I love to run. But....for me....at 50 & being a bit of a chunky monkey, it's more of a jog/wog sort of thing. But I love to join in on local 5Ks and earn my t-shirt. Usually, I am the one in the very back of the pack just ahead of the strollers and elderly women walkers, just smiling and doing my thing. I don't care when I cross the finish line....if my time is under 50 minutes and I cross that finish line, I'm happy! :)

When I came across this series by Camille Picott, I immediately fell in love with the idea of extreme distance runners dealing with the zombie apocalypse. What do you do when the undead want to kill you, the military has all the highways blocked, and your loved ones are 100 miles away? You gather up supplies, and start running!

The basics: Kate and Federico are long distance runners. They love to run ultramarathons -- 100 miles over a day or two. Crazy right? Well imagine running twice that distance -- with zombies after you. They do have excellent motivation -- Kate's son is at college 200 miles away when the outbreak occurs and Federico's estranged daughter is on the way. So, they pick out their best running shoes, gather what supplies and food they can carry and head out. Can they make it without hitting the wall....or becoming zombie snacks??

There are two books and a novella in this series so far....with a new book coming out very soon! Picott also writes the Sulan series, a futuristic sci-fi series about a math prodigy who becomes an underground hacker.

Already reading book 2 (Dorm Life) on my way to the new book.....I have to find out how this story ends! I will never be able to run 100 miles (zombies or no zombies)...so I will just have to live vicariously through these characters and Picott's tales about her running adventures (the author is actually an ultrarunner herself!) ( )

Review:

Loved it!

I don't review many books five stars but I'd give this one six if I could.

I'm not a runner, but a friend introduced me to the concept of ultramarathons a few years ago and I admit to be a bit horrified and fascinated by the concept. I enjoy zombie books as well, so combining the two was such a novel idea, that I was super excited to read this one.
I devoured it. I seldom finish a book in under a week's time - not because I don't read quickly or a lot, but because I have a short attention span and I'm often reading 5, 6, 7 books at a time... look at how crazy my sidebar "current books" list has gotten at time (fairly recently I was up to 9; at the time of writing this review, I think I'm down to three, which is rather rare for me, but that's only because most of the books in my pile right now are all rather similar dystopian young adult novels).

Anyways, the premise of the story is a widowed mom trying to rescue her son, along with her best friend, from the zombies. The new world, filled with zombies, is shown slowly, which doesn't seem to happen too often in books (and is actually a pet peeve of mine; I don't think zombies will take over the world in 30 seconds, I think it'll take a day or two at least! It should take at least a page in a book too, shouldn't it?). Kate and Frederico are in denial about the truth, but accepts reality quickly enough and gets down to business: running 200 miles to rescue Kate's son.

You can imagine the rest of the book if you've ever read a zombie book before, but the book is nicely done and there are some well thought differences which make this one stand out from the genre.

I hope there's a sequel!
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book received from author as part of a book tour ( )