses aren’t usually my go-to genre, but I’m glad I ventured out!

The author is a social worker, which adds so much depth and believability to the psychological aspects of the storyline. I didn’t even have to cringe at the medical details because she did such a good job!

The character development was great, even for minor characters. I love that our heroes were female and the amount of gore was excellent.

The narration was great! I hope the narrator does a ton more books because I’d listen to them all. She was steady and did a good job with voices and intonations, and was REALLY good at building suspense… and there were many suspenseful moments. Some teary moments as well!

I’d like a sequel! Highly recommend for anyone who likes psychological thrillers, horror, fantasy, strong female leads, the midwest, and adventures.

So happy I chose this book.

The story was absolutely amazing! I kept trying to listen every few minutes I had because I was so invested in the story, the characters, and the world they were trying to survive in. Cannot say enough good about this book.

Turn it into a movie!

Zombies in the state of Illinois…what could be better than that? There is adventure and death in nearly every chapter. Overlayed with love and self-realization, this is great zombie story for the modern age. I am ready for this to be a movie already! Here’s hoping there will be another book!

Zombie apocalypse with a twist

Great story with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Unique yet somehow relatable characters. Really gets you thinking about how different types of people handle disasters. Narrator was nice to listen to and did some great voice chances. She really captured the personality of each person.

Great characters! Something new in them that I really enjoyed!

With the main characters being so young I didn’t expect them to get far. But what some would call disabilities became their strengths. As a zombie fanatic I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Fast paced teen thriller- ready for screenplay

Interesting new POV for the zombie world genre. Outerbanks meets Walking Dead. Fun read! Make it a movie.

Obsessed with this story

This was a long anticipated read for me and jo salazar did not disappoint! The characters felt so real, the stakes were impossibly high, and I found myself deeply empathizing with a serial killer amidst a zombie wasteland. One of the most creative and memorable stories I’ve read in a long time. PS whoever did the voice acting for this is AMAZING.