What’s ‘The Complex: The Reanimates Book I’ About?
Nothing stays the way we want it to, and Cali Anglin learned this the hard way. Before, her life was simple. She was a mom, a wife, and a nurse. Now, she also must fight to save the lives of her family, her neighbors, and herself after a virus went awry and a plague of zombies took over life as she knew it.
No one is immune and no one is coming to save them. If they hope to be able to make it through the impossible, the survivors must create a safe zone within the walls of their gated apartment complex. It’s up to this group of people to make life worth living now that the dead have come back.
There’s just one problem…
How do you survive the zombie apocalypse with your humanity intact?
Our ‘The Complex: The Reanimates Book I’ Review
It started with an earthquake in Japan and the nuclear power plants leaking out intolerable levels of radiation. Evacuees were instructed to pack in backpacks and only small pets in pet carriers were allowed. So for the small boy at the beginning of the novel who wants to bring his pet rat it isn’t a problem, apart from the fact the creature has been exposed to radiation and carries a virus. Of course the boy is excited to discover his parents plan to take him to NY, USA during the clean up operation. However before they are allowed into the airport they need to go the radiation treatment centre. All goes well for the family apart from the now clean and fluffy rat that has scratched a lady at the centre during his shower; a scratch she keeps quiet about. Throughout the journey the rat bites other people including the boy. It isn’t long before the boy develops flu like symptoms. Then the rat starts to bite other rats, the rats bite people, they die, they reanimate.
Next we switch to USA. The main character, Cali, whose name we don’t know yet, finishes work after a night shift at the local hospital returning to her ten year old son Drew at their gated complex apartment. The character first learns about the outbreak through message forums and then a CDC announcement on TV.
It is here that Rudolph’s research pays dividends as the medical knowledge feels accurate. The tone is one of desolation; Cali knows, despite the assurances of the President, that there will be no military coming out on rescue missions. The only plan for Cali and some of the other residents is to barricade themselves into their complex.
There are some minor issues with the beginning of the novel. Rudolph mixes up her tenses in the first chapters suggesting the need for a copy edit, however I am aware she is redrafting the novel. As the outbreak happens and she gets into the core of her story changing to first person there is more consistency and the errors reduce. Also, the emotional tension is ramped up and the novel is about the mechanics of survival in the midst of the virus and zombie apocalypse. The characterisations are solid particularly Cali who as mother and wife has to prioritise the survival of her family. Visually, I believe the enclosed, tense environment would make a good zombie film. A welcome addition to the zombie genre.
Now meet the author, J Rudolph
I’m J. Rudolph, the author of The Reanimates, as well as the paranormal mystery, Hadley’s Haunting. I’m a 30 something that lives in Southern California with my husband of 16 years and mom to the coolest 11-year-old that I have ever met. I’m also part zombie. No, really! I have dead people parts in my spine, making me a living dead girl. Cool, right?
I’m more than a little into turtles. Turtle stuff is everywhere and I have two live turtles that know the people only exist for their happiness. Don’t call them pets, we humans are their pets!
I’m a writer by day and a nurse/heart monitor tech by night, which I definitely include in my zombie series.
I have loved the zombie genre since I was a teenager, which was fueled even more when I got my Kindle for Christmas in 2010. I’ve always been attracted to the idea that these things are running around that don’t need sleep, don’t have fears, and don’t have higher brain function to tell them the best way to get the food. The primal need to get to their food, regardless of the source, is all that drives them. I adore the problem solving in creating a safe zone to keep the zombies out of your home. For years, I’ve thought about how to get into places that have supplies and what places would I go to for these supplies. People think I’m a little obsessed, but that’s okay by me.
Where can you buy ‘The Complex: The Reanimates Book I’?
You can buy ‘The Complex: The Reanimates Book I’ on Amazon!
