Review | Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost

Title: Mad World: Epidemic by Samaire Provost
Series: Mad World #1
Genre: YA - Horror
Publication: July 28, 2012 by Amazon
Format: eBook
Source: Chick Lit Plus
Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: The Black Plague is ancient history. It killed 100 million people nearly seven centuries ago, halfway around the world from the technologically advanced research center at Stanford University. Scientists there have recently begun examining samples of bone marrow from plague-infected corpses unearthed in Europe. All the necessary safeguards are in place. What could go wrong?

Alyssa and Jake are away with their class on a highly anticipated year-end trip to Broadway with their senior acting class when all hell breaks loose at home. Traveling back, and trying to find their families, they encounter deadly results. Riots are breaking out. People are being evacuated. And they have no idea what's happening to their families. Horrific ordeals, heart-pounding tragedy, and chance encounters harden them for what lies ahead. Faced with tormenting decisions, they're forced to follow their instinct for survival at any cost - even when the cost is a heart-wrenching decision of life or death.

A harrowing adventure of frightening discoveries, horrifying confrontations and narrow escapes in Epidemic, the first installment of the Mad World series. Find out what's got everyone so terrified.

Thoughts: Zombies are my favorite, so when I was given the opportunity to read this, I wanted to give it a shot. I am not the biggest fan of indie books because I haven't encountered too many good ones, but there have been a few gems out there and that encouraged me to give this one a try.

Mad World: Epidemic was engaging from the start; there is so much action in the first few pages. This made me happy because I hate when it takes forever to even get to the zombies. With a promising start, I dived into this book and was taken by surprise.

The book starts off pretty much right when the infection hits California. Our protagonists are in New York City when they hear the news about the evacuations taking place in their hometowns. Worried about their families, the group of teenagers and their coach set off in a van in hopes of finding everything okay at home. While predictable from the beginning, I was definitely curious to find out what would happen next and who was next to die (because in a zombie book people have to die.)

The story is told from Alyssa's point of view, and while I didn't have a problem with her, there also isn't anything special about her or the other characters. I liked them all for the most part, but felt no real connection or loss when a few started dying off. The book becomes a bit repetitive in some parts, but being so short, it wasn't boring at all. I was engaged in the story for the most part.

There were some errors with grammar, contextual issues, and other things that were pretty unrealistic and/or impossible. I was able to look past these mistakes because it was an interesting story with a different take on zombies. The ending felt a bit rushed, like the author got tired and just wanted to finish off the book to start off the next in the series, so this was sort of bothersome.

While not the best written/edited book, it was surprisingly entertaining. It is engaging and kept me wanting to know more, even though the set of characters kept running into the same problems every time they stopped. Hopefully in the next installment (which I do plan to read,) I will be able to connect with the characters and find out more about that sort of twist that we are left with at the end.