Official Review: The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the T...

[L_Therese]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the Time of Zombies" by Jeffrey Littorno.]

When reporter Kevin Turner sets out to investigate a shocking disruption at a local airport, he assumes that his worst problems are his troubled marriage and a widespread cold that has reduced available staff at businesses everywhere and made his wife a bit more irritable. But when witnesses of the airport incident start talking about the aggressors biting victims and bystanders, Kevin begins to view the world around him as slightly more sinister. Suddenly the illness that seemed so common seems decidedly uncommon, in the worst way.

Kevin Turner, whose only extraordinary quality has been his recent good health, must now try to survive against dead people who just don’t stay dead - and apparently have a hankering for the living. As he learns more about the horrifying creatures that seem to be popping up everywhere, Kevin finds himself fighting for survival. However, Kevin is fighting an enemy that appears everywhere, that he knows very little about, and that doesn't ever seem to give up.

My favorite part of this book is Kevin’s very evident humanity. He’s no hero. He becomes terrified, loses his head in a panic on several occasions, and sometimes puts his own safety above that of others. At the same time, he’s tormented on both a psychological and emotional level by phenomena around him. When people he knows are turned into mindless shells, Kevin is horrified, angry, and grief-stricken. When he must resort to brutal violence against creatures that look human (to an extent), he is plagued by nightmares and blind panic. Meanwhile, he is unable to forget the troubles of his world when it was normal, and these merge together to overwhelm our protagonist. Kevin reacts, and that makes him into a relatable character. For him, the horror is not the threat of death - that is the terror - but the thought of surviving in this new world. Kevin is driven by instinct to survive, but he is simultaneously tormented and dares not hope.

Horror isn't usually my preferred genre. I find that most authors that I've read before focus too much on the action and the gore, leaving flat characters who are unexpectedly resourceful and unusually strong, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Like I mentioned above, the “hero” of this book is not that character. He struggles. He gets lucky. He hallucinates and panics. He gets tired and hungry. He loses his temper. He cowers in fear. This character is far more real and human than I ever would have expected, and, because of this, I have found a rare horror novel that I can actually enjoy.

I rate this novel a solid four out of four. Because of the strength of the character, I would have no problem recommending it to any adult or young adult, regardless of their established genre preferences. This is a novel that can be horror/thriller’s bridge into new audiences.

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Buy "The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the Time of Zombies" on Amazon

[milyjohnson37]

This is a really good review. The book sounds interesting. I like reading horror books so this would be a good choice for me to read.

[JLittorno]

Hello,
My name is Jeffrey Littorno, and I
just discovered your review of my
novel The Most Uncommon Cold.
Thanks for the great feedback. I am
hoping that you might post it on the
Amazon page for the book.

Thanks,
Jeffrey Littorno