Book Review: Contaminated

Gah another new series! This one is a GREAT zombie-like story without the blood and gore of zombie stories.

For fans of: 

The Walking Dead

Carrie Ryan's zombie book series

I Am Legend

Warm Bodies

Contaminated

Em Garner

ThinPro was the new improved weight loss plan.  Everything loved it; it was affordable and it worked! But what people didn't know was the protein in it came from not so reliable food source.  This caused those that used ThinPro to develop zombie-like traits, trying to eat humans, lack of focus, glazed eyes, etc.

After the contamination and the containment of these individuals, Velvet Ellis now lives in government housing taking care of her little sister--both determined that their mother, probably a "Connie," a zombie, is somewhere out there.  When Velvet stops by the "Kennel," she finally finds her mother...rehabilitated and ready to take home. As long as her mother wears her collar, she shouldn't attack anyone.

But the danger isn't over.  When the girls take their mother to their old home outside of town, there are rumors that a new strain of the virus is spreading. Will they be able to stay under the radar and avoid the soldiers? Is it possible that Velvet can help her mother change back into a normal human being?

I have heard and read a lot of people knock this book because it sounds like "a bad attempt at a zombie novel, but boring," and more.  However, I am not sure those readers really gave the story much credit.  The story is tagged as "gritty and grabbing", the kind of story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and a lot of people disagreed saying nothing happens in this story.  I beg to differ.

Yes, Velvet has a hard-knock life, and most of the story follows that, but a zombie book does NOT have to be blood and gore and eating people.  There can actually, WAIT...I'm going to say it...a PLOT to a zombie story other than simply surviving zombies.

Garner wanted to create a world where humans and zombies live simultaneously, with the hope that the zombies can return to the human world.  She creates a scenario of a popular item causing this disease, making it more likely to happen in the real world, so we could relate to it.

If you want zombies eating people the whole time, without much depth to it, then those critics are right--don't read this book.  But if you want something more substantial to your zombie story, try this one out.  There is a ferocity in Velvet to survive and bring her sister out alive as well as trying to get her mother back to normal.

This is an eerie story--a gritty and grabbing story that will make you wonder if a type of zombie could actually happen in the near future.