Slow Burn: Zero Day, Book 1

I feel bad that I got this for free. I will very definitely buy as many in this series as the author wants to write.Short version: this is excellent. Get it. Try the free sample, but save yourself some time and just get the book. You won't be sorry - here's why.Mechanically, it's very well written and well edited. Very, very minor typos - 'puss' instead of 'pus', 'hoard' instead of 'horde', and that's about it. Spelling, punctuation and sentence structure are particularly excellent - nice job, genuine pleasure to read.The author poses some particularly apropos metaphors - I especially liked the one about the hyena. The narrative and dialog are well crafted and believable; they flow well and smoothly. The action carries you right along, and the violence is generally understated but is nasty and gory where it needs to be. There's not a lot of guns'n'ammo stuff, but what there is is for the most part accurate and well-done.This is a hell of an infected tale.The author lays out the etiology of the infection and the progression of the disease especially well. His explanation of why the infected consume human flesh makes particular sense; it's an interesting change from the genre's unstated given of 'because that's what they do'.The characters are well drawn and well developed, and the main protagonists experience circumstances and develop a point of view not often seen in Zombie/Infected Apocalypse fiction.There's a lot to like here; try the free sample.Update 15 NOV 14: Author has written Book 6 in the series. It's not so much an 'everything's all neatly wrapped up and all your questions are answered end of the series' as it is merely a good hiatus point. I don't hate where he's left it, and I would very much like to see a continuation of the series or a stand-alone novel or two set in the 'Slow Burn' universe.If you've not read the series, get the first book - it's free. And you can get books 1 - 3 as a ninety-nine cent boxed set!As stated above, book 1 has some minor issues, but the issues grow fewer and fewer in books 2 through 4, and books 5 and 6 are (as far as I can tell) without editing or constructional problems.Book 6 is a page-turner (frankly, as are they all); I started it this morning and finished it about ten minutes ago. It's fast paced, action packed - a real hell of a read. Try book 1, but save time and just buy the whole series. You Won't Be Sorry.PS: Bobby Adair has started a new series - 'Ebola K' It's great, too! And free! What are you waiting for?

