Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This author has a genuine talent for creating likeable characters, infusing them with backstory and putting them into creepy situations. Then he nukes it all with poor vocabulary, an unbelievable plot, weak characterization and boring action. When I say poor vocabulary I don't mean that the book needs more three syllable words. What I mean is that there are some big comprehension gaps in the way everyday words are used. For example, if you're going to write a book about a viral infection, it would be really helpful to know what a virus is and what it does. This might even come in handy if someday one were to find themselves vacationing in an Ebola stricken nation. (Don't touch the poor people covered in bodily fluids please) In Contamination the entire story revolves around an infection that isn't infectious. The terms virus and toxic substance are used interchangeably leaving readers wondering exactly what's going on. Which leads to the next big problem with this series. Supposedly one evil individual has managed to somehow build an organization capable of producing this mystery substance, contaminate virtually all food and drinking water in a tri-state area with it, then field enough men to send groups to every city and backwater town in the area to kill the remaining survivors. Presumably when this group has managed to exterminate the entire country a few states at a time, the mysterious poison? virus? will magically go away so that the members of the organization can rebuild their own civilization. If any of that sounds remotely possible or plausible to you, then buy this book. If, like the rest of us, you're saying, "Wha? Srsly?", then don't bother, because that's the basic premise behind the entire series. There's plenty more confusion where that came from. In one scene a character is putting away a box of pasta. The author doesn't know that once small consumer packages of food are packed for shipping, the larger container they're packed in is typically referred to as a case, carton or shipping container. So when the character later begins tripping over a box in the ensuing action sequence, readers don't know if he's slipping around in loose macaroni or if he's stumbling over a large cardboard case of food. In another scene that takes place in a church, it's difficult to follow the action because the author apparently doesn't know that the front of a church is the end where the altar is located and the back of a church is by the doors where people enter, which makes for another confusing sequence. In Book 4, that I just finished, the author has a character walk to the cab of a truck, let down the tailgate and slide in a 4X8 board. How does anyone reach adulthood and not know that the back cargo area of a truck is called the bed, not the cab? Or that a 4X8 sheet of wood is a composite like plywood and not high end furniture stock that the plot calls for. And why would anyone board over windows from inside a house leaving the glass exposed and allowing the boards to be pushed off the window frame, into the house? Characters discharge guns and discard them as soon as they're out of ammo. By book 5, not one character has ever reloaded a gun. Instead they run around looking for a new one. In one scene they accumulate a whole pile of guns so that they'll have spares when one runs out of ammunition. In fact no one in this series ever looks for any of the many things they need in any of the stores they run or drive past. The creative word usage doesn't end with confused meanings. Nothing in this book breaks or is broken. Characters all bust things or things are busted. During action scenes, movements that take a second of real time are either beginning or continuing. "The creature began to loosen it's grip". "The kid began to claw at her" "The knife embedded itself further" The verb "to be" is also overused, robbing the actions scenes of immediacy. "He was reaching towards her from the front seat. She felt his arms enter the entanglement of limbs, trying to pull her free". Action verbs along the lines of, " He reached across the seat and made a grab for her arm", would have sped up the scene. Overly creative descriptions result in painful lines like, "the sun had propped itself high in the sky, shining it's rays of luminescence onto the crops below" (Book 5). I finally stopped bookmarking. This entire series is in desperate need of a good critique group and a rewrite or two. I wanted to believe in the characters. I wanted to see them grow and become individuals. I wanted to believe in the premise instead of wishing it would go away. Unfortunately, that never happened and I can't recommend this series in it's present state.