The Dead Collection Box Set #1

Jack Zombie, Books 1-4

By: Flint Maxwell

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

One box set. Four Books. A must-listen!

How will you survive when the dead rise?

Jack Jupiter knows zombies. He's written about them for years. But no amount of writing can prepare him for the end of the world.

Because these zombies aren't in Jack's head. No, these zombies are real.

Jack Zombie is a thrilling post-apocalyptic series that follows a tight-knit group of people as they travel the zombie-ridden wasteland once known as the United States. As you follow Jack and his family, you'll soon discover that nothing can rival a human's will to survive.

This collection of the first four books in the series—Dead Haven, Dead Hope, Dead Nation, and Dead Coast—will have your heart pounding!

©2017 Flint Maxwell (P)2023 Tantor

I’m glad I ignored the reviews

I genuinely enjoyed this audiobook. I didn’t have high hopes based on the reviews, but it was refreshing as a story in itself. It focused more on the people than the zombies and wasn’t a constant preppers lesson book like other apoc audiobooks. I can see why some people would think that it was a slow story. It’s just not what is the norm in the zombie genre. Like I said, I was surprised I enjoyed it. I did speed the narrator up a little bit, and that really did help when listening. He’s definitely not the worst narrator I’ve heard though.

Amazing

Loved that it kept me wanting for more. I truly hope you continue this saga. Awesome Narration and Writing

The dead collection

Good book writer is very good with details, Jack daydreams, and weird places got a little weird, but other than that I really enjoyed the book 

Not a smooth story.

I don’t think I could be any more irritated by how incompetent the characters are. Constantly freezing and the way the each is moving along it makes it seem as though they are running but oops the “shambling, slow moving” zombies are already there. Ugh it’s like there are parts missing. I can’t finish it.

I have suffered long enough

The writing is sub par at best. I have read and listened to countless zombie genre books and it’s quite apparent this guy is attempting to do something he aught not to. The development of the characters, the length of time spent on such minuscule details, the way people respond to the dead and so on are very poorly written.

As for Neil Hellegers narrating I listened to the whole first book and started the second and can no longer handle him reading one sentence at a time with a 2 second pause between each.

No common sense 

The book started out decent enough. But the farther I got into it I begin to recognize the authors left, leaning ideology. How can you walk across the United States and only have two guns they should be every where and then you’re going to take on an army at this so-called Eden with your two guns, what were you going to do sit down on the road and glue your hands to the street in and Out of Eden. I finally shut this story off halfway through. I don’t believe this group could survive three days in a fully stocked Walmart.

Very Political

Clearly the author hates half of all Americans, and very preachy about it I read the book to hear a zombie story not to attend a political rally 

Couldn't finish it

I gave up about a quarter of the way through the second book.

The narrator has a very stilted style, pausing after every sentence. Every. Single. Sentence. I made my family listen to a random sample and they asked, "Is that for real?" They couldn't believe I had listened for so long. Listening at 1.2X helped, but it is very annoying. Once heard, it cannot be unheard. I'd listen to the sample before purchase.

The actions of the main character are stupid a large amount of the time. Keep in mind the hero is an author who wrote a zombie book, yet he makes decisions that seem to indicate he has never even read a zombie book. No zombie bite armor like duct taped magazines, or fire fighter's gear, or thick leather...just plot armor.

There is no development of the ultimate zombie weapon. In the second book they are 6 months into the zombie uprising and still using found, makeshift melee weapons. No discussion about axes and hammers being too heavy, machetes being too short, spears being too long, bats requiring too much effort to swing, which weapons get stuck in skulls, which have a clean release. There is no evidence of learning or improvement, like everyday is the first day. Lame.

I'd guess the author isn't a gun guy, because in the USA, heck, in Texas, our brave crew fails to arm themselves with anything a thinking person might commonly find. Six months in, are our heroes, led by a zombie author, armed with .22 lr rifles and pistols because the ammo is relatively quiet, lightweight so you can carry a thousand rounds easily, and probably the most widely owned caliber in the US? Nope. Are they armed with AR-15s, found easily on all the dead police, military, gun stores, etc. taking advantage of the ubiquity of 5.56/.223 ammo? Nope. Has the group become extraordinarily proficient with gun handling and marksmanship given that one member is ex-military and could train them all in the fundamentals? Nope.

My most common thought when reading this book was that the whole thing was a dream sequence. The main character gets punched in the face early on in the story. I kept thinking that maybe the protagonist is in the hospital with a head injury and all the zombie stuff is just a fever dream. That would explain the stupidity and the unrealism, because it's all in the addled head of the unconscious main character.

Bottom line: It's not worth finding out if my theory is correct. It is not an awful book, but it was so consistently draining and disappointing that I have abandoned the miniscule effort it takes to even listen to it. I will request a refund of my credit.

Toughest thing to listen to

Way way way to much description about surroundings. It’s not a tv script. Takes forever almost til book two for the story to progress. At times I wondered if it was written and read by AI