Wow. I think with all of the promising books out there, ones that are interesting and well written everyone will eventually fall prey to a bad book. Red Hill was one for me.
***** Spoiler Alert******
1. Apparently I am ignorant. I did not now that in the new world of book speak epidemic and apocalyptic mean zombie! If I had I would have skipped this book.
2. The editing is of this book is nonexistent. The prologue ends with one of the main characters Scarlet saying " I knew the world ended on Friday. It was the last day I saw my children". NOT THE CASE.
3. The editing of any of the action sequences to make them flow smoothly does not exist. You wind up suspending all logic and things just work out. Or they don't.
4. The zombies are aggressive, except when they're not. It depends on whether the character needs to be killed off.
5. The "epidemic" spreads around the world at such a lightening pace all logic and common sense disappears.
6. Outside of Scarlet's kids managing to make it to Red Hill on their own after the prologue says they won't is surprising considering that they get all the way there and then are aggressively pursued by zombies, so we can lose a few more of the main characters, but Scarlet gets her kids.
7. Nuclear fallout is radioactive and with the amount of fallout falling from the sky at the end of the book everyone who lived up to that point was not going to be around much longer.
To read this book the reader must suspend all logic, common sense and reasoning, and just go with the story. Thank god it was a four hour book otherwise I would have been upset at the amount of time I wasted reading it. It was still a waste of time but I at least now I know more descriptions that mean "poorly written zombie book" and can therefore avoid wasting my time reading one. ( )

CW: Suicide rather than be a zombie. Man sexually assaulting young girl ( )

I combined my reading with listening and am really happy I did. The book is told through 3 characters: Scarlet, Nathan and Miranda. Audibles used 3 narrators which made things so much better. There are a number of zombie books out there so coming up with something original is nearly impossible. So I wasn't surprised when there wasn't anything in there that I hadn't already read or seen. This didn't make it a bad book. I enjoyed it. I was still captivated. It was what I was expecting. I liked most of the characters though I wish I could have gotten to know a couple of them more, (Coop and Joey). There were times when some of the characters did things that I hated. For me, it didn't make things unrealistic. I like to think I wouldn't do one thing in particular but, having never been in the craziness of a zombie outbreak, I can't say how I would positively act. In the event of an outbreak people are going to be....well, people. Some are going to be heroic, some are going to be selfish, some are going to breakdown in an emotional mess and others may shut off their emotions before they overwhelm themselves. Pretty much there will most likely be a mix of good people, okay people, bad people and truly evil people. Some people may even be a mix of those depending on circumstances. That's life. So when I read of shallow characters doing selfish things I don't get my panties twisted. Those people will exist so why wouldn't they be in a book?
I did have a bit of trouble with time. There were a few times I had to stop and try to figure that out. I believe it had to do with the different viewpoints but I still would have liked that to flow a bit more cohesively. I did like seeing how each of the narrators, (and Joey), connected. That was interesting. Since they were headed to, or ended up at, Red Hill it made sense to me that there would be connections.
The ending was okay for me. I did feel like it was wrapped up like a pretty package. I had the feeling the author wasn't certain if they were going to continue the story with more books or not so they quickly wrapped it in interesting paper and stuck a bow on it, calling it done. It was interesting but rushed. I noticed there is a novella out that is connected to this book that I will be reading.
For those who are interested the story has the expected violence and gore. It does contain some language and sex. There is a sensitive storyline dealing with a child. ( )

'Before the outbreak, there was never enough time. Now, the days dragged on, and I felt more and more alone, wondering if I was the only person left alive.'

Plot

Single mother Scarlet fights an everyday battle raising her two daughters. Nathan has long forgotten what it feels like to be loved by his wife, and he lives for his daughter, Zoe. Miranda's biggest concern is driving her sister and their boyfriends to her dad's house, without getting a scratch on her new car.

When a deadly outbreak spreads across the country, these ordinary people will face extraordinary circumstances, and events bring them all together. Knowing that they can't outrun the danger, they seek refuge at Red Hill Ranch, the secluded country home of Miranda's father. Emotions run high as these strangers must learn to live together and keep each other safe.

Relationships are tested as they face terrifying enemy; one that's forgotten how to be human. In this apocalyptic world, love somehow finds a way to survive. But how long can they stay safe?

My thoughts

I bought this book from The Works in a 3 for £5 deal, which I always have a weakness for. I chose this after picking up two books from The Walking Dead series, and I actually didn't realise that this book had the same theme until I got home. I was happy with this though, as I recently watched all of The Walking dead and developed a bit of an obsession with it. I was initially drawn to this book as I'd read a few books by Jamie McGuire before, and I'd heard that this one was a lot different from her previous books, so I was curious.

I liked the way the story built up to the outbreak. Scarlet works in a hospital and infected people are being admitted before anybody knows the true extent of their illness. I enjoyed this part of the story, as you don't always get to see the events before the outbreak in these types of stories.

The story is told through three points of view; Scarlet, Nathan and Miranda. Although the points of view alternate, Scarlet appears to be the central character, as most of the story is focused on her. I loved how the stories of the individual characters tied together throughout the story; as they all journey to the same destination they all see each other at some point, and it was interesting to see them all realise later in the story.

Of course, with everybody cooped up in the same house for a long period of time, emotions do start to run high and tensions build. Circumstances pushed these strangers together and they must now find a way to live together in harmony, while keeping the forces outside at bay. I thought that the building tensions between the characters was realistic, as when people spend a large amount of time together in a small space, it's not possible for everybody to get along all the time.

I really enjoyed reading this story, as there were a lot of similarities with The Walking Dead, which helped to tide me over a bit until the next series. However, there were a lot of differences too, such as the circumstances the characters are in. This was important, as it helped to keep the story fresh. I'd recommend this to anybody that enjoys post apocalyptic stories, especially ones with Zombies. ( )

This book is an amazing read.
Very clever how things link up, people meet who knew other people etc.
Very heart wrenching. ( )