Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I actually had to look this author up, while I was in the midst of reading the book, to see if it was actually a woman...because I could not, for the life of me, imagine a woman portraying mothers like the two in this book. When I confirmed that Jo Furniss is, indeed, a woman, I researched whether or not she was a mother. Lo and behold, she is. All I can say is...wow. This book drops you right into the action. There is no build-up. No character development. One minute you're opening the book, the next you're in the woods with several characters you know nothing about and it's all going bad. I'm not a fan of this style of writing. With no character development, how are we supposed to care about them? Beyond that, once Marlene and her sister-in-law, Joni, realize there is a very serious problem, their actions are just freaking odd. They have no real idea what's going on, yet they let their kids wonder off on their own; they sit in the middle of a park eating beans in broad daylight; they separate from each other constantly (have they never heard of safety in numbers?); they don't seem overly concerned about gathering food, weapons, or masks to protect themselves from the virus; there is virtually no reaction at all to the death and destruction around them (except the constant mentioning of "the buzz"...God forbid Marlene have to be around flies); and a possible contagion is nothing more than a brief blip on their radar. I simply don't believe their actions, or attitudes, are plausible. And let's face it, Marlene is not a likable character. In fact, she's pretty heinous. Her children are total brats who do not listen at all, so we spend the entire book reading about her chasing them and trying to find them when they disappear. Joni is a doormat. Her daughter, though older and supposedly more mature than the rest of the children, is disrespectful, self-absorbed, and a total PITA too. Nothing about these awful people made me root for them. In fact, I probably would have applauded if Marlene had croaked off. Aside from all the above, the animal deaths (most notably the dogs), bothered me a great deal. Did she really have to kill off Horatio Von Drool....the one likable character in the entire book? And the ending is a cliffhanger! I struggled through this entire hot mess of a book, only to find an ending with no answers. I don't know about you, but when a book isn't advertised as a series, I feel a little screwed over. I can ASSURE you, though, I won't be bothering with the sequel. What a stinker this book was... UPDATE: I saw the author answer a question about the sequel on Goodreads just a few days ago (August 2017). Apparently, there isn't going to be a sequel. Here was Jo Furniss's response: "Hi Carol, I'm not planning a sequel. For me, the story ends with the resolution of Marlene's 'coming-of-age' as a mother." Haha...yea, Marlene and Freddy Krueger, both epic mothers. ;) I can't believe the book was intentionally concluded like that...what a total cop out.