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The Infects

by Sean Beaudoin (Goodreads Author)

3.32 of 5 stars 3.32 · rating details · 296 ratings · 123 reviews

A feast for the brain, this gory and genuinely hilarious take on zombie culture simultaneously skewers, pays tribute to, and elevates the horror genre.

Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an “Inward Trek.” As if that weren’t bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now cho...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published September 25th 2012 by Candlewick

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Oct 06, 2012 Kellee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-teen, humor, sci-fi, romance, my-best-of-2012, dystopian-apocalyptic-or-post, teach-mentor-texts

Reviewed at: http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...

Sean Beaudoin definitely has a unique style that you cannot confuse with anyone else. It is like when you see a movie and you know who the director is - that is how distinct Sean's writing is. And what he does so well is keep his style yet still has characters that have distinct voices that you can distinguish between. He actually reminds me of John Green in that way; however, Sean Beaudoin is more of the underground, quirky, dry twisted humor...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Joy (joyous reads) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, favourites

So, check it.

This book is far from perfect. There are ambiguities in the story itself that the author chose to leave unexplored for whatever reason he deemed necessary. Even so, I gave this book five stars and I am going to attempt my very best to tell you why. The ratings for this book here puzzles me; but for once, I see a role reversal of some sort. Usually, I'd be scratching my head because of a book's history of high rating in which I disagree. This time, however, I'm on the flip side of t...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

2.5*

The Infects was a book I had a hard time liking. I really didn't care for the writing. It seemed a bit boring for me. I wanted more zombie action. I needed more action period. Instead of the characters being interesting I found them a bit boring. No real character development for any of them except the main character and his family. The only character I seemed to like was Amanda. She's not in the book nearly enough.
I liked all the gore and that there were some badass chicks. But the book en...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Eleanor rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Originally posted at La p'tite bibliothèque

After an incident at the chicken processing factory where he works, Nick is sent to boot camp with an assortment of misbehaving teens. However things take an unusual turn when their camp counsellors suddenly develop a taste for human flesh. Joining forces with another group, which happens to include Nick's school/work colleague and crush, Petal, they fight to stay alive.

Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed this one very much. I never really cared about any o...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Nigarsan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: march2013, horror, crime

The Infects by Sean Beaudoin
This book is about a boy named "Nick" is accused of destroying a factory and is sent to boot camp with his friend,Petal.Then,out of nowhere,their counselors became zombies and attacked everyone in the camp,eating their raw flesh.While the others try to find the other group at their camp,more zombies kept coming their way until they were saved by the girls of another group in a cabin. Now trapped in a cabin with zombies, they must make a plan to escape before the zom...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Sharon Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Infects by Sean Beaudoin is a young adult novel with a new take on zombies, both those shambling through life and those looking to gnaw on people. Nick has just been trying to get by day by day. His father 'retired', his mother disappeared and left the family behind, and his younger sister is a little different. He has a job at a chicken packing plant, and a crush on Petal, a girl that he knows from school and work but cannot seem to work up the courage to do anything about. One slip of the...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Cornmaven rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of the more over the top depictions of the zombie apocalypse, complete with an intriguing and cryptic twist. The first 2/3 are entrenched in trying to survive the hordes of zombies, set off by a radically engineered fast food chicken product gone awry. Beaudoin commenting on the grip fast food has on society? Maybe. But then the story transforms to something more sinister: the sole immune survivor held captive for her blood, which is used for an antidote, until a synthetic version is develop...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark, horror, adult, not-graphic, ya, voice

I wouldn't have thought I'd ever really enjoy a zombie story; neither the necessary gruesome gore nor the necessary narrative/thematic inevitability of human annihilation hold much appeal for me and don't usually draw me in. But then I happened to love the movie Zombieland, and now this. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a wry, sarcastic, intelligent narrative voice, and that seems to be enough to make any story engaging for me.

And while the ultimate message of Zombieland* may resonate with me mu...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Whoa! What a trip!

Three and a half stars: A zombie book with some big surprises!

