Finally, Some Lighter Stuff! Just A Few Ravaging Zombies

Allison Hewitt is Trapped: A Zombie Novel doesn’t necessarily classify as a Horror novel. But who doesn’t love a good zombie story? For me, it’s a nice break from the heavy horror fiction I’m usually reading. Gave me some time to recover.

Madeleine Roux writes from the perspective of a young woman, Allison Hewitt, blogging about her experience as zombies take over the world. Allison started the blog as an outlet for herself to maintain some sanity, never expecting it to become a way to communicate with and encourage other survivors. The book is actually a compilation of chosen posts from the blog...Well, you'll find out when you read it. 

Don’t expect to be scared out of your wits by Allison’s experience. At the same time, don’t underestimate the book’s intensity either. While not a first-rate thriller, the book does give a scary and vivid illustration of the various human reactions to times of desperation. Readers watch as Allison deals with the confidence, emotional breakdowns, arrogance, deceitful ways, imperious take overs, and steady optimism of those she encounters.

Allison Hewitt is Trapped isn’t bound to give you nightmares, but Roux definitely led my heart on a roller coaster. Roux was merciless. When her characters began to feel comfort, so did I; however, that dreaded feeling knowing it wouldn’t last always accompanied it. Then, when said comfort was wrenched from their declining lives, my own heart convulsed as well. Every author giving advice on how to write a novel will continually say a few things, one of the most important (possibly the most) is be unexpected. The main reason a reader reads is to be surprised. To be wowed. To experience that thrill. If you read a book and discover it’s got the same plot line as the last twenty books you’ve read, are you bound to say you liked it?

Probably not.

And while zombies are the “it” thing right now, Madeleine Roux follows her own pattern. Effectively, she creates an alternate ending to the fearfully presumed zombie apocalypse.

One thing I’ve alluded to, but haven’t stated, is my love for the casual and adult feel this book emanates. Roux does not take the whole zombie-infestation thing lightly. There’s loss, desperation, false hope, death, and tragic death (I mean, in a zombie apocalypse, you can’t get attached to everyone, right?).

These characters (or actual people as you’ll come to view them) aren’t dealing with situations that are out of the everyday person’s league. Take for example Allison’s personal struggle to find her mom. Throughout the entire book all she wants is to find her mom. Our main character is a woman who previously worked at a bookstore, is now fighting for her life, second-guessing everybody she comes in contact with, and handling an ax without mercy. Yet at the end of the day, all she really wants is her mommy.

As zombies ravage the world, the characters of Allison Hewitt is Trapped: A Zombie Novel are battling everyday issues, only intensified by the impending doom.