readerxxx's review
3.0
another book told from the perspective of a small cast of characters and their response to the zombie apocalypse set in a single night of horror. The zombie genre gains nothing from such tired retellings of the same story over and over again with nothing new. The author phoned this one in. It offered nothing new to the genre.
That said, the book was well written and only had two typos that I could find which is refreshing in the host of zombie stories on the market. I wouldn't turn down a copy of the second book in the series if I wanted something light to read.
That said, the book was well written and only had two typos that I could find which is refreshing in the host of zombie stories on the market. I wouldn't turn down a copy of the second book in the series if I wanted something light to read.
paperbackstash's review
3.0
A standard type zombie book that's packed with action from the beginning to the end. Even the first paragraph is violent, as is the last. Actually the last is a cliffhanger since it's a three part series.
Best writes well but keeps everything simple - short paragraphs, hardly any inner monologue, no deviation from zombie attacks and what's going on. It's a gory, vicious ride.
I think the biggest flaw is that the characters aren't that likeable. I'm not talking about the obvious jerks of the crowd, either. The main woman in the book, Angie, is the most likeable of the group, and one of the main driving goals is reuniting with her children. The problem is her children are completely annoying. The little boy Dalton isn't bad, but the fourteen year old Maylee got under my skin. Also, all the characters have such deranged language which doesn't feel natural. I have no issue with swearing in books, especially if the situation warrants it (a zombie apocalypse would make me sound like a truck driver!), but here it almost seems forced and unnatural as they all keep doing it. Almost like it was an image the author wanted to portray for some reason but fell a little short doing.
You certainly won't get bored from slow pacing as the action really is non-stop. A little breathing room would have made it easier to digest, I think.
Overall big zombie fans should dig this book. I was lucky to meet the author and get an autographed copy of this at a convention.
Best writes well but keeps everything simple - short paragraphs, hardly any inner monologue, no deviation from zombie attacks and what's going on. It's a gory, vicious ride.
I think the biggest flaw is that the characters aren't that likeable. I'm not talking about the obvious jerks of the crowd, either. The main woman in the book, Angie, is the most likeable of the group, and one of the main driving goals is reuniting with her children. The problem is her children are completely annoying. The little boy Dalton isn't bad, but the fourteen year old Maylee got under my skin. Also, all the characters have such deranged language which doesn't feel natural. I have no issue with swearing in books, especially if the situation warrants it (a zombie apocalypse would make me sound like a truck driver!), but here it almost seems forced and unnatural as they all keep doing it. Almost like it was an image the author wanted to portray for some reason but fell a little short doing.
You certainly won't get bored from slow pacing as the action really is non-stop. A little breathing room would have made it easier to digest, I think.
Overall big zombie fans should dig this book. I was lucky to meet the author and get an autographed copy of this at a convention.
whatmeworry's review
4.0
Lakewood Memorial is a simple but effective zombie tale. There are no big surprises here but it is a really fun read with lots of action and likeable (and as appropriate some fairly unlikeable) characters. Despite the shortness of the book Best builds the central characters well and has a nice sense of humour with some dialogue that made me chuckle. Most of all he makes you care about the central protagonist, Angie, and her two kids and I for one and plunging straight into volume 2 of the trilogy.
xterminal's review
3.0
Robert R. Best, Lakewood Memorial (CreateSpace, 2009)
Lakewood Memorial, the first book in a projected trilogy, takes a great what-if and runs with it: what if, when the zombie apocalypse hit, you were in a hospital? A lot of the lit glosses over the possibilities (think the Dawn of the Dead remake here) or just ignores the existence of hospitals other than as a possible source for medical supplies for survivors (Conrad Williams' One comes to mind). But in Lakewood Memorial, the surivor-band for one of the two parallel storylines is trapped in the titular hospital by a mob of the living dead. (The second parallel storyline details the adventures of Maylee and Dylan, teenaged daughter and preteen son, of Angie, the nurse who's one of the main characters of the first storyline, to avoid getting eaten while making their way to the hospital.) Best doesn't do anything new with the genre trappings, but playing what-if is a valid method of writing a zombie novel; give your protagonists access to what they would have in a hospital, set some conflicting personalities at each other's throats, and run with it. Best does a solid if not spectacular job with the material, though he's got a few language problems (he hits one of my sorest spots in consistently using the word “bitty” when he means to use “biddy”), and I'll definitely be moving onto book #2 in the series soon. ***
Lakewood Memorial, the first book in a projected trilogy, takes a great what-if and runs with it: what if, when the zombie apocalypse hit, you were in a hospital? A lot of the lit glosses over the possibilities (think the Dawn of the Dead remake here) or just ignores the existence of hospitals other than as a possible source for medical supplies for survivors (Conrad Williams' One comes to mind). But in Lakewood Memorial, the surivor-band for one of the two parallel storylines is trapped in the titular hospital by a mob of the living dead. (The second parallel storyline details the adventures of Maylee and Dylan, teenaged daughter and preteen son, of Angie, the nurse who's one of the main characters of the first storyline, to avoid getting eaten while making their way to the hospital.) Best doesn't do anything new with the genre trappings, but playing what-if is a valid method of writing a zombie novel; give your protagonists access to what they would have in a hospital, set some conflicting personalities at each other's throats, and run with it. Best does a solid if not spectacular job with the material, though he's got a few language problems (he hits one of my sorest spots in consistently using the word “bitty” when he means to use “biddy”), and I'll definitely be moving onto book #2 in the series soon. ***
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