Nick heads out to work ready to endure another monotonous day at the chicken processing plant. Today, though, there is a surprise in store: he gets a promotion and a pay raise. He is now the special butcher for the new line of chicken products. Perhaps now he will finally have the guts to talk to Petal Gazes, the girl he has a major crush on, or not. Unfortunately, for Nick the monotonous line of chickens on the belt...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Wandering Librarians rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, boy-appeal, fiction, horror, science-fiction, ya

An unfortunate chicken factory mishap lands Nick (juvenile delinquent nickname, Nero) on an Inward Trek for juvenile delinquents. Things get bad pretty fast, and it's not because of the lousy food and forced hiking. People seem to be falling victim to a strange disease. A disease that seems to make them want to eat other humans...

In full disclosure, I didn't finish this. I couldn't. It was too icky. There was far too much flesh ripping and raw meat eating and brains and things. Ew. Not my thing....more

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Aug 06, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars

THE INFECTS is a fun fast-pasted zombie book that's sarcastic and rib-tickling. It's the type of book I'd suggest to a friend who wanted something that wasn't scary or mind-taxing, just entertaining and clever.

The story is about Nick. He's a teen who's father has gone off the deep end. Nick and his little sister refer to him as The Dude, and since he lost his job, Nick has been supporting the family by working at a chicken slaughter house. If that's not strange enough, the girl Nick is ga-ga ove...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: death, families, zombies

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 20, 2012 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book from the owner of the bookstore I work at and asked to read the book and write a review on it. Please note that this review is my opinion and does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of the Booktrader of Hamilton owner or other employees. Please note, some *spoilers* may follow.

I am into zombies, I'm a Dead Head. This book, however, did not grab me. I think it may be due to the main character and his POV. I am not a guy, so to read the unfiltere...more I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book from the owner of the bookstore I work at and asked to read the book and write a review on it. Please note that this review is my opinion and does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of the Booktrader of Hamilton owner or other employees. Please note, some *spoilers* may follow.

I am into zombies, I'm a Dead Head. This book, however, did not grab me. I think it may be due to the main character and his POV. I am not a guy, so to read the unfiltered thoughts of a guy didn't resonate with me. I also did not like most of the characters in the book, but I don't think they were supposed to be liked. For example, the main character's father, "The Dude" was a horrible father. His son was the one taking care of him, not the other way around. I felt pity for the kid, who did his best to work hard and make money to pay for the meds his little sister was on. You could tell that he really loved her and tried to connect with her as best as he could, despite her issues. The mom left a long time ago and I was very mad at her for leaving her kids to the apathy of the father.

So the character development was excellent with the humans, up to a certain point. I admit, I snuck a peek at the end of the book and was very disappointed that the main character ended up letting the girl he liked turn him into a zombie so he could turn the people in the compound they were in. I admit, I didn't read what led up to that, but I don't think I would let someone, no matter how much I loved them, turn me into a zombie with them. O, and the new zombies could think and were raising an army up or something. I know, I know, I didn't read it all, so I didn't get the full picture, but the ending so disheartened me, I just couldn't bring myself to read the rest of it.

All in all, the only issue I had with this book was that it changed the zombie lore from what I know and love to something different that, upon further reflection, I still do not like. Maybe I'm just "old-fashioned", but I like my zombie slow, dumb and creepy. If the zombies are fast or smart or both, they are ghouls, not zombies.

This author had a keen grasp on how to write believable and even detestable characters. That is a gift. I'm not too keen on the stream of consciousness from the POV of the main character, it was jumpy and didn't make much sense to me, but then again, I'm not a teenage boy and never have been, so that might explain why I don't fully understand it.

All in all, three solid stars. I would definitely pick up something else by this author, just to see what ideas he's throwing a new spin on. (less)

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May 17, 2012 Marianne rated it 3 of 5 stars

So. Three stars.

Here's the thing. I liked this book. It had Zombies, which I love, and some interesting characters, including some kick butt young women. Also a plus.

I thought the books edgy, quirky and trippy. It was a brave, bold storytime and twist.