I am writing this review in the hope that it will help someone to decide whether or not to "buy" this book. Well, "buy" is relative because it's free right now. (Really? It's free? Yup, sure is!) Seriously, I think this novella (on second thought, it's less than a novella--it's just the first act) is worth at least a few of your hard-earned dollars because it's a rather good and interesting read. In summary, I really liked this book and I'm looking forward to reading (and even paying money for) the next installment. I hope that the next part arrives soon (it was promised in September on the last page of this free installment). I was a little concerned about the author's note that he's not sure how many parts the story will have, but I'll leave comments on that aspect until after I've read the next installment.I have a few comments which are both pluses and minuses in nature, to offer to anyone who cares. (Beware that there are minor spoilers ahead.)1- The quality of the writing (at least once the story gets fully started...i.e., after about Chapter 5) is rather good, higher than typical for this genre. There are no typos or grammatical flaws that I detected which is rather amazing. Bravo Mr. Adair!2- The plotting of this first installment is also good. Other than a major plot hole (more on that below), the plot, point of view, dialogue, emotion and action descriptions of the story are well above average. Of course, a strong opening to a story is usually much easier to write than creating a complete story with a strong beginning, a meaningful middle (i.e., some goal, challenge or crisis to overcome) and a logical ending (a resolution/completion of the story). Most novels in the current crop of zombie literature do not have an ending at all (they run out of steam or are promised but never published) and they almost always depend on the rise of some evil human (i.e., non-zombie) character to provide conflict (e.g., think "The Walking Dead" TV series) rather than to continue the theme of survival among zombies which is the basic reason why (IMHO) people want to read stories like these.3- The basic premise (i.e., the "reason" and "science" for the "zombie plague") as presented in this story is refreshingly unique and well thought out and much more "plausible" than the usual plot lines which lean more toward supernatural or extraterrestrial explanations. Because the protagonist is infected at the start of the story, the unique premise can support the ongoing idea of "difference." By the end of this first installment, it's clear that the idea of difference is the major theme of the novel. This theme is further supported by the "science" of the novel which describes the zombies as being brain damaged, not "dead."4- (MINOR SPOILERS HERE.) In spite of this great basic premise, the structuring of the story after about Chapter 15 depends on the use of a very big plot hole. The defect is so apparent that I found myself re-plotting the story in my mind to try to minimize it. To avoid too many spoilers here, I'll just say that the basic premise and its stated "rules" for infection and progression of the disease make the rise of many thousands of zombies in just a few days' time that are able to run and chase and hunt and easily kill the uninfected an illogical plot line. Why? Well, consider that the stated driving force behind the generation of new infections is the need to feed. However, in all instances in this story when the zombies feed, they almost totally consume the person, i.e., there's nothing left of the body to become a new zombie, let alone one that can run and chase and overwhelm an uninfected human. So, unless the most typical event (never mentioned in the plot) is a superficial bite (nibbling?) which the victim somehow escapes without being consumed (an event which is never described in the plot), this plague could just not spread so quickly in spite of the morbidity and mortality rates mentioned. There just would not be that many infected because most new victims would be consumed by those already infected. Because of their fewer numbers, the infected would be rather easy targets for the uninfected (at least those with guns) to subdue. I realize that such a plot line would be less exciting than an ever-increasing numbers of infected. I suppose that the plot hole could be filled somewhat by the idea that the most common (albeit very stupid) practice that must have been used everywhere in this imagined world was to group all the infected together in a gymnasium (or some other enclosed spot which, of course, would never be properly guarded) so that the infected would be grouped in large numbers such that they can literally become swarms of cannibals which are able to overwhelm the uninfected humans who are naively waiting outside the gym to see what happens next. In spite of my contention that the story is based on an impossibly fast growth rate, by Chapter 25 there are scores of infected who are inexplicably waiting in the buildings which the protagonist must traverse in order to achieve his goal of saving two young (helpless) females in a dorm room. These infected-who-are-in-hiding are described as having "settled themselves into a shadowy corner of the classrooms where they squatted and stared (at me while) I watched them for a bit and wondered how long they'd stay there in the absence of a stimulus." This scene only added to my confusion that the illogical plot depends on an ultra-fast spread of some undefined infecting agent. Perhaps I'm over analyzing and nitpicking here, but my re-plotting of the story based on consumption factor vs. infection rate demanded a much slower progression of this plague. Of course, such a plot would have required "old school" zombies (slow, Romero-type) versus "new school" zombies (fast and angry such as were introduced in the "28 Days Later" movie). Ah well, I guess the suspension of disbelief in these stories can be a tough piece of meat to chew!5- Although I had the above-mentioned issues with certain nuances of the plot, I want to end on this up-point: I really thought that the story and characters created by this author very neatly and convincingly set up a canvas on which the author can paint a multi-themed story in which he can comment on the state of humanity, culture, psychology, philosophy and, of course, class/race/ethnic origin/sexual orientation/religion of people who exist in the "real world." Because such a "canvas" was the whole brilliance of the creation of the zombie genre (as a sub-genre of horror/sci-fi) by George Romero over 45 years ago, I'm really looking forward to where this author takes his ironically (and cheekily) named protagonist ("Zed") and his two "different" (i.e., "slow-burn" infected, biologically changing) companions. I must also say that I really relished an almost throw-away moment at the end when the young male ROTC candidate (presumably from the Deep South) spews out this chestnut of psychological projection: "Begone demon! Begone mindless monsters! You are all going to suffer and die!" If that's not a clear and scathing commentary on the current state of humanity in the "real world" in regard to "different people," I don't know what could be.I hope this review helps someone. Comments are welcome.

Great book. Good story continuity. Holds your attention. Be prepared to get the next book in the series. Glad I didn't read it before the COVID outbreak. To find out why you need to read the book.

