(Cover picture courtesy of Orisi’s Blah Blah Blah.)

David was caught in the middle of the city when the zombie outbreak started. His wife and daughters were at home, stranded on the roof as zombies waited below. He would have to fight through hordes of undead, merciless other survivors, and a series of death defying stunts to get home. However, even if he makes it there, how can he be sure they’re safe?

Deadlocked puts you into David’s head as he struggles to get home. Then a final confrontation occurs that will guarantee his family’s survival, but at what cost?

I picked up Deadlocked for free through the Amazon Kindle store (a wondrous place that I’m loving more and more since purchasing a Kindle for myself) and read through it in one sitting.  It’s only 53 pages or so but A. R. Wise’s story sure does pack a punch.  For being free I was pleasantly surprised that there were no blatant grammatical or spelling errors.  In fact, it was a pretty good story overall.

David is the type of character that I love.  He’s just your ordinary guy whose first instinct during a disaster is to get home and protect his family.  Obviously he loves his wife and children and absolutely nothing is going to get between him and his beloved family.  Not even a city full of zombies.  I know this sounds pretty stereotypical but David is quite a dynamic, well-fleshed out character and it’s worth picking up Deadlocked for that alone.

The plot was very fast-paced being a novella but it also made sense.  Wise covered a lot of ground within those 53 pages and I have a lot of respect for an author that can keep the pacing that fast and still tell a relatively coherent story.  There were times the writing was a little choppy and confusing, but it was a fairly good read overall.  The descriptions are very graphic so this is not for the faint of heart, but if you love zombies in general you’ll love this novella.

I give this novella 4/5 stars.

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