So why three stars?

I think that the story had a lot of elements that weren't completely explored. There were bits and pieces of story flesh hanging from the blackly oozing, if quite animated body of the story.

Again, I am an adult reader.

I will...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Leah (The Pretty Good Gatsby) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: america, fiction, 2012, for-review-netgalley, zombies, ya, sci-fi-fantasy, horror

http://theprettygoodgatsby.wordpress....

Title: The Infects
Author: Sean Beaudoin
Pub. Date: September, 2012
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an “Inward Trek.” As if that weren’t bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. As in any classic monster flick worth its salted popcorn, plentiful carnage sends survivors rabbiting into the woods while the...more

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May 31, 2012 Sherrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-books-assigned

I received this book to review for a magazine, and at first glance I wasn't that hyped about it. However, once I started it I absolutely *loved* it and finished it in well under a day. I kept coming back to the thought that it's a gory, vulgar mix of Louis Sachar's novel "Holes" and the film Zombieland...and that's a GOOD thing. Nick is sentenced to 3 months of rehabilitation at an outdoor wilderness camp for juvenile delinquents and re-christened "Nero". As he and his fellow inmates begin the l...more

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Apr 04, 2013 TeenFiction Teton County Library rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school-read, paranormal-romance

TCL Call number: YA BEAUDOIN S
Stephanie’s rating: 3.5 stars

It's 2013...zombies, zombie-apocalypse, zombieland, zombie babies?...of all the movies and science fiction books published you'd think we'd seen it and heard it all. Ehh...Sean Beaudoin says otherwise. "The Infects" is 17 year olds perspective on the flesh-eating uprising. Note this kid may have been the one that started the pandemic…and it may have started with chickens :/ In any case, Nero (the protagonist) and his degenerate posse fin...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Marina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: stand-alones, teen-lit

When I first started reading, I was almost certain I made a mistake of picking up this book. It was very difficult to adjust to Nick's way of speaking, but I surprised myself by adjusting to his voice sooner than I thought I would be able to. And after that, I was very satisfied with this book.
First, I'll quickly comment on the one part I didn't like: Amanda, Nick's sister. Well, I didn't exactly dislike her, and I get that they don't know what's wrong with her, but I just could not handle the...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, death-and-dying, horror, illness, paranormal, road-trip, sci-fi, survival, zombiepocolypse

“Nero crawled past where the bodies of the hunters were. At least where he thought they were. With each foot, the smell got worse. It was hot and fetid. Stink blanketed his sinuses, settled in his nose. It bought furniture at IKEA, adopted a puppy, got a job, met other stink, went on a date, and talked about moving in together.”

Nick spends his high school days caring for his younger sister, who has Asperger’s, and his father, who has lost his touch with reality after losing his R&D job at Re...more “Nero crawled past where the bodies of the hunters were. At least where he thought they were. With each foot, the smell got worse. It was hot and fetid. Stink blanketed his sinuses, settled in his nose. It bought furniture at IKEA, adopted a puppy, got a job, met other stink, went on a date, and talked about moving in together.”

Nick spends his high school days caring for his younger sister, who has Asperger’s, and his father, who has lost his touch with reality after losing his R&D job at Rebozzo’s chicken production facility. Nick also works part-time at that same facility, where he debones birds, and pines away for Petal, a classmate who also works at the factory. When Nick accidentally cuts himself, and bleeds rapidly and grotesquely all over the place, he is convicted of property destruction and sabotage. As punishment, he is sentenced to three months’ time at Inward Trek, a juvenile boot camp. Nick is assigned a new name (Nero), and loaded onto the van with eight other boys, for some wilderness counseling and rehabilitation.

Once in the woods, high up in the mountains of northern California, things rapidly take a turn for the worse. For unknown reasons, some of the IT party turn into zombies overnight, quickly mauling and infecting others in the group. No one on the mountain seems unaffected, and hikers, children, and high school cheerleaders and football players soon appear as part of the ravenous hoard. Nero and a few survivors try to outrun and outlast the zombies, and eventually locate a hunting lodge near the mountain’s peak. There, they meet some of the surviving Inward Trek girls’ group, and work to fight their way out of the encroaching flesh-eaters. It’s after their rescue, however (not really a spoiler), that things take some turns which set this book apart from the normal zombie fare.

