In the Dead of Night by Jamieson Wolf

17346756Title: In The Dead Of Night

Author: Jamieson Wolf

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies

Length: Novella (158pgs)

Publisher: Breathless Press (26th January 2013)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥1 ½ – 2 Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Ikarus remembers nothing.

One moment there was darkness and the next, there was light. However, Ikarus Kane remembered nothing.

The world he knew is gone. Waking from a coma, he finds the world as he knew it greatly changed. It is now infested with the living dead. Ikarus has one choice: find shelter and hide or risk becoming one of them.

He finds shelter in an abandoned bed and breakfast. But there is someone there already. Mikhail Jones is a man who has survived more than just the zombie apocalypse. There is something about him that sets Ikarus’ body on fire and, despite knowing him only moments, he wants Mikhail desperately.

Ikarus is more powerful than he knows, however. Ikarus and Mikhail become entangled in a fight for survival where only they can save the world; only they don’t know it yet. They are part of an ancient prophecy that has been set in motion.

When they find a woman named Ruthe in one of the bedrooms upstairs, with no memory of how she got there, things are only beginning to get interesting.

In a desperate race to find answers, Ikarus and Mikhail cling to the only thing that feels right: each other.

They will need the love that blooms between them if they are all to survive the night…

Purchase Link: http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=17&products_id=418

Review: Ikarus is hiding from the living dead, he finds an abandoned B&B and seeks shelter and runs into Mikhail who is also hiding out. Their reaction to each other is explosive but they have bigger problems to face than their attraction to each other, like the woman (Ruthe) who mysteriously appeared in an upstairs bedroom, like the zombie hordes gathering outside the B&B and the fact that Ikarus can’t remember anything before three months ago. As Ikarus, Mikhail and Ruthe run for their lives they pick up two more survivors Rapphael Higgins and a young girl, Sati. All of them are connected but none of them knows how, and when they are betrayed they discover someone has been pulling their strings and needs them for their own purposes, the five of them have to work together to stop their destruction and to stop a madman from completely destroying the world.

This is one of those stories that begins with great potential but then gets too complicated and fanciful. The story starts with a series of news items explaining that there was a chemical spill and the results of it, we then meet Ikarus as he hides from the Zombies. The story progresses quite quickly and sometimes, it feels too quick, we are left with little information and mysterious characters who confuse us and leave us clueless. Other things come into play and you shake your head as the story becomes even more confusing. The one thing that results from reading this story is that you understand that a lunatic listened to some voices in his head and created a chemical that resulted in the world inhabitants becoming Zombies, the rest just leaves you banging your head.

I love a good post-apocalypse Zombie outbreak as much as the next person, but this one fell short by trying too hard. The storyline became too complicated with the five survivors being the impossible, and the maniac apparently ‘making’ them what they are. I couldn’t wrap my head around the coincidences as they suddenly all appeared in just the right place at the right time, half of them not remembering anything from before they were found. The only ones who remembered anything was Mikhail and Higgins, but we still didn’t get that much background from them. What really annoyed me was how the women seemed to know things no one else did and they also refused to share most of what they knew. It was like the blind leading the blind while being mysterious about it.

The relationship between Mikhail and Ikarus was impossible to believe, the instant attraction you can understand but saying the ‘L’ word after just a few hours was just wrong, them taking Higgins to bed after just meeting him was over the top, especially seeing as Mikhail and Ikarus hadn’t even had sex yet. Some things I did like though, like the descriptions of the Zombies and their movements, how the fresher they are the faster they move, so yeah I really liked the Zombies and how the world was infected, it just got complicated when it went off into fantasyland.    

I would only recommend this to those who love fanciful zombie stories, absurd happenings, mmm, and an ending that leaves you wondering.