The Rains A Novel

Book #100 Read in2016 The Rains by Gregg Hurwitz This is, of course, the first book in a series. That being said, I want book #2 now. In a small town, brothers Patrick and Chance live with their aunt and uncle after their parents died in a car accident. One night the adults in their town are taken over by a parasite that makes them do horrible things to the children. Some sort of air-borne spore is causing it and seems to affect those 18 or older. Will the brothers be able to save their fellow young townspeople? This book was action packed and a quick read. Highly recommend for high school readers. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.

Very good young adult book. Very well written, suspenseful, and great characters.

3.5

Before reading this book, I did not like anything remotely related to zombies. I feel the same way having muscled my way through a book filled with way too much gore and senseless death. I did not find the premise intriguing or unique, though others may. I could almost predict where the action would go as each event climaxed and lead directly into the next. Even though Hurwitz includes plenty of senseless deaths, readers know that certain characters will survive regardless of the ridiculousness that happens to them, ie Chance fighting off a horde of Hosts with nothing but his baling hooks? Yeah, right. While the writing improved as the book progressed, the first two entries started off rocky. The entry telling Chance's entire backstory? Unnecessary and unrealistic. If he really set down to write this as a survival guide, no way would he put all that information in. Hopefully the next book I read will have some uplifting content. This book certainly does not.