This is just a fun, entertaining read, and you have to be in the right frame of mind (i.e., vulgar, pitch-black sense of humor, not easily grossed out) to truly enjoy it. Beaudoin is a very skilled writer, with sharp, witty dialogue and *extremely* vivid depictions of zombie violence. Again, not for the squeamish. Really. There are plot lines left hanging, and many characters not fully developed, which is fine for those who are quickly killed off, but not for others. For example, my favorite secondary character (Yeltsin) needed a bit more backstory, and I was sorry to see him go, then reappear, then have his head ripped from his body. But that’s what you should expect from a zombie novel. The way Beaudoin ties up some other plot points happens a bit too conveniently, and the last 50 pages or so are open to some debate. Still, this book offers extremely sharp cultural skewering – from fast food to commodification culture, Beaudoin takes it all on, in an over-the-top fashion slightly reminiscent of Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens. Not for younger readers, not for the faint of heart, but highly recommended. I could not put this one down. Extra hilarity points for the many “Zombrules” throughout the text, which provide helpful tips for surviving a zombie plague, as well as the arrest sheets of the different IT boys at the end of the book.
(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 W rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, 2012-read

Note: In general, I'm against abandoning books that I've received as advanced review copies. The publisher gives out copies of this book for an honest review, and I don't feel I can legitimately review the worth of a whole book if I only read part of it. I am going to, however, make an exception for this book. I've already put the book down and then tried to talk myself into reading it again half a dozen times, and it just simply has some elements to it that I find myself getting frustrated at e...more Note: In general, I'm against abandoning books that I've received as advanced review copies. The publisher gives out copies of this book for an honest review, and I don't feel I can legitimately review the worth of a whole book if I only read part of it. I am going to, however, make an exception for this book. I've already put the book down and then tried to talk myself into reading it again half a dozen times, and it just simply has some elements to it that I find myself getting frustrated at every time I pick it up.

This zombie apocalypse novel promises to be part-Holes, part-Zombieland, a horror-flick-in-a-book. When teenage protagonist Nick gets in trouble at work and gets sent to a juvenile delinquent camp, things seem like they couldn't get worse... until the counselors start turning into zombies.

Unfortunately, I had a number of issues with this book that even zombies couldn't remedy. First off, the e-galley must have had some sort of formatting error because throughout each page I had missing letters, random letters substituting for symbols, and every once in awhile some sort of nonsense jumble of letters for no apparent reason. Add in some slangs and made-up words and phrases (such as "lamestream" instead of "mainstream"), and this book was work merely to decipher.

Even more frustrating was the vulgarity. I can tolerate swearing and cursing in literature. I have less tolerance for lewdness, but even then, sometimes, it brings the reader to a better understanding of a character's mindset or attitude -- I get that. In the past, there have been books with "rated-R"-type language and sexuality that I've enjoyed -- when there's a point to it (Huxley's Brave New World is just one example; Burgess's A Clockwork Orange is another). And, yes, I get that this is a book where most of the main characters are teenage males going through puberty, but reading crass jokes and constant discussions of their hormone-driven desires and bodily functions isn't really how I want to spend my free time, nor did I feel it was necessary for the character development or plot.

Despite that, I may have been able to shrug it off and skip over the crudeness if I had really felt invested in the characters or plot, but sadly, I wasn't.

