• Allison Hewitt Is Trapped

  • A Zombie Novel
  • By: Madeleine Roux
  • Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
  • Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (350 ratings)

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Allison Hewitt Is Trapped  By  cover art

Allison Hewitt Is Trapped

By: Madeleine Roux
Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
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Publisher's summary

One woman's story as she blogs about - and fights back against - the zombie apocalypse.

Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop and utilizing the military's emergency wireless network (SNET). It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison's blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures (with some witty sarcasm thrown in) as she and her companions fight their way through ravenous zombies and sometimes even more dangerous humans.

Narrated by Piper Goodeve and a full cast.

©2011 Madeleine Roux (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Madeline Roux manages to answer the eternal question all of us must ask ourselves eventually: 'When the zombie apocalypse comes (and it will come), how will I handle it?' For my part, I hope I manage it with as much humanity and determination as Allison. But I would like to make a request for bigger weapons." (Christine Warren, New York Times best-selling author of The Others series)

What listeners say about Allison Hewitt Is Trapped

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

lots of potential but disappointing

The good: Fine narration and the author is very descriptive and tries hard to establish characters, soemtimes effectively. It deosn't deteriorate into a dumb action/gore story, which I feared it would.

The bad: It starts out all right, with a story line and characters we can begin to follow and care about. But it degrades it to some endless twist-a-plot, with new scenarios at every turn, none related to the one that came before, established characters discarded with no continuity to move on to the next piece in a way that feels disconnected and not well planned. The internal machinations and goings on of the main character stop being moving at a point when it is so disjointed and far too many plot twists and new characters are in play.

The main character loves her missing mother and has a bog to inspire others, both of which get abandoned as nothing for long portions then recalled when the plot lags, as a convenience, rather than a defining mission it seems.

On the whole it started out ok, but too many characters, too many plot changes, nothing is followed through, as though there was no real plan for the story - even the main character's blog starts to feel like an interjection or a footnote, though it is supposed to be the defining means of conveying the story.

In a lot of ways, it is like it's own medium - a blog. The main drive of the story is supposed to be a personal blig durign a zombie apolcolypse. And like most personal blogs, it is disjointed and feels random... though it has a zombie apocolypse to define it, the story itself has a meandering, amateur personal bloggy feel to it.

For those sci fi, there is none of that here - no explanations or exploration of why the zmbies have happened, there is no medical accouint of it - no explanation or even a description of how it happened. Not that this is a bad thing - but just understand that this is a character study, not a piece of sci-fi or a medical thriller, or even a survival story

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Book Lover seeking not to meet Zombie

As a book lover myself I had to appreciate a story that starts out set in a book store which is written in blog format. Allison Hewitt, the lead of our story naturally, is a graduate student in English. Which overall would make you think that she has little use in a zombie outbreak scenario. But she proves that wrong, with her quick and expert utilization of a fire axe.

Written as a find in the future that is being submitted to a literary collection addressing the zombie outbreak, this novel collects the posts and comments (which give a nice flavor for how the rest of the country is dealing with things, something that is often lacking in other books once the comm's go down (taken care by the concept of SafeNet, a (almost magical network to a techie like me) network that was meant for last minute coordination in a grid down scenario)). Any story where the main character almost gets whacked because she is so focused on getting some new reading material to alleviate the boredom is one that I enjoy and relate to. Of course I have a harder time seeing myself being so unprepared and untrained as she is, but it is things like that which make the character relate able.

Overall a well written novel that provides a satisfying end for the story, with a unique voice and very familiar writing style. Only part of the audiobook I didn't like was the whole keyboard clicking during the comments sections... really unecessary.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Good Classic Zombie Story

I liked that this story remained narrow-focussed and intimate. And it kept to that track almost throughout, and only got a little broader towards the end. Allison's survival depended upon making lucky choices a lot of the time, but after a while you start having to wonder when that luck was going to run out.

There was good character development here, and the tragedy and its impact on the characters is explored convincingly.

I've read several zombie novels now that rely upon a "diary" structure, and personally I don't know what the motivation is for that construction. It's not necessary to the story, and in many places punctures the tension due to the obvious "I lived to write about it" necessity of the form. Yes, it's used to bookend the story, but for me it could have been scrapped in lieu of a straightforward narrative and been the better for it.

Overall a very good listen, though, and I will look out for more from this author.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Proof: useful female zom apoc survivors exist

Overall, it is an above average zombie novel with decent writing and decent characterizations. The flow of the story was off a bit though - it felt like 3 vignettes woven together, and not all parts were equally sensible. Part 1 was Allison trapped in a store where people behaved pretty much as you would expect. Part 2 was Allison in a re-purposed FEMA camp which, for 3/4 of the section was reasonable behavior, but then, last 1/4 stuff happened that made no sense and was based on some strange stereotype around religious women. Part 3 was a 'road trip' segment which felt the most rushed (i.e. Allison did a lot of stuff in part 3 while parts 1 & 2 she kinda just sat around on her bottom and ordered people around).

