Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 1/18/2014 + 2527 more book reviews

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. Thanks to Broadway Books and NetGalley for a chance to read this book. This is the 4th book in the Ex-Heroes series. I enjoyed this book, it took a different direction than some of the other books in the series and was an intriguing read.

George Bailey is a normal handyman who struggles to make ends meet, and when he sleeps he dreams of zombies and of being a superhero. Corpse Girl remembers that this isnt the world she is supposed to be part of, she remembers that George is supposed to be someone else...but she cant convince him that this isnt his reality. Then George starts to see parts of his dream slipping into real life. He starts to meet people in his current life who have the same types of dreams that he does. As the reality that George thinks he knows merges with the one from his dreams, everything goes to Hell.

When I reviewed the previous (3rd) book in this series I complained a bit about the fact that all these book were starting to feel a little bit the same. Well this book definitely changes that, it was really really different from any of the other books in the series. In fact it is so different that the beginning was a bit confusing until you start to figure out what is going on.

The beginning of this book feels a bit like the movie Groundhogs Day. George wakes up, does his job, and then does it all over again day after day...but time doesnt seem to be passing properly. Then he starts to notice anomalies.his car starts itself, he can lift whole dumpsters, and the dead girl in the wheelchair keeps telling him hes not in the right reality. Then things really get strange...people on the street start attacking him and the whole city alternates between looking normal and looking devastated.

The way the mystery is unfolded in this book is masterfully done. I loved watched as the anomalies start piling on top of each other...one on top of the other until everything start to fall apart. It was also fun to watch all of the characters from the previous books re-meet each other.

In some ways this book gives us an excellent glimpse into the backgrounds of all of these characters. It was fascinating to watch it all unfold.

My only complaint is the normalness of Georges life and the way it takes day after day for him to start figuring it out made the beginning of the book a bit slow. There really isn't much action or superhero-ness until the last part of the book. The beginning was slower paced than previous books.

Things wrap up nicely at the end of the book and I enjoyed it.

Overall clever and intriguing. This book was much different from previous books in the series but I really enjoyed the change. My only complaint is that the pacing was a bit slow at the beginning and there is a lot less action than in previous books. I really did enjoy how the mystery was unraveled though and how creative the idea behind this other world was. Recommended to those who enjoy mysteries involveing zombies and superheros.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details