Perhaps others of the zombie-fan world might pick this up and find it interests them, or -- who knows -- maybe it does get more interesting further on and I just needed to hold on for a few more pages (chapters?), but as of right now, this is going back to the bottom of my list and I don't see myself picking it up again anytime soon.(less)

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Sep 07, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Seventeen year old Nick Sole works in a chicken slaughter house for a famous fast food restaurant to support his deadbeat, lazy dad (who he calls the Dude) and his little sister. After a horrible (and embarrassing) accident, Nick is charged with felony destruction of property and sentenced to Inward Trek boot camp with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents, including the girl he really loves, Petal. Everything is going horribly, as expected, until things get a whole lot worse. The counselors tur...more Seventeen year old Nick Sole works in a chicken slaughter house for a famous fast food restaurant to support his deadbeat, lazy dad (who he calls the Dude) and his little sister. After a horrible (and embarrassing) accident, Nick is charged with felony destruction of property and sentenced to Inward Trek boot camp with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents, including the girl he really loves, Petal. Everything is going horribly, as expected, until things get a whole lot worse. The counselors turn into flesh-eating zombies and continually attack the group of mischief makers the first night of the trek. Now, Nick is stuck in the middle of a forest with other teen criminals, separated from civilization and technology, trying to survive the zombie outbreak.

The Infects is a very different type of zombie novel than I usually read. Most of them are fairly bleak and focus on harsh realities of zombie apocalypse life. This one focuses on dark humor and sarcasm over that depressing realism. The novel is peppered with fun horror movie and punk rock references. The delinquents realize fast that the zombie apocalypse is upon them and draw upon their zombie film expertise to formulate the "zombrules" to stay alive. The characters are delightful and varied. I like seeing this world through Nick's eyes. Teen books are very frequently told through the female perspective and it was nice to see the masculine side for once. Plus Dwayne "The Rock: Johnson gives him advice in his head. The other delinquents are interesting and some of them are very annoying. They do develop through the novel and are very memorable, so they don't get lost when the pace speeds up. I really like the end where we get to see what all of their crimes were, which fills out these characters. I'm tempted to reread the book so that I can keep their crime and past in mind when reading about them.

The social commentary underneath the satire and humor is fairly serious. The real life evils of big corporations and the fast food industry are portrayed with the over the top evil chicken company Rebozzo AviaCulture. They will do anything in their power regardless of its legality to make money and keep their misdeeds hidden. Nick's dad, The Dude, worked for them as a scientist and they took his invention for their own after kicking him to the curb. Their chicken also turns people into flesh-eating zombies. This concept isn't new and has been seen as far back as George Romero's classic zombie films, but that isn't the extent of the zombies here.

The zombies in this book are really different. They are the flesh-eating, violent variety, but keep some sort of sentience and intelligence through the seemingly mindless and very gory attacks. There are some glimpses of intelligence and even strategy on the part of the zombies throughout the book, but especially at the end. Spoilers ahead!!!! Rebozzo cures and rehabilitates all of the zombies they can find in the end that don't die from their wounds. Their solution is to keep them in a sealed facility for the rest of their lives. Nick understandably angry at Rebozzo (for this and numerous other things) and has his girlfriend infect him again. They reinfect everyone who wants to be and seek to join a the rest of the zombies that escaped Rebozzo's grasp to change the world. I really like this ending. Nick and his girlfriend Petal choose to be zombies and in essence join the winning team. Who's to say that it's any worse than being human? Maybe it's the next step in evolution. Whatever it is, I am convinced and I hope this book gets a sequel so we can enjoy Nick and Petal's adventures in the next book.

The Infects is a really fast read that makes homages to horror films, skewers big business and the fast food industry, makes me laugh, has some serious zombie carnage, and produces some quality characters. It manages to acknowledge the old, classic zombies and the tradition for social satire while reinvigorating the zombie genre with something new. I love the writing that is very easy to read and has its own stream of conscious like rhythm and style. I will definitely read all of Sean Beaudoin's other works and anything else he writes in the future.(less)

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Jun 01, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 4 of 5 stars

As of 1 June 2012, there is still time to read this on Netgalley.com. I'm still trying to decide on whether it's middle school appropriate or not. There's no soubt that Beaudoin is a brilliant writer, but he walks that fine line. Major points for use of language: "fuct", "texturbation" are both edgy but not quite as naughty as they could be. Still-- too naughty for middle school, I am thinking, when combined with a very large amount of graphic chicken slaughtering, even before we got to the actu...more

