REVIEWED by Jen B.

TITLE: Parasite

SERIES: Vertex #2

AUTHOR: Soren Summers

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH:  245 Pages

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2017

BLURB:  It’s been one hundred and forty-five days since the world ended. Paragon has swept through the city of Pleasance like a reaper’s scythe. Now the dead walk the earth, seeking the flesh of the living. Still Jarod Samuels refuses to die.

As a hunter, Jarod safeguards the Hive, the ruined mall he calls home. He exterminates zombies to protect the city’s last few survivors, and to keep Gabriel Anderson unharmed, their lives intertwined now more than ever.

But in a city ravaged by Vertex’s corruption, there’s no telling what dangers each day will bring, whether the threats within the Hive’s walls might be deadlier than those without – or whether monsters from the past still lurk and linger in the city’s shadows.

 Just as with the first book, this installment went in a direction I never saw coming.  Initially, it took me quite some time to get up to speed with the amount of time that has passed since the ending of book 1, Monster.  Gabriel and Jarod were on the run at the end of that book.  Here, they have joined a colony after a plague has seemingly wiped out most of the population.  This isn’t an ordinary plague though.  It is one that was set in motion by everything that was going on at Vertex.  The result?  Zombie mania.

Being part of the colony known as the Hive, where everyone has a role and jobs that will ensure the survival of the Hive.  Gabriel and Jarod are hunters who go out in search of items while fending off the zombies at the same time.  Unfortunately, it becomes clear that the zombies they have been fighting are evolving, actually showing signs of free thinking, regeneration, etc.  While initially clueless as to what could be going on, it doesn’t take long for things to become clearer.

In the middle of it all, with connections being made to Jarod and then Gabriel, there are struggles within the Hive, and potential infighting.  And while Gabriel and Jarod’s relationship seems pretty solid, there are a few others in the mix that flare up the jealousy and cause some tension.  But, mostly, these guys are just trying to concentrate on staying alive and sticking together.

I definitely recommend you read these in order, as you really need to get the background on what these guys have already been through, as well as learning about some of the key players.  I love how this story is evolving, and even enjoy the different aspects I didn’t quite see coming.  I’m not a fan of present tense, in any person, so I struggled a bit with that throughout, though it was less noticeable as the story went on.  There were often times where I was trying to recall how these characters were in the previous book compared to how they are now, because I wasn’t sure I was remembering things correctly.  But, all in all, I enjoyed this installment.  If you are a fan of creepy sci-fi type turn zombie fest stories with a bit of mystery and suspense, be sure to give this series a try.