Hissers

By: Ryan C. Thomas

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

It's the last weekend of summer break in the small town of Castor, and four teenage friends are about to attend the most popular end-of-summer high-school party in town...with a massive wave of mutated undead about to crash the party. It's The Breakfast Club meets Resident Evil as the teens of Castor fight to stay alive.

BONUS SHORT STORY: Hissers includes "Confidentiality", one of four interlocking stories from The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines.

©2010 Ryan C. Thomas (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

great listen, and moves fairly quickly

The style is light and fast, and has a fresh new idea for the zombie question.
We follow 4 young teens through an outbreak in their home town. It's got the feeling of a pre-teen TV show, but with lots of death and sexuality added in.
The only part I would change is about 2/3rds the way through, when they have this group therapy session, and get out all their inner demons. Skip that, and you don't loose anything, but you gain some time back in your life.
Other then that, it's a great book, and well worth the listen.
Another book to add to my favorites.

stephen king of zombies

Any additional comments?

hissers wasn't written by stephen king, but it felt like a vintage king novel- stand by me meets 28 days later. not only do a group of 4 14 year olds have to confront an outbreak of re-animated dead, but they also have to contend with teenage angst! but don't let that put you off! that adds to the power of the story telling.

connor is a good-looking soccer player. his best friend, seth, is an overweight nerd, who's picked on b/c of his weight. they share a love of video games and all things geek. their star trek snd star wars references go over the heads of the girls. connor's and seth's relationship is getting complicated b/c connor is starting to get popular, and seth feels like he's getting left behind.

the 2 girls in the group are nicole and amanita. they too are best friends and polar opposites. nicole is the skinny smart girl while amanita is the quickly developing girl.

all 4 have different backgrounds that are flushed out as the story progresses. the story begins with them discussing the big back to school party. nicole and amanita are invited while connor and seth plan to hang out in the fort. nicole has a crush on connor and talks amanita into stopping by the fort before going to the party. while the 4 of them sip on some booze amanita brought, a plane crashes into the houses below.

the plane is carrying a doctor who is supposed to be showing her samples too the big wigs in washington. the dr has developed some kind of ra serum that would allow amputees to attach other peoples' limbs to their bodies w/o rejection. however, the chemical cocktail has some unforeseen side effects.

when the 4 teens run down to see if they can help, they encounter their first reanimated dead person from the plane, and the action really picks up.

the action is frenetic with well-timed pauses. there's a lot of gore. the story is smart and unique. the characters are well-developed and memorable. i thoroughly enjoyed this story. not only is this a good zombie story, but it is also a great coming of age story.

Surprisingly good!

I wasn't expecting a lot from this one, but it ended up surprising me. I think a better comparison would be 28 Days Later meets Super 8, with a bit of Resident Evil thrown in for good measure. I really became fond of the characters and the way they grew in the book. There were one or two loose threads at the end, and the narration had the usual problem of an older reader attempting to do younger voices, but neither of these were enough to detract from the overall story. The "bonus" story at the end didn't really do a whole lot for me, but I look forward to more by Mr. Thomas, hopefully involving these same characters.

This is a SciFi book

Would you try another book from Ryan C. Thomas and/or Macleod Andrews?

I didn't realize it was and therefore it does not entertain me. However, the reader was very good. The content was very grafic.

Would you recommend Hissers to your friends? Why or why not?

If you like SciFI and to be scared, go for it.

What didn’t you like about Macleod Andrews’s performance?

Andrews was great.

Was Hissers worth the listening time?

Not for me, but it was personal taste

Good story

This was a pretty good story, kinda for the teen crowd, but good, kinda hope there is a sequel.

Not too bad.... but......

Teenagers in the zombie apocolyps?? Nope - Teenagers with a bio-chemical not real zombie apololyps is more like it - this book was pretty decent but its not like the morning star strain etc, not my favorite but its ok -

Zombie apocalypse with a teenage twist!

Any additional comments?
Hissers is a magnificent and horrifying tale that is well written and excellently produced. Macleod Andrews does an outstanding job with the narration. It is a fresh and exciting variation on the zombie genre told from the point of view of a group of kids trying to survive an undead apocalypse. One of the wonderful and very scary elements is that the kids are all believable – the way they talk, their interests, the angst – and this adds a kind of realism to this story that it needs to survive. The reader is drawn in to the characters as well as the story.

Frighteningly, we know from almost the beginning that none of them are safe. Nobody is safe! I found myself on several occasions saying RUN! HIDE! GO! No, not that way! Which is what I love in a great horror story.

This is a great, scary read that I highly recommend

WOW! Immediately captivating

I am only 2 hours into this story but I had to write a quick review. Quite often I will start another audio book within hours after finishing the previous one. This makes my brain take a while to adjust to a whole new set of characters and world settings (sometimes space setttings). Not so with this book.
As soon as the story starts Mr Thomas makes the characters believable and the story flows smoothly. The high school students interaction with each other and their parents are in sync.
I have to admit that I am a believer that men are better narrators, they can make female voices better than females can make male voices. That said Mr. Andrews is very good and he doesn't have an English accent which would seriously marr an American setting.
I bought this book in the $5 special that Audible had. I am going to look for more Thomas/Andrews combinations in future purchases.

Action packed violent teen fare

HISSERS is full of action, and not entirely predictable; that's refreshing in the Teen medium. There's profanity and heavy violence, but it's a fun ride. And in between attacks kids talk out their angst and desires. But I liked it much more than THE HUNGER GAMES.

Good but ridiculously perverse

This was a great performance of disturbing content.I suspect Ryan C. Thomas is either a murderous pedophile or fantastic writer of the dark sci-fi.If he ever has children its o only because he removed their parents somehow.I didnt appreciate the description of a baby's dissection or the "heroic" death of a bullied chubby teen. (spoiler alert btw)
Other than the child murdering fantasies, it was a well written horror sci-fi.I plan on sharing with ex-gfs, former employers and Child Protective Services.(somebody has to worry about unsafe children!)The virus/contagion has amazingly creative side effects, some "handy" , some literally "bringing everyone together". (rimshot)