Review: Undead by Kristy McKay

                                                                                       

Title: Undead
Author: Kristy McKay
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
Publishing Date: September 1st 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: YA Zombie Horror/Thriller
Series: Undead #1
Source: Digital ARC

Goodreads Summary:
Out of sight, out of their minds: It's a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.

The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.

But they've changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

Combining the chill of THE SHINING, the thrill ride of SPEED, the humor of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and the angst of THE BREAKFAST CLUB, Kirsty McKay's UNDEAD is a bloody mad mash-up, a school-trip splatter-fest, a funny, gory, frighteningly good debut!

Review:
I was really excited when I saw this book for the first time and couldn’t wait to read it. I was lucky enough to get an ARC copy. It was an epic read. It’s fresh, funny, and full of thrills. Action from start to end.

I love my zombie books, but most of them are post apocalyptic style, this one was happening now and read more like a horror or thriller with a side of cheese but in a very good way.

The characters were just awesome. The 4 main characters, Bobbi, Pete, Smitty, and Alice, meshed so well together. We have four completely different teens all from different rungs of the social status ladder at school. Bobbi is the new kid, the invisible type girl. Smitty is the jerkish cute loner type. Pete is the genius geek. Alice is the popular mean girl. What happens when you put them all together the last know survivors of a school trip.. we have comedy and lots of it. The characters are definitely what made this book from good to awesome.

The story is your basic horror type setting. Kids go on a trip far from home, all other know civilization turns to zombies leaving them to fend for themselves, stay alive, and find their way home. I loved the amount of action in this book. Action, Action, and more Action. It’s been a while since I read this much action in a YA Book. It was zombie fighting done right too. It was not pretty, slick, or unbelievable fighting maneuvers. There were lots of “That didn’t work as well as I imagined” or “Oops didn’t mean to do that” or even “Ouch that really hurt, I may pass out now” kind of fighting. Not that zombies could ever be realistic but the fight scenes in this book were more of the realistic teens fighting zombies without training than most books. Readers beware- there are some pretty gruesome parts too.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a great zombie read with lots of humor, action, and blood.

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