Title: LOCKDOWN
Author: Samie Sands
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Pages: 232
Genre: Horror/Scifi
With a prank online video, Leah hopes to catch the attention of Jake Colton, a cute, blond-haired, blue-eyed co-worker she’s had a crush on for months. But instead of sending it to Jake, she manages to forward the clip to her boss—who buys every gory second.
When mass panic ensues, Leah learns the video is more than a staged act…
The government is calling the virus AM13. As the outbreak spreads, citizens are forced to stay indoors while they assess the gravity of the illness. Most people are quarantined in their homes, but Leah, Jake, and Leah’s best friend Michelle are some of the unlucky few who are stuck at work when the Lockdown occurs.
That’s where she first encounters one of the infected…
Aside from a contaminated woman devouring one of her co-workers, Leah has another problem. Does she do as she’s ordered and stay at work? Or should she disobey government orders and break free to reunite with her family?
She can’t go it alone—after all, Leah has none of the skills needed to survive—but with Michelle and Jake by her side, not even a contagious virus and a sea of the dead can keep her from…
Breaking out of the Lockdown…
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He’s disgusting. I’ve never seen one this close
before, heading towards me with such vigour. I’ve always done my best to avert
my eyes from the infected, but now time seems to freeze as I can’t drag my gaze
away. What I thought was him shuffling, was actually him dragging his broken,
bloodied leg behind him. This wound is so deep I can see bone poking through. I
can’t help but retch.
The bite on his shoulder is absolutely huge and
rancid—all blackened from the infection. His arm is hanging down by his side,
completely useless. He’ll never be able to move that again, no matter what
happens. His face is also in a terrible state. His skin is a deep grey, much
murkier than the others I’ve seen. He must have been infected for a very long
time. The bags under his eyes droop incredibly low, causing his face to look
deformed. The blood running down his skin, staining all his clothes, looks
really old. Scratch marks cover his torso; he looks as if he’s been brutally
beaten in some awful fight. I would never
have thought someone could survive these injuries, they’re just so severe.
People have died over much less, and yet here he is, still moving towards us,
baring his teeth, ready and waiting to eat.
Jake pulls me hard and I stumble backwards, tripping
over a box. I hit the ground hard and suddenly find myself unable to move, as
if I’m physically paralysed by fear. It’s almost as if I’m having an out of
body experience, looking down at myself, screaming run. Something is
pulling me upwards, but my body is too sluggish to comply. It just won’t do
what I want it to, I’m too panicked. Now I understand how Tim was feeling when
he was attacked and unable to scale the fence. Limp and useless. I know an
assault is imminent, but I can’t do anything to stop it. I’m utterly screwed,
and I’m just sitting here, waiting for it to happen.
I’m shaking, sobs rising up in my chest. I’m going to
die if I don’t get up now, so why can’t I? All I need to do is make my way over
to the door, but it feels a million miles away. I don’t even know where Jake
is. I can hear him hissing at me, encouraging me to move, but I can’t see him
anywhere. He might have even made it outside already. If so, he should probably
run before he has to witness my death.
Thud. The
loud noise shocks me into looking up. Thud.
There it is again. This time it’s following by a sloshing sound, like a wet mop
hitting the ground. I need to locate the source of the noise. I need to know
what’s happening, how long I have left. Can I escape? Can I really survive
this? My heart leaps into my dry, panicked mouth and my slick palms slide
across the ground.
It’s Jake, I can finally see him. He’s absolutely
covered in blood. His axe is discarded on the ground next to him. He’s offering
me a hand. I reach up tentatively to grab it, still trying to piece together
the scene around me.
“He’s…?”I can’t finish my sentence. I can’t vocalise
all the hundreds of questions that are swirling around in my mind.
Relief floods my chest, pushing away some of the numb
sensation. I’ve never had a near death experience before, so I’m not sure how
you’re supposed to feel. We sit silent for a while, just the sounds of our heavy
breathing to keep us company. The shop owner doesn’t move again, so I can feel
myself starting to relax in his presence. I wonder what happened to him, how he
managed to get into that state, when he got bitten—all of these questions that
we’ll never get the answer to now that he’s gone forever.
I'm a zombie fan, end of story. I've read, watched, listened to so many different versions of how and why the zombie apocalypse will or could happen, that it's hard to come up with a newish idea that I haven't already seen before. Nevertheless, I cannot get enough zombie stuff. So when this book was sent my way I didn't hesitate to accept it for review. It seemed like an interesting take, though not necessarily a new one.
Let's start out with the pro's shall we? I liked the fact that Leah was a typical person. She's just living her life, going to work and going home, lusting after the hot coworker and gossiping with her best friend Michelle over drinks, etc. She's just a normal person. She doesn't immediately buy what she sees online, and thinks it's all just a joke or some seriously exceptional attempt to get internet popularity. She passes it along as a "Haha look at this shiz.." email, but whoops...she sends it to her boss instead of previously mentioned hot coworker. Bossman takes it seriously, for unmentioned reasons, and this is how our story begins. A simple goof shoots us right into the thick of things.
I enjoyed the fact that Leah wasn't so sure about herself, she wasn't immediately switched on to action hero mode, and she was just so very normal. I like this take, as I myself probably would last all of 5 minutes (and that is 99% spent cowering in the corner screaming while the remaining 1% is the chewing of my sweet tasty flesh before I expire) of zombie apocalypse. Having our main character act in ways that are so realistic was refreshing.
