White Trash Zombie Gone Wild

I’ve been living with my craving for more “White Trash Zombie” since May, so, when volume five finally arrived, I scarfed it down like a pre-rot zombie would a handful of fresh brains.

Was it good?

No.

It was Fan-Fuckn-Tasticly good.

What makes it work so well is that, after the Zombie-world-building adventures of “White Trash Zombie Apocalypse” and “How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back”, Diana Rowland has narrowed her focus and concentrated on Angel again.

Angel isn’t doing so well. “White Trash Zombie Gone Wild” picks up from the doom-laden ending of the last novel where ex-junkie Angel is craving a new drug – V12 – which might destroy the life she’s built for herself since becoming a zombie.

The first part of the book gives a very plausible view of the lies we tell ourselves about our addictions and what they’re doing to us. It was scarier than all the machete-wielding, baseball bat-swinging, gun-toting hunters. It made Angel more human than ever and made you love her more.

The plot is complicated, fits well with the overall story arc and yet remains character-driven, which is what makes it so good to read.

I loved the friendship between Angel and her loser ex-boyfriend. Just because they don’t want to date anymore doesn’t mean they don’t care for each other. Angel knows that although he lacks ambition, will always take the easy road and will never be far away from trouble, he has a good heart and she wishes him well. Of course, that doesn’t stop her shouting at him and threatening him when she thinks he’s going off the rails. This is Angel Crawford we’re talking about and channeling red-necked pissed-offedness is one of her talents.

Throughout the book Angel finds herself having to reconsider what she thought she knew about people, including herself. This willingness to learn, combined with her determination to pull her skinny-assed weight even if that means putting herself in danger, is what makes her so likable.

A great deal of my pleasure in these books comes from the remarkable performance Allison McLemore gives. She IS angel. If you have the chance to listen to “White Trash Zombie Gone Wild”, take it. Allison McLemore brings the whole thing alive.

With each installment of this series, the characters continue to develop and evolve. I absolutely love Angel Crawford and her and her big fat undead redneck life! Please keep the stories coming, Miss Rowland!

Absolutely! It's wonderful to enjoy a zombie story where you root for the zombies in their striving to be better "people". The storyline is always top notch and the character development is clean. Brava!

I love Angel's dad. He has just the right amount of southern gent "don't give a rat's butt" attitude.

Yes, but then I would be a zombie trying to look after my kids the next day.

Diana Rowland, you've done it again!!

I am still loving the adventures of this delightfully country zombie. She is irreverent but continues to try to rise above her past while dealing with her vibrant need for brains. I hope there is more coming in this series. I laughed out loud a lot while listening. The narrator is fantastic!

Where Angel Goes Trouble Follows!

White Trash Zombie Gone Wild is the fifth book in the series written by Diana Rowland. The series centers on the activities of protagonist Angel Crawford who like the nun from the 1968 movie Where Angels Go Trouble Follows, has her heart in the right place but does tend to make the occasional really bad decision.

Angel is introduced in the first book as a poor, drug addict, redneck, white trash loser with a high degree of self-loathing and no self-esteem who makes extremely bad choices. After one of those bad choices she is saved by Marcus, a local police officer who just happens to be, you guessed it, a zombie. He leaves a package with money for a taxi, a change of clothes, her purse, and several bottles of something that looks like coffee smoothies. He also leaves Angel a note telling her she has a job at the city morgue, directions for drinking the beverage, but no indication about what she has become or her savior’s identity.

Throughout the books you see Angel start to shine and develop a love of life and for those around her, as well as growth to her damaged self-esteem. She is courageous, loyal, feisty, and has excellent insight that quite to the dismay of the zombies in charge she shares. In return she has gained the respect of others even when she has one of her bad choice moments or slips back into self-loathing. Her adventures are numerous and range from the daily grind and natural disasters to solving mysteries, lots of action, and even creating a few new zombies.

I absolutely enjoyed the first three and nine tenths books but was saddened with Angel’s poor decision making at the end of book four. This upset me to the point that I was very hesitant to read the next book. Luckily I was offered the opportunity of review the fifth book and after a few hard chapters I fell back in love with Angel. Only a master author could have driven my emotions so skillfully.

The world that Diana Rowland has created is full of multi-dimensional characters. None of them are simple black and white representations. I am especially impressed with the complexity of her villains. The setting is so much more than a small town in Louisiana. It is a place where zombies can blend in with the humans, most of the time. The story lines are complex and multi-layered.

Allison McLemore’s narration is fabulous. Her mastery of the numerous voices, personalities, and emotions transported me fully into the world and her rhythm and timing are perfect.

The cover art by Dan dos Santos are thoughtful and very creative, most especially the cover for Book 5. It includes items that at first appear not to relate to the story that is until you finish the book. Then you look back and say, “Oh, I get it now”.

I eagerly await the next installment of White Trash Zombie.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Great series! It sounds stupid, but it is worth it!!

I love Dr. Nikas. He is great, and of course Angel. She is a bad ass, who people underestimate because they assume she is stupid, but she works hard to learn and grow!

Great voice acting. Great accents. I enjoy her narration, she brings the characters to life in a way that others would not be able to!

I had a little trouble following Rowland's fourth book in the series, where our protagonist, Angel, gets caught up in some double-crosses and confusing hi-jinx in New York. With "White Trash Zombie Gone Wild" she is back to a taut, suspenseful classic that hooked me from the start. Angel and her circle are far more fully realized characters than the usual Zombie survivalist genre serves up, which makes this series edgy, but at the same time humorous, and charming. Strongly recommend.

Diana Rowland and narrator Allison McLemore do it again. This is another fun and exciting adventure in this unique zombie series (which really needs to be read in order). I was a little worried at the beginning with the path Angel was taking but I should have had more faith in Ms. Rowland. I love reading about Angel Crawford! She is such a well-rounded character. She is far from perfect and sometimes makes stupid decisions but she's courageous and determined and her heart is always in the right place. She also has a great sense of humor. As always, Angel and all the other characters are expertly brought to life by narrator Allison McLemore. I really look forward to listening to these books. Well worth the credit!

I love Angel Crawford. She is a kickass hilarious character that takes no BS!

Although, I missed the tribe interactions of the previous books, Angel had to take a detour to deal with her own stuff, with a little zombie espionage on the side.

As someone who has dealt with addiction (the real monster in this book), the excuses and internal dialogue of an addict are spot on! Good job.

This narrator does a perfect job and captures Louisiana voices perfectly. (I live quite close to my LA neighbors).

Yes, because it is an audio-book and therefore always better.

Spoiler alert. When she is chasing an adversary through the woods and she throws a fake brain at him and her arm comes off. Or it could be when she finds a hitch-hikers severed head in her ex-boyfriend's buddy's freezer.

This is as fabulously excellent as the rest of the series. I love her southern drawl.

The scene where her father sang "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" to her when she was out of commission is moving.

This is an awesome book.