The Complex / J. Rudolph

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Horror/Zombie/Post Apocalyptic

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability   

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Author:

J. Rudolph lives in Southern California with her family and thinks way too much about zombies. The Complex is her debut novel.

Description:

A devastating virus has gone out of control that reanimates the dead. This is the story of a small group of survivors that have found refuge in their small, gated apartment complex.

Appraisal:

This story is told through the eyes of Cali, a nurse, a wife, and a mother of a ten year-old son. She and her husband Trent had always joked about a zombie apocalypse; it was a game they played, ‘what if’. It was never supposed to be real. They have banded together with their neighbors who stayed and succeeded in building a small fortress for their protection from the zombies. It is an interesting character study. The characters are well developed and I became invested in their future. The narrative descriptions were well done and the conversations between all the players were realistic. I felt that the plot had a nice pace and the twists were interesting and unexpected. I am not a zombie aficionado, nor do I ever expect to be, it is not my usual genre preference.

The weakest part of the whole story is the preface. I understand why it is there but I felt like it may have been better handled as a flashback perhaps. The beginning of a story is suppose to grab the reader and not let go, I don’t think the preface did that. It is interesting to know how the virus got so out of control so fast though. There are also several small editing errors mostly extra or missing words or letters, they were a minor irritant that made some sentences read clunky.

I enjoyed the story and was glad there was not a cliffhanger ending, although it is evident there will be a sequel. I am anxious to see how things develop for this small band of survivors.

FYI:

There are three F-bombs dropped and graphic gore.

Format/Typo Issues:

There are a small number of proofing errors.

Rating: *** Three stars