Jurassic Dead

This review appeared originally in horrornovelreviews.comWhat could be better than a book about dinosaurs come to life? Does your taste run to zombies? Then, how about dinosaur zombies?Yep, that’s what these two authors have cooked up.The big, evil superpowers are digging under the last unspoiled wilderness on Earth; the Antarctic. Along comes our eco-hero and his friend who are determined to stop them. Of course, instead of stopping them, the hero manages to land in it big time.He sees that they have found a T Rex, which he would swear is not dead as he is positive that it opened and closed its eye.Instead of the superpowers having their way with the big guy (the T Rex), a super villain worthy of James Bond has managed to send a private cargo ship to Antarctica and kidnap the T Rex as well as two Cryolophosauruses. And there are actually two villains, another twist in the plot, as each one is determined to out nasty the other.It’s not giving anything away to say that the microbes that have been buried under the ice for sixty-five million years are the reanimators of this story. If the T Rex manages to take someone’s hand off, it’s for sure that the zombie in the making will spread the virus to others.So, eco warriors, digging for treasure, which turns out to be dinosaurs instead of minerals, zombies which move really quickly, lots of chomping, villains, even a heroine is mixed into the plot.It’s an original premise with action from the first page. I’ve said it before, but it’s still true; this is a fun read and I can recommend it for the action/zombie/dinosaur lovers out there.

<Spoiler Alert - plot elements will be discussed> One thing I like a lot about Kindle books is the ability to try a sample of the book before purchase. Unfortunately, the sample for this book wasn't long enough. The book is allegedly about dinosaurs found preserved in the Antarctic. I was anticipating the usual humans vs dinosaurs in a Jurassic Park (movie) style story. It was not so much. It was mostly zombies. I hate zombies. Sure, there were a few dinos running around, but they were infected with the zombie virus, so that any human who got mauled or bitten became undead. And the gory encounters with humans were numerous. The characters are regrettable. Along for the ride is a teen who starts out the book as part of an eco-terrorist movement to protest the plunder of the Antarctic by the US and Russia. He eventually is revealed to be smarter than any other human in the story, as well as the dinosaurs, and is depicted as the hero with the answers. The undercover CIA operative, female, is so woeful that it hurts. She has no knowledge of her undercover story (ship's doctor) nor even rudimentary medical knowledge one would expect for CIA undercover work. But it's okay because the teen does have the necessary know-how in medicine, having been treated in his short life for multiple wounds as a fool and X-gamer. In full disclosure, I had to quit reading this about halfway through. I went directly to the end of the book to see if my expected conclusion was in deed what was written, and it was. The teen saved the day once again because he was a pilot. And he got the girl - apparently there was a twinkle of interest from the female CIA operative as they fled the destruction of the zombie disaster. Seriously. I would have quit just because of the zombie dinosaurs. The teen action-hero and incompetent CIA spy were way too much. I almost forgot the reclusive, rich industrialist working behind the scenes to create the World's greatest military weapon - a zombie army to control the World. I never determined how the zombie army itself would be controlled. I presume that was in the half of the book I didn't finish.

This'll never be mistaken for great literature, but when the book has an undead T-Rex on the cover, you know what you're in for, so I'll just rate this based on fun.The author has the good graces to get past the preliminary disaster-movie setup and into the action fairly quickly. I don't think a single plot point in the book will surprise anyone awake and reading the book right-side up, but I'll give him credit- when the book goes for violence, it delivers with an almost tangible delight in the gory aftermath. Some segments are so messy that it almost jumps from zombie/monster horror into body horror, which helps the book stand out from its competitors.The dinosaurs themselves are sadly underused. A rewrite job could probably scrub them out of the story entirely without anthing changing too much. Still, I give the book three and a half stars, rounded up to four for having the stones to go with a title and cover like that.

Sometimes, when you can’t decide between fighting zombies or dinosaurs, the answer is, like the little girl in the Tostitos commercial, why not both? Zombie dinosaurs! And why stop there? Infectious transformative ones whose bite turns people into ravening hybrid monsters!With guns! And helicopters! And rocket launchers! From a secret polar research expedition to a classic supervillain volcanic island base! With evil geniuses and sexy covert operatives and gore and guts and explosions and nonstop action carnage!It’s like a video game, starting off with a few basic mobs and weapons, but ramping up with vehicles and gear, bigger maps, crazier obstacles and boss battles. Not necessarily a bad thing. Fun in a caricature-character, over-the-top absurd, don’t hesitate long enough to think about it kind of way.But I wanted more dinosaurs. I always want more dinosaurs. And I found the whole notion of a frozen, revived, undead T. rex a little more plausible than most of the humans’ story arcs, reactions, or behavior.

Zombies and zombie dinosaurs, what more can you ask for? Add to that fast paced action sequences, revenge, mayhem and an evil mastermind and you have a fun story.

What can I say I love creature features and dinosaur novels. It had dinosaurs and keeps you moving along nicely. I enjoyed this and look forward to more from Rick.

entertaining :)

Extremely fast paced and easy to get into. Grabs you right away and never lets up.

Derivative, difficult to suspend disbelief and did not deliver on expectations.