Review: Dead (A Lot) by Howard Odentz

Dead (A Lot)
by Howard Odentz
Published: July 31, 2013
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books

Synopsis:
Last Friday night, the world changed-and not for the better. 

Zombies are among us. School's out for the foreseeable future, and with Mom and Dad at the lake house, my twin and I are on our own in this mess. Which is fine as long as we can avoid being on the menu.
 
Tripp Light's teenage world is suddenly filled with "poxers"-the infected ones, the ones that have the Necropoxy virus. In an entire world gone mad and bad, Tripp's only hope of survival is to clear a path through zombie land with his sister and head for the hills (aka his aunt's farm) to rendezvous with his parents.
 
Success clearly favors the fittest and the fastest. Survival demands the twins make hard, ruthless decisions, but that all changes when Tripp and his twin hear a distress call via the radio. Prianka Patel, a girl Tripp loves to hate, is trapped and surrounded in a bakery. Soon, the twins have quite a collection of misfits and survivors and miles to go before anyone can sleep safely again.
No matter where Tripp looks, everyone everywhere is dead.
Like really dead... a lot.

Review:
Zombie book are my current favorite read, yet I have come to the realization that not all zombie books are equal. Thankfully, Dead (A Lot) is on the positive side of that equation. Odentz manages to create a zombie novel that is not simply a zombie book.

The character Tripp is an amusing and probably pretty accurate portrayal of a teenage boy. He's not the politically correct main character that we can view as perfect. He's rude and childish at times, chauvinistic and even discriminates against a physically disabled man. Yet, he is likable, because he isn't spiteful and most importantly he changes and grows. If you don't like Tripp in the first few chapters, keep reading.

The only issue I had was with the ending. I felt it was a bit rushed and wished Odentz had spent just a few more pages fleshing things out.