Zombies with leadership now that's Scary.

Quickly escalating with no time to breath, Before you know it there aint many of you left. The concept of hidden intelegence inside reanimated dead, is ace, and could be explored so much more. The spread of the virus, could have been better thought out, but the concept was great. Read superbly throughout with Narration matching both the suspense and energy. Looking forward to Book 2 see where we go,

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Mankind has become the Wretched

A zombie story with a slight difference: these 'reapers' are fast, dog like in movement and are of two types, the alphas, chemically created, and their followers, made by being bitten and resurrected from death. The alphas are able to plan and have ambition, and they control their children telepathically. This makes them far more dangerous than the mindless shambling undead of many stories.
However, the book is mostly about a small group of humans just trying to survive, in particular a police officer and his ex-army buddy, together with his wife who is a nurse, and her doctor friend, and another just discharged army guy. Initially just trying to find each other, then fighting to survive, this code group gains, and loses, members as time passes. This is a non stop action story as the madness of infection rapidly spreads across the city then on into the state.

Readers who enjoy zombie stories should love this: it has the gore, the growls and the biting tension of a decent horror thriller as our handful of human heroes evade and fight the hordes of hungry yellow eyed, self healing, super strong monsters. The main protagonists, though not fully characterised, are far from simple two dimensional characters, engaging a certain empathy from the reader in addition to the natural instinct to see the people survive and win. Narrator Brian Callahan further enhances the living individuality of each protagonist, giving them each a separate voicing for their conversation and frequent banter as well as reading the story text with a certain emotional tension.

This is the first of a new series so, whilst there is a suitable conclusion, the story does not end but will continue into book two. My thanks to the rights holder of The Wretched, who, at my request via Audiobook Boom, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy. It was an enjoyable read but only time will tell if I am invested enough to continue with the rest of the series: I tend to doubt it..

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Redundant dialogue, limited story

The story progressed very little in 9 hours of audiobook. Probably because the dialogue was so stilted it started to sound either computer generated or like a student trying to fill out their word count.

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A fantastic addition to the genre

The Wretched is an action-packed apocalyptic thriller, that will hold your attention right to the end. After Puc, a North Korean agent injects himself with a top-secret serum, he releases a virulent virus on to the unsuspecting population. It doesn't take long for Philadelphia to be overrun by abominable monsters. The creatures (Reapers) are the stuff of nightmares; yellow-eyes, vicious hairy primeval monsters that retain their intelligence and heal fast. Werewolf like with a pack mentality and led by an Alpha, they strategize and select whom they want to convert. It doesn't take cake long for the Reapers to overwhelm the city and forge ahead to the rest of the country.

E.G. Michaels's writing is consistent and well-paced. The plot is engaging with lots of action loaded with twists and unexpected turns, further enticing the reader/listeners. The characters are well developed, particularly the protagonist, Malcolm Foster, a Philadelphia police officer. Foster and a small group of survivors search for refuge as they struggle to stay alive; while battling the pitiless Reapers.

Brian Callanan's performance was phenomenal. He is what I call a one-person show. His ability to modify his voice to suit various character types is incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed his narration.

The Wretched is a fantastic listen with a great plot, characters and an exceptional narrator. I highly recommend this audiobook.

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