Rise Again

A Zombie Thriller

By: Ben Tripp

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 16 hrs

Publisher's summary

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—starting with what might very well be the end of the world. Danny thought she had seen humanity at its worst in war-torn Iraq, but nothing could prepare her for the remorseless struggle to survive in a dying world being overrun by the reanimated dead and men turned monster. Obsessed with finding her missing sister against all odds, Danny’s epic and dangerous journey across the California desert will challenge her spirit... and bring her to the precipice of sanity itself.

Filled with adventurous human drama—and shocking inhuman horror—Rise Again marks a vivid and powerful fiction debut.

©2011 Ben Tripp (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Danny's journey through a land of death to find [her sister] Kelley makes for a remarkable character-driven story, and the final sentence takes it to another level." ( Library Journal)

Zombie Adventure

What did you love best about Rise Again?

Different twist on Zombies with a strong, flawed hero

What did you like best about this story?

Excitement and action with unexpected developments

Which scene was your favorite?

Can't decide

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Some scenes were smoking!

Interesting and Unique!

If you could sum up Rise Again in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining, Unique, and Shocking!

What other book might you compare Rise Again to and why?

I don’t feel that I can compare it to any other book.

Have you listened to any of Kirsten Potter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to Mrs. Potter before but I love her characterizations! She really can bring the butch!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book had a few hold your breath moments. I would like to have seen this book spread out into a few books. I think the story led it self out to even more story.

Any additional comments?

I think this book is well written, the characters are believable! I did feel that the main character could have been less masculine and still of had the same impact. I loved her back story and the flow of the story. The ending left me satisfied!

I am looking for more books by this author!

Very good, very serious book.

Any additional comments?

Much more serious than other zombie books, very entertaining throughout. It could use more detail and explanation as well as character development, but it was an entertaining short book that will sate your zombie thirst until DBDA III or The Morningstar Strain III is delivered.

Better Than Your Average Zombie

This is a basic zombie book done write. It is well written, the characters are well-developed and show growth, etc. The characters are just your average people coping with the apocalypse as best they can.

I liked it

I liked the book. Not really sure why though. Nothing jumped out at me as memorable.
Good narration and story line. End seemed to chop off abruptly.
All in all a decent listen if you have time to kill.

A killer book! Full satisfaction.

This book has a little slow start, but it's like dark clouds gathering before a perfect storm.
It's a very meticulous prose with rich detail and structure. It reads like great old Russian classic novels, but it's also laden with wit, poignant sarcasm, hilarious social and political commentary. It is all expressed through believable characters, even those most outrageous ones.
It's a gore action and suspense read, but also with a deep and tender side to it.
I praise the author specifically for giving the well deserved forefront roles to female characters. It is so refreshing.

WORTH IT

Made ya think, ending was too fast, wanted more depth in some of the scenes

Kind of different

I liked the things about this story that were different from the typical zombie junk. Anytime an author can take a subject that has been so overdone and make me see it from a different perspective, it's a good thing. A lot of things about the story were unexpected, like the main character, Dannie. It's a lengthy listen. It starts slow, even a bit dull at first. I had to double check to make sure I was reading the right story because it took a while to get to the zombie stuff, but once things got going, I thought the story was pretty good. The ending was interesting enough that I am actually looking forward to the sequel.

Unlikable "hero", good story just over the top

I just didn't care for this one too terrible much. I love a good flawed, strong lead character aka hero/heroine BUT Danni is is not only unlikable but over the top. I didn't find her to be a tough badass but a boozing tyrant. I mean come on. The world has ended, no government to speak of, Danni is the only "law" in the land. As her convoy looks for a safe place to hole up (though Danni is merely looking for her sister) she threatens to arrest them for breaking into an abandoned gas station/convenience store to find supplies. That is the dumbest thing I think I've ever read. Then there's the sheriff herself. Danni. A wounded war hero battling post traumatic stress syndrome and her need to wash her dreams away with liquor. I don't think she's an alcoholic as much as self medicating - which makes it worse. If she truly was a hero, smart leader she'd keep a clear head. Nope get drunk and bully everyone. Couldn't get into the story because I just simply didn't like the main character! Tone her down some Tripp will you!

Mostly Meh

**SPOILER ALERT** It would be difficult to review this book without some spoilers.

The book starts slow, which is a nice change from the typical ZA story. The zombie events happens at a much slower pace, but it's almost too slow in parts and borders on too many mundane details not relevant to the story. Eventually, the zombies make an appearance, but not after several WTF moments in the story.

For example, there's a point where the general public has become aware of something awful happening and they begin to flee and panic. However, none of the main characters, including the protagonist, has any clue as to what it is. This happens despite the fact that everyone seems to be getting their info from phone calls and social media. No one who is clueless thinks to ask anyone for information.

Another example, the sheriff has no idea what's happening, but spontaneously decides to use her shotgun to stop the panicking people. Without having any knowledge of the larger looming crisis, the she considers shooting one of the runners in hopes it will stop the others. There are other points in the book like this that left me scratching my head, as they made no sense.

The sheriff has several convenient blackouts, where she awakens hours or days later. These seemed more like conveniences to the author, as they occurred at action points in the book and left me, again, scratching my head as to what just happened - or why the author chose this time to stop and skip ahead in the story. I found it annoying.

Much of the conversations and actions of characters are unrealistic. Remnants of civilization (buildings, roads, etc.) would deteriorate much faster than reasonable - dust would coat things in a matter of days or trees would grow in the middle of roads in a matter of a few months - all because there was no normal daly life; or the protagonist would have to relearn how to deal with people again, after being on her own for only a few days. All of these broke the suspension of disbelief for me.

I found the characters were rather flat and uninteresting and didn't especially care what happened to them. The main character was hard to like and I couldn't tell if that was on purpose or not.

This is the first time hearing this narrator, and she did a respectable job, overall. However, she didn't really bring the characters to life or put enough emphasis on the action or emotional parts of the story. All of the male voices didn't sound male, nor did they include the correct emotional context (tough angry males sounded like mildy-annoyed women).

Overall, the book was interesting enough to finish, but it's not one I'd recommend or listen to again, nor am I particularly interested in any sequels.