Red Hill by Jamie McGuire

Scarlet thought it was going to be a normal weekend. She dropped her daughters off at school - it was her ex's weekend with them and he was supposed to be picking them up that afternoon - and headed off to work. Her first case of the day was an odd one, a woman who's lost twenty pounds in a matter of days. The patient hadn't traveled or done any otherwise odd or different things, but mentioned that she'd been attacked and bitten on her way home one evening. When the doctors opened her up her insides were literally dead. Even still, Scarlet didn't connect the odd radio reports of the morning with what was happening until the hospital was in crisis mode. When the patients started attacking, Scarlet got out of there quick. Her one goal: to find her daughters before it's too late.

Zombiepocalypse! Zombiepocalypse! It's a zombiepocalypse and I'm still not sick of zombies :)

So yeah, I was pretty excited about Jamie McGuire's Red Hill. In spite of what my synopsis above implies, there are actually three main characters in the book and we get alternating chapters from each of their perspectives. First is Scarlet, of course. Then we meet Nathan, a father whose wife leaves him just as the outbreak begins. He's dead set on protecting his daughter, Zoe, at any cost and heads off in search of a safe place to bunk down during this whole mess. Then we meet Miranda who, along with her sister and both of their boyfriends, is heading out to meet their dad for the weekend. Her dad just happens to be a doctor who works alongside Scarlet AND owns a remote ranch that Scarlet jokes would be the best place to ride out the apocalypse.

All of the stories interweave and connect at multiple points throughout the book, which is really cool. McGuire plays with the timeline as well giving us pieces of each story as they overlap. And while this is your typical zombiepocalypse tale (complete with a suspiciously Daryl-like character) it's such a freaking fun read!

The book is set in Kansas, which is kind of perfect for the story: it gives the characters plenty of zombies to fight and a believable scenario where they can hole up and get away while still being able to scavenge around for supplies and such. (It's also a good scenario for building the particular overlapping I mentioned above - it makes total sense that the characters would cross paths and come together in this small however many square miles radius.)

Red Hill is a quick read - got through the first 1/3 fighting my latest bout of insomnia - and one that you won't want to put down (never the best choice when you need sleep but at least I enjoyed the book while being exhausted!).

Rating: 4/5