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Sep 17, 2012 ABookVacation rated it 1 of 5 stars

In all honesty, finishing this book was the most difficult thing I’ve done in a long time. Generally, most people probably would have quit while they were ahead, but I always feel that novels deserve to be read all the way through just in case there is a saving grace, and I’ve found those saving graces in a few novels before. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it with this novel. Now, while there is an interesting twist to this zombie apocalypse story near the end, everything leading up to it was so v...more In all honesty, finishing this book was the most difficult thing I’ve done in a long time. Generally, most people probably would have quit while they were ahead, but I always feel that novels deserve to be read all the way through just in case there is a saving grace, and I’ve found those saving graces in a few novels before. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it with this novel. Now, while there is an interesting twist to this zombie apocalypse story near the end, everything leading up to it was so vulgar and difficult to wade through that by the time I got to the twist, I just didn’t care anymore.

My first issue with this novel comes from the formatting itself, and while I know this is no issue of the author’s, and it was an ARC copy, so it shouldn’t exist in the final copies, it made it extremely difficult for me to read. Why? Throughout the first 40% of the novel, sporadic words and phrases were replaced by random letters and numbers, and I honestly couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to say. On occasion, words would be separated by spaces, and while extremely annoying to try to read, I could figure out what the words were fairly quickly, but once random letters and numbers joined the mix, I could figure out the words anymore and I had to overlook that portion of the story. If it had happened once in a blue moon, then it really wouldn’t have bothered me, but the fact that it happened quite often, and sometimes entire words would be missing with just the letter D in their stead… well, that made it too difficult for me to follow the story on the whole.

However, formatting aside, I found the novel itself to be extremely juvenile, but not in a good way, not in the way that I’d give it to my kids to read. Instead, this novel is completely off humor and constantly cracks jokes about tits, masturbating, farts, and erections… things that might cause the reader to crack a sheepish smile the very first time it comes up, but the sheer amount of redundancy caused me to groan and role my eyes continuously. I also found the characters names for each other to be quite ridiculous, like War Pig, and I didn’t find it funny in the least. I felt like the “witty banter” between the teens was unrealistic and much too juvenile, aside from being sick, and it got very old, very fast.

Then, there was the extremely graphic nature of the book. No detail is spared in this novel, and when the zombies sink their teeth into others, as they do a lot, the reader is gifted the entire experience though extreme graphic phrasing. I understand horror books that do this, but I was not ready for this in The Infects, and it really made me sick as I read.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this novel in the least, though I have heard that Beuadoin's other novels are very well written and not as graphic, so perhaps I'll check out one of them.

To see my full review:

http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/20...(less)

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Sep 03, 2012 Lexi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received this book from NetGalley.

Nick is your typical teenage boy. His parents are divorced, his dad has gone off the deep end so Nick helps take care of his sister Amanda who has Aspbergers, when he’s not in high school or working at Rebozzo Aviraculture. (aka a chicken factory) Things in his life are moving along: There’s a girl he wants to ask out, he gets a promotion at work, slices open his hand, gets fired- then arrested and sent to a camp for troubled youth where he is given the handle...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Ulises rated it 4 of 5 stars

When a book drops pearls of wisdom such as, "Chicken don't kill people, people kill people," when the main protagonist hears a voice in his head that sounds exactly like The Rock, and when poultry plays such a dramatic role in the end of days, you know you're in for something different.

The Infects is a witty, whimsical take on the zombie genre. Not quite as satirically biting or executed as Shaun of the Dead, but in that same vein.

The ending left me "huh?" Maybe I wanted more. Maybe I felt it...more When a book drops pearls of wisdom such as, "Chicken don't kill people, people kill people," when the main protagonist hears a voice in his head that sounds exactly like The Rock, and when poultry plays such a dramatic role in the end of days, you know you're in for something different.

The Infects is a witty, whimsical take on the zombie genre. Not quite as satirically biting or executed as Shaun of the Dead, but in that same vein.

