Be Prepared to be Sucked In
One Chapter?! My first thought was, "Oh no, this is going to be one of those looong, drawn out stories that needs to be chopped up into smaller chunks, seriously... Or, it's going to be too short to be worthy of calling a story."
But, as they say, "Never Assume!"
Brian brings us a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat 'zombie' thriller as told through the eyes of quick-witted Evan, who is writing his account down hurriedly as he's not sure whether or not he's going to make it out alive, hoping that his tale will help someone else out there. He begins the story with an apology for his writing, knowing that he's rushed. Here we note that Brian does an excellent job with dialogue, reminding us every now and then that Evan is telling us his story, all the while reliving the events of his story in vivid action. *As a side note, there are some punctuation and technical errors, though I purposefully neglected to mark it down in my rating, as Evan did warn us from the get-go! ;)
Evan, as the protagonist, may be no saint, but is closer to the 'average Joe' than the other characters, making him very relatable and likable. I found myself very much wrapped up in his account, hoping that he was going to pull through this ordeal. The overall plot gives you a bit of the stereotypical cheesy zombie feel, but it's usually countered with a much more reasonable action. This is evident when the group attempting to make their way to the boat suddenly finds themselves with just the right amount of various weapons, and you're sure the group is going to be free and clear easy-peasy. At first glance, you'd say this was too perfect, yet we're brought down a notch when more zombies appear unexpectedly on the boat! The end of the story is another nod to eroding the stereotypical. No, there will be no spoilers from me here! But, it was pleasantly unexpected!!
While I'm not a huge horror or zombie fan necessarily, I felt that Brian outdid himself with bringing the zombies and gory scenes to life. Said scenes were inserted appropriately and not overly done. Normally, gory scenes (blood and flesh tearing) can put me off, Yet, Brian has already sucked you into the story so well at this point, that there's no way you're going to put it down - not now!
Humor - this story is on point in this department! It's not overly done and is utilized in just the right places - mostly in what Evan is thinking in the spur of the moment. This makes the story more believable, and I was pleased that he never became an omnipresent narrator, trying to tell us what the others are thinking when he wouldn't know.
Evan's narration instantly reminded me of Marvel's Antman's friend, Luis (Michael Pena), who hilariously recaps what had happened by taking us through an extended, sped-up visual monologue. This factor is what I think made this story appropriately ONE CHAPTER long! There's no way to have broken it down, and at the rate the reader is carried away, a chapter break would have ruined the moment! As a warning, make sure that you have a fair amount of time to embark on this tale, for it will be extremely difficult to put down!
If you're into zombies, you should enjoy this one a lot. If zombies aren't your thing, you might want to give it a try anyways! I'm glad I did! I look forward to reading more of Brian's work in the future!
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