Review: Undead (Undead #1) by Kirsty McKay

Zombies in a school trip? Yep, you've read that right. Next time you go into one, you might want to make sure you're not in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Title: Undead (Undead #1) by Kirsty McKay
Pages: 304
Release Date: September 2011 (UK) / September 1st 2012 (US)
Published by: Chicken House
Source: Publisher (thanks, Tina!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly.

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse?

Yep. They could.

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry.

With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside café. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant.

The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness. Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost.

Can they survive the Undead? And each other?

Who's up for some blood and gore with an extra dose of fun? I've been apprehensive when I first came across this book. I'm not really a fan of gore and I'm probably the easiest person to scare, but when I decided to give it a try, I was surprised when I got through this book quite easily. Oh it has scary moments, lots of it actually. But combine that with sarcastic humor and a bunch of interesting kids trapped in a nightmare experiment of some sort, trapped in a snowy place and you get quite an enjoyable read.

Feeling down from a disastrous school trip, Bobby stayed inside the school bus to sulk rather than join her classmates to eat. And it was the best decision she has ever made. Or is it? Then she found out that all her classmates and teachers died and came back to life, but with a penchant for human flesh. So Bobby, Alice a.k.a. the queen bee of her class, Smitty a.k.a. the drop-out kid and Peter, the loser with a knack for technology were the only humans left alive, and they're the next target of the undead. As the race for survival begins, Bobby and her unlikely group of allies discovered that there's more to the bizarre deaths than poisoning high school kids and finds herself in a middle of a conspiracy that has a potential of turning the world into one filled with the undead.

If the very concept of the story isn't enough to scare you, read on and see for yourself. What made Undead such a satisfying read was the way the scare factor was injected in moments when you least expect it. There are enough scenes lulling you into a false sense of security and the next thing you know zombies are jumping in out of focus. I literally jumped out of my seat a few times while reading this book. Kirsty McKay had a knack for finding the perfect time when to make things grim, when to make it scary, and when to inject the gore in it all. The creepy factor is quite high and with fun, quirky characters like Bobby and Smitty who never gives up, both quite caring and very, very much determined to stay alive, it's bound to be a good read!

What takes the readers' mind off the grim situation of the teens were the dynamics around the four of them and all those hilarious moments where you'll laugh your head off. There's endless bickering happening all the time it's a wonder how they were able to keep themselves together in one piece. It's like Resident Evil, but with teens. When you think about it, Undead doesn't have anything new in store for the readers, but Kirsty McKay's writing is gripping enough for the readers to enjoy. There's something about reading a book about zombies that's already interesting in itself but Kirsty McKay made it a lot more entertaining! The last 50 pages set-up the story nicely for the sequel, and even if I'm reeling from all the action, the fight for survival, the scare and the undead, I am definitely looking forward to reading what happens next.

A word to the wise: don't read this at night. It will keep you up well after your intended sleep time.

Content (plot, story flow, character):
Scary, but so much fun!

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
Look at the cover, you'll know what to expect when you read it.

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