The ending left me "huh?" Maybe I wanted more. Maybe I felt it was too abrupt. Maybe the book left some answers a bit too vague, such as why Nick/Nero, our reluctant protagonist, can hear The Rock's voice in the first place. (Or maybe I just didn't read that part carefully enough.) The ending was, well...interesting, but I would have liked to hear more about what it would mean to "evolve", and where this would-be revolution might go.

Nonetheless, this was a fun, entertaining read. It's bad when you're snickering to yourself on a crowded subway in Chicago, and I was snickering a LOT. Especially at the video game descriptions Beaudoin concocts. Those alone are worth the price of admission.

The characters are great. Nick/Nero starts off as a wimpy, annoying teenager, yet his transition into reluctant, unwitting leader is plausible and well constructed. I guess, in some ways, his character reminded me of the main character in Zone One, and of the notion that, in a world turned upside down, previously unremarkable people can suddenly become remarkable by default. Really really liked the Amanda character: a 9-year old with Aspergers Syndrome never seemed so utterly awesome, especially with her mad-hack skills at the end. And, hey, loved the Estrada character. Nice to see a book that features a Latino character that appears to provide a convenient stereotype only to defy it.

And, well, any zombie apocalypse that has so much to do with fried poultry products, how can you NOT dig that?

Definitely recommend this as a nice change of pace from more serious World War Z fare.(less)

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Sep 29, 2012 Bistro2012 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Kaylyn, 18
Sean Beaudoin
The Infects
Candlewick Press 2012

This book is one of those that you have to have a taste for, in my opinion. You have to have a crude/semi-dark sense of humor, a tolerance for fowl language, mentions of nudity, sexual themes and insanity/mental-illness. I originally wanted to read it just to find out what was with the chickens on the cover and how they connected to the story; once I found that out, I was sucked into the evolution of the Z and how Nick "Nero" was part of...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

Gory and sarcastic, The Infects has a slew of teenage zombie mayhem.

I'm going to start off this review my mentioning the cover which is awesome! It really grabs your attention. Love it!

The story itself is a fairly simple one with a few new twists on the zombies we all know and love. The first third of this book was a little slow going as we get to know the main character, Nick, aka Nero. It picks up though and gets some action packed fun when the zombies take center stage. The group of teenagers...more

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May 17, 2012 Kelley York rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, dead-things

First of all, I want to say, this e-galley did NOT like me. There were 10-ish pages that *refused* to load on my Nook toward the beginning, so I have no idea how Nick ended up from the chicken factory to being on the bus. I also don't know if the 'end' was the end I read, because the ending of the book kept screwing up, too. I felt like I was missing a chapter or two, but I have no clue. I tried opening the e-galley on my computer and had the same issues.

So, that being said...

Cover: 3/5 Interes...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Originally posted on my blog Books Forget Me Knot.

Thrilling. Gripping. Heart-pounding. A story that will have you hooked from the beginning and an ending that will leave you speechless.

I haven’t read a zombie book since the final book in Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth series. I loved her twist to zombies and the romance weaved into her books, creating an epic and unforgettable series. With that said, it was going to be pretty hard to find another zombie book that I’d completely and...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Natalie Cheetham rated it 2 of 5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Nick Sole's life is far from ideal. His mom left. After getting canned, his dad checked out mentally, leaving Nick to care for his special needs sister and become the breadwinner of the family. Nick earns his paycheck by butchering chickens at a local plant, where he also pines over his crush, Petal Gazes. But when a promotion leads to sleep deprivation, a freak accident leads Nick to a 3 month sentence at Inward Trek boot camp, where he is given the nickname, Nero. One day in...more

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About Sean Beaudoin

Sean Beaudoin is the author of Going Nowhere Faster, Fade To Blue. and You Killed Wesley Payne. His latest novel, the rude zombie opus The Infects, is currently biting a steak out of your back. Sean's articles and short stories have been appeared in numerous publications, including the Onion, The San Francisco Chronicle, Opium Magazine, and Spirit-the inflight magazine of Southwest Airlines. He lo...more

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