Something Strange and Deadly

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to writing this post. I've been busy with revisions, and I'm polishing my query letter, and trying to spiff up my logline to enter a contest later this year. A logline is supposed to be a one or two sentence pitch to let readers know what the book is about and hook them in. You may be thinking, it's just one or two sentences...piece of cake! Oh contrare. It's some of the hardest one to two sentences I've ever written. When I'm happier with it, I'll post it here. Anyway...

I recently finished reading Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, which is a change from the types of books that I normally read.

Something Strange and Deadly Summary:
The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Something Strange and Deadly Review:
Let me just start off by saying that zombies usually aren't my cup of tea, but I thought I'd give this book a try. After reading 100 pages or so, I was hooked. It wasn't super scary or gory, and I liked the plot. It was engaging, too, which is always a good quality to have. But then it all went downhill from there. It was as if the author stopped trying halfway through the book. The writing and the character got cheesey, and the plot became rather stale.

Not to mention that the ending was such a downer. I get that it's a zombie book, and lots of people are going to die, but not only did everyone die, the guy she was falling in love with throughout the whole book told her he didn't love her at the end and went off to go to Chicago, never to see her again. Sorry for anyone who was going to read this book, but I had to get that off my chest. Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Sorry Susan Dennard.