TITLE The Other Life (The Other Life #1)AUTHOR Susanne Winnacker
PUBLISHED February 1st 2012 by Usborne
PAGES 190
READ April 28 - 29, 2012
BUY IT Amazon / The Book Depository
Synopsis 3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.The Other Life falls into a category that I am finding very popular lately, it was a book that I wasn't enjoying too much but about halfway through I got sucked right into it. The novel starts out rather sluggishly as we meet Sherry and her family who have been contained in a bunker for 3 years following a rabies outbreak. The mood that is set inside the bunker had even me feeling claustrophobic, tensions were at an all time high and I totally believed that these people had been secluded for a ridiculous amount of time. For me it just took a while for the action to start, which may very well be because this is the first book in a series.
Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.
Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.
While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.
The characters Susan Winnacker has weaved together are really quite good. The little reflections at the beginning of each chapter are perfect in showing us how Sherry has grown and just how much a young woman's life has changed. Sherry was a great MC, her desperation and worthy attempt at being someone much her senior was totally believable and I felt for her. The love interest that she meets, Joshua, is also someone that I thoroughly enjoyed and found myself rooting for. He wasn't just brawn and a love interest, he was pretty complex and as the layers get pulled away throughout the story you really connect with him. My only issue with these characters was that at times I found their dialogue to be not believable for the ages they were presented as being.
The writing is very descriptive, the action scenes are so intense that they left knots in my stomach. The human mutations (zombies?) that are brought to life in The Other Life are scary! The Weepers are not only blood hungry but they are smart, they work together and horde their food. For me, that added to the intensity of it all, the villains actually had a method to their madness.
This was a solid, dark read that really picked up in it's second wind. It ends quite abruptly and perfectly sets the scene for a smashing follow-up.
Great review, as always, love :-) I've had my eye on this book and wasn't sure about it, as it sounds a little like a zombie book. However, I am intrigued by the bunker and the premise of a "quest ", so I may see if I can borrow this from the library or a friend.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of bunkers, one of my favorite movies is Blast From the Past, with Brendan Fraser and Christopher Walken. Have you seen it? If not, you must! :-)
:0 Wonderful reveiw! i'm glad it got better as it went along!
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to read this book since I first saw that cover and read the synopsis. Thanks for the great review :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you stuck with this book. I thought it was a pretty good read, and I am definitely looking forward to the sequel. The following is for Katie up above: this is a great book to check out from the library. It's a decent read, but I'm glad I read an ARC and didn't spend the money. It's not that it isn't good, it's just short and doesn't really get going until close to the end.
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