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A series of terrible things begin to happen when a scientist with a dark past resumes his genetic experiments in a small Maine town. The animals suddenly become aggressive for no apparent reason, attacking anyone within sight, including Rick’s wife. After slaughtering his diseased herd, Rick realizes to his horror that they have come back to life. Soon the farm is under siege by the deranged animals, and a small group of refugees who have assembled in the farmhouse must hunker down and defend themselves against the terrible onslaught of cannibals.

The entire town soon becomes filled with the human flesh-eaters, threatening the farmhouse and the survivors within it. But they all have the same message before they reawaken: they are seeking the chosen ones. The onset of winter provides a temporary defense against the army of the dead, but with supplies running low, the survivors realize they must formulate a plan before the arrival of spring and the dreaded melt-off. And as the world outside them descends into total madness, a surprising leader emerges from the group who will hopefully lead them to safety.

My grandmother always said playing with your food would do nothing but bring you hunger and trouble and, while the circumstances my grandma was referring to and the circumstances in The Reawakeningare quite different, she was right. A scientist’s attempt at creating the next super fruit/vegetable has unleashed hell on earth…quite literally. What starts out at a supposed mad cow outbreak quickly turned into an infestation of ravenously vicious animals which attack each other and, of course,  humans. This attack on humans bring upon a very unique change and cause even more confusion and chaos.

The characters of The Reawakening are quite honestly, unlikable, but do not take that as necessarily being a bad thing. I don’t believe you HAVE to like all the characters in order to enjoy the book. It all depends on how the book is written and what the authors intentions.  Now don’t get me wrong, there was not total dislike for the characters as nearly each of them have their moments of positivity, but overall there is only one, Dar, who I would want on my zombie team and even then I’d watch my back with her around. Dar goes through some serious changes throughout the book and becomes what she feels is her true self. Her father, Thom, probably irritated me the most. He is a pacifist and went through all the motions of why he doesn’t eat meat, own a gun etc and even initially has issues killing the infected animals, but in one scene after a heartfelt diatribe about how it’s wrong to kill a human he turns around and kills….well Thom kills a human. He just seemed to be too all over the board when it came to staying true to himself.

Overall, The Reawakening is filled with survival, science, action and deceit, which did keep me on the edge of my seat as I attempted to decide who was good, who was evil and who I wanted to see eaten by the zombies.

You can purchase your copy of The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1) from Amazon in paperback or for Kindle by clicking the cover image above.

Learn more about Joseph Souza by following his blog aptly titled: Joseph Souza Horror & Crime Writer You can also follow Joseph on Twitter: @josephsouza3

Espresso rating: Double with a splash of milk