It's a quick read, that definitely kept me going til the end. I was curious to see where the author was taking Leah (and us) as she told her story. After the initial drag of the introduction, the story does ramp up a bit and picks up the pace nicely.
Now on to the cons. It goes back to the background story, why was her boss so adamant about spreading the word? He seemed almost fanatical in this mission, when it was kinda clear no one really believed it at first. Now I get that the story reasoning was that it was for ratings, etc, but it just seemed out of no where. Especially when all he had to start with was some youtube video. I was kind of waiting for the reveal that he knew more about it than he was letting on, but that never came.
Second, with Leah...her dismissive attitude about everything at first was endearing and understandable. No one would actually fully accept a zombie virus outbreak at first, but as she started to gather more info and hear all the details that the government was working on, she still seemed to be rather skeptical? That's where the disconnect with Leah began for me. I still liked how she reacted, she didn't see her first zombie and turn into an instant bad ass, so that was cool.
Then there are the secondary characters. I won't go into them too much as some of it I could consider spoilery, but they just seemed to be there. One in particular just seemed like convenient plot device to move from one stage to another. I wanted to know why they were acting the way that the were, why they were WHERE they were, etc. I didn't get any of that, which did disappoint me.
The ending, I'm feeling all sorts of mixed about this one. While it was certainly not something I expected, which I give it much props for, I am not sure I liked it. I didn't want there to be a fairy tale ending, or a typical zombie movie style ending, THAT ending..it just leaves all sort of questions wide open for me. Unfortunately I can't go into these questions without spoilering the book. I do see that this is the 1st in a series, so perhaps those questions get answered later on? I hope so.
So in the end, it was an entertaining read. I finished it in under 2 hours. Was it the bestest zombie book that I've ever read? No, but it wasn't the worst. It had it's moments of brilliance, but it also had lots of unanswered questions that could (if some of them had been answered) have made the whole thing shine in a sea of zombie books.
Review:
Let's start out with the pro's shall we? I liked the fact that Leah was a typical person. She's just living her life, going to work and going home, lusting after the hot coworker and gossiping with her best friend Michelle over drinks, etc. She's just a normal person. She doesn't immediately buy what she sees online, and thinks it's all just a joke or some seriously exceptional attempt to get internet popularity. She passes it along as a "Haha look at this shiz.." email, but whoops...she sends it to her boss instead of previously mentioned hot coworker. Bossman takes it seriously, for unmentioned reasons, and this is how our story begins. A simple goof shoots us right into the thick of things.
I enjoyed the fact that Leah wasn't so sure about herself, she wasn't immediately switched on to action hero mode, and she was just so very normal. I like this take, as I myself probably would last all of 5 minutes (and that is 99% spent cowering in the corner screaming while the remaining 1% is the chewing of my sweet tasty flesh before I expire) of zombie apocalypse. Having our main character act in ways that are so realistic was refreshing.
It's a quick read, that definitely kept me going til the end. I was curious to see where the author was taking Leah (and us) as she told her story. After the initial drag of the introduction, the story does ramp up a bit and picks up the pace nicely.
Now on to the cons. It goes back to the background story, why was her boss so adamant about spreading the word? He seemed almost fanatical in this mission, when it was kinda clear no one really believed it at first. Now I get that the story reasoning was that it was for ratings, etc, but it just seemed out of no where. Especially when all he had to start with was some youtube video. I was kind of waiting for the reveal that he knew more about it than he was letting on, but that never came.
Second, with Leah...her dismissive attitude about everything at first was endearing and understandable. No one would actually fully accept a zombie virus outbreak at first, but as she started to gather more info and hear all the details that the government was working on, she still seemed to be rather skeptical? That's where the disconnect with Leah began for me. I still liked how she reacted, she didn't see her first zombie and turn into an instant bad ass, so that was cool.
Then there are the secondary characters. I won't go into them too much as some of it I could consider spoilery, but they just seemed to be there. One in particular just seemed like convenient plot device to move from one stage to another. I wanted to know why they were acting the way that the were, why they were WHERE they were, etc. I didn't get any of that, which did disappoint me.
The ending, I'm feeling all sorts of mixed about this one. While it was certainly not something I expected, which I give it much props for, I am not sure I liked it. I didn't want there to be a fairy tale ending, or a typical zombie movie style ending, THAT ending..it just leaves all sort of questions wide open for me. Unfortunately I can't go into these questions without spoilering the book. I do see that this is the 1st in a series, so perhaps those questions get answered later on? I hope so.
So in the end, it was an entertaining read. I finished it in under 2 hours. Was it the bestest zombie book that I've ever read? No, but it wasn't the worst. It had it's moments of brilliance, but it also had lots of unanswered questions that could (if some of them had been answered) have made the whole thing shine in a sea of zombie books.
Samie Sands is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card & an autographed copy of her book!
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- By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
- One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Card and an autographed copy of her book.
- This giveaway ends midnight August 31.
- Winner will be contacted via email on September 1.
- Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!
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About the Author
Samie Sands is the author of the AM13 Outbreak series – Lockdown, Forgotten, and Extinct. She’s also had a number of short
stories published in very successful short story anthologies.
To find out more about her and her work, check out her website at http://samiesands.com or visit her on Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you so much for reviewing Lockdown :)
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