About two months ago, my husband and I were stuck in traffic behind a car with a zombie bumper sticker. I made some off-the-cuff comment like, "Wouldn't it be ironic if the events in Revelation really end up looking like some kind of zombie apocalypse?" at which point my husband and I decided we should co-write a novel on the subject.
Turns out we were too late. The novel's been written, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the author. I have read several other works by Pauline Creeden, and so when I heard just a week after that conversation with my husband about her upcoming novel, "Sanctuary," I was ecstatic.
Let me get one thing out there in the open. I don't read zombie novels. I don't read end-times novels. But I made the exception for Creeden, and I'm so glad I did. I'm also thankful for the chance to join up with the "Sanctuary" blog hop to offer my review and point you to a great giveaway sponsored by Creeden herself.
My Review:
I was hooked on the premise of the book from the get-go. The events of
Revelations explained in the context of an alien-induced zombie
apocalypse sounded very intriguing, and it was.
I wasn't sure if I'd be ok with the book, since I don't like horror or zombies. Even though there was violence, it was tastefully done and something I wouldn't mind recommending to the teens in our youth group. I do wish there was more backstory, as we jump in several weeks after the aliens first arrived.
The greatest strength of Sanctuary was in the character relationships. Hints of potential romance, sibling rivalry, lost loves ... these made the story a lot deeper than I'd expect from a typical thrasher novel. The only character I wasn't thrilled with was the protagonist's younger brother. His acceptance of aliens coming and terrorizing his family seemed a little too toned down. On the other hand, no one likes to read about young kids getting traumatized, so in some ways I'm thankful the author didn't play this particular plotline up to its full potential.
Readers should know before picking up Sanctuary that it's the first in a series, or else the ending might feel a little abrupt. I do look forward to reading more about the characters however and commend the author for this original piece of work.
I wasn't sure if I'd be ok with the book, since I don't like horror or zombies. Even though there was violence, it was tastefully done and something I wouldn't mind recommending to the teens in our youth group. I do wish there was more backstory, as we jump in several weeks after the aliens first arrived.
The greatest strength of Sanctuary was in the character relationships. Hints of potential romance, sibling rivalry, lost loves ... these made the story a lot deeper than I'd expect from a typical thrasher novel. The only character I wasn't thrilled with was the protagonist's younger brother. His acceptance of aliens coming and terrorizing his family seemed a little too toned down. On the other hand, no one likes to read about young kids getting traumatized, so in some ways I'm thankful the author didn't play this particular plotline up to its full potential.
Readers should know before picking up Sanctuary that it's the first in a series, or else the ending might feel a little abrupt. I do look forward to reading more about the characters however and commend the author for this original piece of work.
EXCERPT:
When Jennie reached the back door, she saw them. Four large dog-like creatures with pinched faces like bulldogs and lion-like manes. They snarled, and one of them leapt at the window on the top half of the door when it saw her. Jennie jumped back and fell hard on the cold tile floor. The bottle of painkiller bounced across the kitchen tiles. The creature slammed against the window a second time, cracking it. She blinked hard. Her heart sunk, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. A horrendous gargling howl rent the air, causing a shiver down her spine. She held her breath and waited for the creature to slam into the door again.
“What on earth?” she whispered to herself.
When the third attempt never came, she scrambled toward the door. Blinking hard, she used the door knob to help herself stand. Out the cracked window, her mother was still out of sight, but the last of the dogs headed across the field behind her backyard.
“MOM?” Jennie called out.
The rumbling faded, and the vibrations in her chest receded with the dogs. She pulled open the door and rushed onto their back deck. “Mom, where are you?”
When she reached the banister, she looked over the side. Her mom lay sprawled with one hand on the lattice. Blood gushed from Mom’s leg and her opposite arm. Jennie’s ears rang and flooded with every beat of her heart.
Jennie didn’t know how she got to the second floor of her house, but she found herself shaking her sleeping father. How had he slept through the rumbling? “Outside, it’s Mom…”
Her father leapt from the bed. Mickey, her little brother, lay asleep and undisturbed. Dad ran down the stairs and outside in his flannel pajama bottoms and white t-shirt. He scooped Mom up to his chest and carried her inside. Blood stained his shirt in crimson.
“Jennie, call 911!” Her father had said it at least three times before it finally registered in her brain.
She pulled the cell phone from her pocket, but it refused to connect. With a groan, she grabbed the cordless from the wall receiver, glad her heart stopped pounding in her head so she could hear.
“All operators are busy at this time,” a mechanical voice deadpanned, “Please stay on the line, and the next available operator will take your call.”
“They have me on hold, Dad. Should I hang up and try again?” She held the phone in both hands away from her face.
“No, just stay on the line.” Her father lifted the shredded jeans from Mom’s leg. “It looks like a shark bite. What on earth happened?”
Jennie took in the damage through tear-filled eyes. A huge chunk was taken from her mother’s calf, exposing the fibrous tendons that covered the bone in her leg. A bloodstain grew on the beige couch. Was she going to die? Panic rose up.
“What happened, Jennie?”
“I...I...They looked like lions, or dogs, or something. The rumbling shook the whole house…I tried to go outside to get Mom, but—” A sob blocked her throat.
Her father grabbed a throw pillow and held it against the leg. Mom’s exposed forearm laid across her chest in much the same condition as her calf.
“Grab me the duct tape.”
Jennie suddenly remembered the phone, put it back to her ear, and headed to the hall closet. She reached for the shelf above the jackets and grabbed the junk basket next to the toolbox.
“Please stay on the line. An operator will be with you shortly.”
She shoved the phone in the crook of her neck and fished through the box. Half the contents dropped around her feet. Who cares? When her fingers wrapped around the silver duct tape, a short-lived relief sent prickles down her arms. But the urgency gripped her chest in less than a heart beat, and she threw the junk basket on the ground with the rest of the items.
“Hurry, Jennie!” her father called from the living room. “And turn on the TV. Maybe they’ll have something about what’s going on.”
She handed her father the tape and turned toward the TV. The mechanical voice on the phone came through again, followed by more easy listening.
When she clicked on the TV, the shouting and wailing began before the picture warmed up on the screen. A sideways picture of New York City broke through, with the shaky voice of the newscaster voicing over.
“What we are watching now – I can’t believe it – is live footage of Times Square,” the newscaster’s voice paused for a deep breath. “We’ve lost our man on the scene and his camera man to what appears to be some kind of new alien creature. Just a short half-hour ago, the doors to the ship that hovered above Central Park opened and these dog-like creatures flooded out.”
Jennie couldn’t pull her eyes from the screen. She straightened and dropped the phone on the hardwood. The battery popped out and skidded across the floor.
NOTE: "Sanctuary" has been pushing the charts ever since its release. The kindle version is only 99 cents, so get it while you can!! And don't forget to enter the giveaway above.
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