The weakest part was the 'romantic' component... I had thought I heard that Collin was in his 50s, but when Allison took up with him, I figured I must have mis-heard it. This whole relationship is glossed over, however - other than a couple mentions that they shared a tent, there was not much contact/mush between them. Until she leaves, which was... weird, because all of a sudden the relationship which was pretty understated to this point became front and center to her motivation to leave, on her own, in a zombie infested world. Then the next 1/4 of the book focuses on her pining over him. I want to emphasize... 1/4 of book spent pining over some old married guy she had just met.

It is wrapped up okay - and the female characters were competent and real and not there as man-prizes, so that is a big shift in zombie fiction. And I did kinda like Allison... I just thought the actual storyline was a bit choppy, and the romantic component was contrived. I also quite liked the blogging component which allowed for little glimpses into how the apocalypse was affecting people outside of Allison's sphere.

I will certainly read more by this author - if only because these female characters are not merely vaginas. The narration is very good. There isn't much gore, for a zombie book, only occasional swearing and no sex.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Get the Zombie Apoc from the female perspective.

This book started very strong. It was at a fast pace and it made you want to know what would happen next. Allison gives a female voice to a genre that is heavily skewed to the male action hero/everyman type. That was a refreshing change. I did knock one star off for the mid part of the book where Allison just got a bit too soupy over the older man...but the story was still VERY solid.

However, at around the midpoint, she got a bit too "girly" for how her character had been reacting up to that point. All of a sudden, we get the "schoolgirl crush" version of what had been a strong female lead. I am not against tossing in the romantic tension angle, but Allison just did not seem "in character" when she was pining over the older (married) man.

What really made this story work for me besides the fact that it is a well-told tale (despite my slight knock against the pithy Allison in the middle of the book) was the voice talent that did the narration. I will be looking into more of her work as well as the author.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I Really liked it but where are the zombies?

Written as a blog, this “zombie” book doesn’t actually have much in the way of zombies but is entertaining none the less. The story takes you through the early days of the outbreak and beyond as a small group of survivors as they make their way through this word and try to survive. The voice of its young author come through loud and clear in this one and I think anyone from 20-40 will find this book right up their alley. It’s got plenty of action as the group finds itself in trouble more often than not but it’s mostly from other survivors with the undead making an appearance every so often. Other than some blood lust every once and a while the characters are likable and quickly form a bond that makes you feel as if you’re right in there with them. My only real complaint about the story would have to be that since its told through a blog and the way it’s written (the emotions mentioned) tells you that you’re reading a firsthand account not an observation or retelling so you know that she made it out of that alive. I know that comment is probably bit nit-picky since the hero escapes in 95% of books anyways, it’s really the journey that brings the suspense and this one does a good job.

Ms. Goodeve does a good job all around and the cast reading the comments was a nice touch.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just sticks in my head.

While this book is a definite lightweight in the genre of zombie fiction, it's such an easy and fun book I've come back to retread it multiple times. The protagonist is female and both not so masculine I can't relate or so girly I want to root for the zombies. Women in her world do some incredibly stupid, fearful, and hurtful acts so there's no bias towards women over men in the book. I would say it's not as gruesome as some of the books. Basically a really fun read.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • BE
  • 09-25-11

Just OK

This audiobook starts out interesting but does not give you any great thrills.
It is very slow going. The overall story gets summed up in the last 3 minutes of the book.
Disappointing...

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed this one!

Listened/Read for Fun (Audible/Paper Copy)
Tracking Books Read Review (Short)
Overall Rating: 3.50
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 3.50

Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Allison Hewitt is Trapped was a fun listen that finally made it off my TBR stack!

Overall Thoughts: This book has been on my TBR for quite awhile so I broke down and bought the audio version so that I could get to it. It was so fun! I thought Madeleine did a fantastic job at building the world and making it something that I could actually see happening. Allison was a great leading character that made root for her all the way. The thing I loved the most is that these characters were real. There was no big burly superheroes that busted in and saved the day. There were real people fighting to stay alive. There were lives lost, loves started, hardships dealt with, and quests to find loved ones. It was just a great read!

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Piper Goodeve / Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins


Piper did a good job with the voice for Allison but I thought the pacing was a little off in the beginning. Whether that was the story or the narration, it was something that I noticed. I haven't listened to Piper before but I would listen to her again.

Final Thought: Yeah for knocking one off the TBR Shelf and it being worth the money spent!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I would tell a friend.

If you could sum up Allison Hewitt Is Trapped in three words, what would they be?

Interesting story line.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

i liked how the story started with employees at a book store.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

i think the narrator fit the character quite well.

Any additional comments?

it was worth the credit and i would listen again.

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