The Walking Dark by Robin Wasserman

The Killing Day happened a year ago.  Five perfectly normal people suddenly started killing, and then killed themselves.  12 people were dead, and no one left to explain why, except for one girl, who has no answers to what happened.  After a tornado partially wrecks the town of Oleander and causes a breach in a nearby military complex, the townspeople are prevented from leaving, supposedly for their own good.  But are the soldiers protecting the town from the breach?  Or is the rest of the state being protected from them?

So I didn't finish it.  Not completely.  Around page 250 I really just wanted to know how it was all going to come out.  But the big reveal of what was really going on hadn't even happened yet, and there was another almost 200 pages to go.  I was getting tired of the buildup.  I got it.  Something was afoot.  Everyone was acting crazy and murderous except a select few.  It clearly wasn't natural.  So I started skimming.  And I skimmed my way through the rest of the book and I feel completely satisfied.

I have to say I haven't really liked any of Robin Wasserman's other books.  They've been fine.  They fit in neatly with whatever is popular at the time, be it dystopia or paranormal or whatever so they're always a safe buy.  I was enjoying this one more than I had any of her others when I first started reading it.  It was much darker than any of her others, and also a lot more gripping and interesting.

The story centers around five teenagers.  West, Daniel, Ellie and Jule all witnessed one of the murders on the Killing Day.  Cass killed a baby that day, had has supposedly been in a mental hospital for the past year.  She has no idea why she did it.  The five all have vastly different lives.  West is the golden boy football player.  Ellie is incredibly religious and thinks she hears God, or someone, in her head.  Daniel's father is an alcoholic and he's just trying to care for his younger brother.  And Jule's family runs a huge meth lab.  They were all interesting characters who develop other the course of the story.

But it was taking FOREVER.  At first the slow build was fine.  It made things dramatic.  But I think it just went on too long, as things get worse and worse in the town.  More and more people seem to lose it, and I felt like it was high time for this all to start going somewhere.  Even the prospect of the town trying to burn Cass at the stake was not enough to keep me reading.  I just wanted to know WHY it was all happening.  And the reason why was good too!  It really was.  I just lost the patience to get there.

So...yeah.  How's that for a mixed review.  I recommend it, even though I didn't finish it.  Perhaps you'll be more patient than I am, or be more pulled in.

The Walking Dark came out September 10.