ARC Review: The Weepers (The Other Life #1) by Susanne Winnacker

So you expect this book to have zombies? Well that doesn't make it less scary.

Title: The Weepers: The Other Life (The Other Life #1) by Susanne Winnacker
Pages: 352
Release Date: May 1st 2012
Published by: Marshall Cavendish
Source: Publisher (thanks Bridget!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

Sherry had camped out with her family for years inside a bunker when the world had a deadly outbreak of a  virus that changed the human race. She longs for sunlight, and everything that they have left behind when they went underground. Now her grandfather's corpse is on the fridge and her parents are getting at each other's throats because they are starving. No one was coming to help them, and what began as a simple scavenging for food turned out to be a terrifying experience for Sherry and her family as she discovered just how much the world and the people in it has changed, and not necessarily for good.

In The Other Life, you will be in tune with Sherry's feelings as she leaves the safety of their bunker to look for food and then the emotions will start rolling from there. It will start with feeling a wave of confusion by getting used to what was the present then, and then fear when questions like 'where is everybody?' comes up, which will then turn into full on panic when you find out that you are not alone and the people who stayed alive? They are out there to hunt you instead, and you can be their next meal.

Sherry is one of those likable heroines you will admire because of her perseverance, and bravery, and give her a lot of credit for thinking of her family above everything else. She transformed from this whiny teenager who only cares about her family to one who is strong and tough and will take on anything for those she loves. She thinks not just only for herself, but also for the other survivors left who are still like her. Human, fighting to survive. I liked Joshua because he's this teenage boy who had seen the horrors of a world falling apart and lived through it. Emotionally scarred and eternally brooding, Joshua is a complicated character. He's a good guy overall, but he's stubborn and he has a single minded purpose of avenging his family's death. There's something attractive about a boy who tries to act tough but is truly vulnerable inside that makes you want to protect them, and Joshua is a perfect example of that. He's a fighter, but he's also a boy aching for the loss of his family. It's always nice poking through countless layers of one's character, and Joshua is just that.

When you have two strong characters, how can you not expect them to get closer to each other? It's not insta love, but it's the kind that even though you know they will eventually end up with each other, the characters still took time to develop themselves and grow through their story before they succumb to their feelings.

Beware of the Weepers, they might create nightmares for those of the fainthearted. The Weepers were terrifying, there's no other way to describe them but to say that they are such fear inducing creatures, merciless and dangerous. What's disturbing is despite the way they have evolved into something that is not quite human, they still maintain a certain level of humanity in them. They were once a mother, a father, a sister, family. This aspect of The Other Life exposes the ugly side of evolution and what horrifying things man can discover and create in our relentless pursuit and thirst of knowledge and power. The Other Life takes a deeper look in each of us and what can happen when the idea of isolation, despair and extreme circumstances gets the best of people, as evident in Joshua's experience of cruelty and violence when he was in the public bunker.

It was interesting to read bits and pieces of Sherry's life before the virus hits and I think those moments added a little more color and depth to the story by presenting a great contrast between Sherry's life then and now. How the world has changed, and that there are times when it is better.

The Other Life just hooks you into the story the moment you start reading and it will never let you go. Very engaging without a dull moment in it. I found myself furiously turning over the pages and dying to find out what happens next! It's that good! There is definitely enough action and tons of scary moments to get you through the story. Susanne has a way of writing that just makes the readers feel emotions so strongly, whether you want to or not. And just when you think everything has been said and done, a surprise twist will come out of nowhere. A thoroughly enjoyable read, The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker delivers and more!

Can 2013 come faster? I want to know what happens next!

My rating:

Content (plot, story flow, character):

Amazing!

Stunning: Worthy of a Goddess' Praise!

Book Cover:

Love the scary vibe it makes you feel.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.