This Book is Full of Spiders

This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong (Jason Pargin) 406 pp.

Apparently this book is the sequel to one called John Dies at the End. Reading the first book is not required before tackling this one. I am undecided in my opinion of it but the audiobook did hold my attention. In an unnamed town in the midwest an outbreak of strange proportions has created national paranoia. But are the spider monsters real? Do the spider monsters turn people into zombies? Are people really being turned into zombies? Do the people supposedly infected really have to die? Is the government really going to bomb the town into oblivion? Why does the author use his own name and that of his friend for the main characters? (Answer: "David" & "John" are pseudonyms for writers at Cracked.com) Should I read the first book . . . or the sequel? This one was a wild ride.

Zombie

Zombie by J.R. Angelella, 339 pages

Jeremy Barker is a 14-year-old zombie movie fanatic, attempting to navigate the tough world of an all-boys Catholic high school while dealing with his stoner/sex-addict older brother, pill-popping mother, and his dad, who mysteriously disappears night after night. To deal with life, he's created a survival code based on the zombie movies he so loves, which works until he begins investigating a disturbing video he finds in his father's office. The book gives a great look at how teenagers talk and think when the rest of us aren't around, but the mystery of the video is a little flat and the sudden violent turn at the end (one word: ew) didn't really appeal to me. But that also seemed to mirror the few zombie movies I've seen, so perhaps someone who enjoys zombies more would get more out of it.