Ich habe alle Bücher dieser Reihe gelesen; das allein spricht wohl für sich 😉 da ich alle gleich gut finde, steht bei jedem Buch das gleiche: hat alles, was man sich von einem "Zombie-Buch" erwartet und noch mehr. Neben jeder Menge Spannung, gibt es facettenreiche Charaktere, psychologischen Tiefgang und Dialoge mit Wortwitz. Zudem sind die Charaktere lernfähig und entwickeln sich weiter.

L'idea dello slow burn è divertente e offre un'interessante prospettiva dall'interno.Nel libro il protagonista è così goffo e poco plausibile che inizia a piacermi....Mi leggo il secondo è torno!La stella in più è per fare media con l'altra recensione eccessivamente negativa IMHO.

First off, I know glowing reviews of kindle books may be suspect - so please check my profile. I am a fairly prolific reviewer, and this is my first ever review of a self published book - in large part because I don't like bashing new authors, and I've found so few worthy of a good review. I read constantly, and review for several sites. The largest part of my disposable income goes on books, so when I say something is among the best I have ever read, it is facing some competition. I won't go as far as to say this is the very best - I still class Richard Matheson's Omega Man as the best post apocalyptic fiction ever, and The Walking Dead, the original series as close second, but this is definitely up there. I estimate that I read 7 - 10 books per week, but this figure includes children's books ( I home educate my sons).Zombie books right now are coming out in hordes. As several reviewers have commented genre has been done to death, and while there are some excellent books out there, all too many have left me bored to death as well. Anyone can write slash and bash, blood and brains with a few plucky survivors holed up in what they hope is safe location - but of course it never it is. Adair however has breathed new life into the genre with a completely novel approach to the genre and the character development of a very seasoned author with a rare gift.Adair's main hero becomes infected early on, and my first thoughts were "Oh No - Not another Hatred". Thankfully I kept reading, because this turned out to be a completely unique twist as the virus in Adair's books has several shades of grey in between the black and white of zombie and human. The characters in this book are very well developed, especially Zed, an imperfect hero, but human - despite being infected and I prefer flawed heroes to the unrealistic knight in shining armour type. Everything about this book is as realistic and believable as one could possibly could with a zombie plague - and btw they are not really undead - simply plague infected.This is a fast moving action based adventure which will leave you unable to put it down - but it in spite of all the action, it is a book that makes you think as well. What makes us human - what makes some of into monsters? How would we react in an apocalyptic event? It examines prejudices - with a few delightful jabs at racism, but not in a preachy manner, simply encouraging the reader to examine their own beliefs.I don't have any major criticisms of this book. I caught a couple of typos in the second book, but I find typos in books from top publishers as well. I did not find any in this one, so the editing was very well done. I could have done without Zeds mantra " The ogre and the harpy", but it wasn't enough to reduce my pleasure in reading this book so I won't take anything off. I'd love to see Murphy share the spotlight with Zed a bit more in future books, but the only major complaint I have with this series is having to wait for book 5. I read book 1 in a single night and bought the next 3 books the next day.If you enjoy apocalyptic fiction - I can't recommend this book highly enough. Even if you aren't a fan of zombie books, I would strongly recommend checking this one out. I can't say that I have a specific genre of books I enjoy. I read so many different types of fiction as well as non-fiction. What I do like is a very well written book with a good plot, well developed characters and which gives some insight into the human condition. This book ticks all the boxes for me, and earns Adair a place with the true masters of the genre like Matheson, King, and Wyndham.

I don't do zombie books (I don't think I realised it was a zombie book when I got the first one). I thoroughly enjoyed it and immediately bought all the rest of his books. Was it because i was in addictive book mode ? Don't know. I suspect I related a bit to the main character... it happens. They're short books but I understand that's kinda what new authors have to do to get going and it worked. I got the rirst one becbecause it had some good ratings and was free and that was enough to make me feel I wanted to support Bobby's writing. Now all I need is book 6 sometime soon please.