Allison Hewitt is...my hero, I think. Should a zombie apocalypse arise (They're coming to get you Barbara!) I would seriously hope to have such a kick-ass ax-yielding potty-mouthed heroine around.

Plot: The book is in the format of blog posts by Allison, chronicling her experiences from the moment she ends up trapped in a book store's break room. (Which, other than a Wal-mart is probably the best place to be stuck if you ask me. Why Wal-mart? Foods and guns of course.)

Although it has a "diary" format, you really don't notice it other than the comments fellow survivors make. Which is actually kind of cool because it offers multiple points of view without the confusing back and forth between characters. Allison hacks her way through hell and zombie goo to try and find some kind of utopia in the charred remains of society.

My thoughts: While reading this I was thinking something along the lines of "Crap, crap, holy crap, Allison kicks ass!" It's funny and moves along quite well. There were no points where I was tempted to skip a few pages ahead to see when the boring parts ended. Get it. Read it. Love it.

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I had been wanted to read this book for some time. I loved zombie books and this one had a great premise. It was an entertaining book that ended up being more about dealing with other people than smashing up zombies...although there is a lot of zombie smashing as well.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was very well done. They have different voice actors for the different voices and blog comments. I highly recommend listening to this if you like audiobooks.

Alison is at work at a bookstore when it happens. People start turning into mindless zombies and eating each other. Luckily the break room is where the safe is and has a huge reinforced metal door. Now Alison is trapped with her co-workers in the bookstore break room. As the world crumbles apart outside, Alison decides to start a blog detailing the day to day events. Alison's story is submitted to a book being written about American heroes during the zombie crisis. As the reader we read it as blog entries.

There are a few things that are really interesting about the way this book is done. Firstly since Alison's story is being submitted for inclusion in a book about American heroes, we know that eventually humanity recovers from the horrible events that took place during Alison's life. Just that gives this book a more hopeful feel than many other zombie books I have read.

Secondly the book is done as blog entries. This is similar to Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, but much different in tone. Alison's entries are more like a personal diary. Also interesting is that comments to Alison's blog are posted at the end of each entry. From these comments we get to see what is happening to the rest of the world; we hear about how other people are surviving and how the rest of the world is fairing.

Alison is an awesome character. She is your typical grad student but she will do what needs being done. No matter how gross or gory. I was a little surprised in the beginning of the book at the inaction of her coworkers. None of her coworkers did anything, they were all victims...Alison had to spur them into action. I found this to be kind of unrealistic; I mean I can't imagine my coworkers ever being that apathetic but I guess I work with engineers not book store employees...so it may just be different.

Most of this book isn't about slaying zombies. It's about making a life for yourself in the chaos and dealing with all of the people (good and bad) that cross your life. As with many zombie books, in the end the zombies aren't the problem...it's all the crazy people you have to deal with in a society that has completely broken down that are the problem.

Is this book gory, heck yeah! Is it sad at times? Yep. But there are also some interesting revelations about life and the meaning of it in here too. There is also a sweet romance between Alison and one of the men she meets that offsets a lot of the violence. I should mention this is a book for adults. Alison swears a lot (I mean boatloads) and sex is discussed quite a bit (although there isn't anything really explicit). There are also some surgery scenes that made me squirm.

The end of the book is pretty predictable, but that being said this is one of the more hopeful zombie books that I have read. Things actually end in a somewhat hopeful way.

Overall this is a very good read. The story is told in a creative way and I really enjoyed Alison as a character. Alison is a tough, ax-toting survivor, but along the way she learns a lot about herself and those around her. There is a sweet romance in here, lots of crazy escapes, and lots of chopping up zombies with axes. I still enjoyed The Angels are the Reapers and Night of the Living Trekkies better; but I would still highly recommend this book to zombie fans out there.

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Allison Hewitt is trapped. She's at work when the attack comes. She, along with her boss, two co-workers and two customers wind up in the employees' break room with almost no food. The Infected pound on the door and Allison can see them through the window in the streets. Their grey bodies are gruesome, and their eyes show no intelligence. They are zombies, and they are taking over the world.

Allison is determined to find a way to survive. She takes an emergency fire axe as her own and tries to protect those in her circle. She also starts up a blog, detailing her everyday struggle to survive and hoping that others out there will be able to communicate with her - especially her mom. The military's emergency wireless network, SNET, seems to be the only thing working, as radios, utilities and more are down.

When one of their own becomes one of them, Allison knows they must move. Their current location isn't safe. They move again to a nearby gymnasium that is said to be safe. There, Allison kills her first person, and she also falls in love. But when her boyfriend's wife returns, Allison decides to go out alone to find her mother. Her blog commentators tell her she is being foolish to go alone, but thankfully, Allison has a few friends who decide to join her, against her wishes.

Their journey to help Allison find her mother is treacherous and filled with danger. Allison and her friends learn to survive on their own wits and mediocre supplies. When some begin to give up, Allison refuses, determined to find her mom. But will her hope be enough to survive?

ALLISON HEWITT IS TRAPPED is an exciting, yet a turbulent and apocalyptic, thriller. Written in blog format, the reader is given a glimpse of what is going on elsewhere in the world by the comments to each blog post and how it compares to Allison's circumstances. Page-turning, emotional, gruesome and haunting, ALLISON HEWITT IS TRAPPED is a must read for zombie fans!

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Allison Hewitt is a little bit funny but there is definitely a zombie apocalypse happening and it is a big part of the book. Zombies get killed and kill, there is viscera and gross stuff. People are jerks too so it gets a little violent, but it is told via blog posts so the action is always after the fact so the immediacy is missing a little bit which tones down any scary stuff and tension.
It does reinforce the fact that people are selfish and crazy during times of stress!
I like reading about stuff like that, so I enjoyed, especially Allison's humor and the online friendships.
I will be trying another book by Roux.

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I loved this book. It has a different take vs the other zombie novels out there. It has a comedy element that has you laughing and then creeped out at the same time!

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