Four

Their Dead Lives #1

by Zack Scott

A tragic past. A destined reunion. A decaying hope.

In Southern California, four friends must face a haunting nightmare from high school in order to save the future of humanity. But will their personal conflicts get in the way? Battling for survival, these fated four will choose whether to follow a destined path or continue their dead lives, while the zombie apocalypse feeds them one cliche after another

Genres: Zombies

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

One sunny day, a stingray bit Zack while he was snorkeling. You might be asking yourself, ‘Hey do stingrays even have teeth?’ Well according to the scientists at Wikipedia, stingrays do indeed have teeth. Now this was no serious bite wound, looked more like a hickey, a hickey on his arm, a hickey from a stingray.

Zack has also written a few stories.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

…And we thought it couldn’t be done. There is no way an author can come up with a truly amazing twist to a zombie apocalypse, right? Have you met Zack Scott? Have you noticed his novel, Four from his series Their Dead Lives? Zack Scott does more than give us lumbering zombies feasting on guts and gore, he gives a pretty good mystery as to where they came from, but not quite the how they came to be! Another dastardly government experiment? End of times radicals? The fact is, they are here and have been freed by a clueless Vault Tactical Force acting on orders. Unfortunately it happened when four longtime frenemies were to get together years after a high school nightmare threw them together in a fight for their lives. The one thing they never want to talk about, but carry as an uncomfortable bond between them. Now the past will rear its ugly head just in time for their present to become a battle to survive against the growing hordes of the undead. Will the answers to survival and to saving the human race lie back in the haunting memories of what happened in high school? Are they meant to settle their differences and move on towards a future that is looking bleaker every hour?

Follow Alec, Kale, Scott and Jeff as these divergent personalities and lifestyles must come together with an unlikely ragtag group of misfits on the run to find answers before it is too late to stop the undead. Who can be trusted? Who will live? Who will die? Who will want to live? Who would rather die than go on? Heroes come from all places, but must start within one’s soul, is there a hero among them to be had or is it time for breakfast to be served, zombie style?

Dark, intriguing and as twisted as coiled barbed wire, they may not be the cheeriest group to run with, but I’m all for going with those who have learned how to survive. Zack Scott has an adult version of the zombie apocalypse in all of its ghoulish glory. Great writing, detailed scenes and brutal action scenes, loved it!

I received this copy from Zack Scott in exchange for my honest review.

Series: Their Dead Lives - Book 1
Publication Date: December 1, 2013
Publisher: Zack Scott
ISBN: 0983750939
Print Length: 523 pages
Available from: Amazon
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Cyra Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alec, Scot, Kale, and Jeff are four previously best friends. They drifted apart after a rather traumatic event in their lives and eight years later, they are having a reunion. The reunion doesn't go well considering three of the friends generally seem to just not like each other and the glue that tries to hold them all together, Jeff, is late. He is on a mission with the Vault Tactical Force to go open the Vaults. The Vaults are obviously vaults that were built to withstand an apocalypse. Only a few lucky people won spots in the Vaults and the apocalypse never came. The people have been stuck inside the vaults for six months when Jeff and his team come to let them out. But what they find inside are not living people, but the undead... And that's where this story begins!

This book was so good. I was scared going into this book because so far, I haven't really liked very many of the books I've been asked to review. But this one was so good and I was so pleasantly surprised! I got this book in like August to review and I just now read it because I suck so hard, but I shouldn't have waited! It was so good!

First of all, the characters were all so different! You have Jeff who joined I think the Navy after high school and then was recruited to join the Vault Tactical Force. He is the one in his group of friends who tries so hard to get things back to the way they were. He is a really good person and is really brave and cares about everyone. He tries to see the best in everyone.

Alec.. I don't know. I think it's great how he was so committed to his relationship. He and Nicole have a cute relationship and she is basically his reason for being and his whole world. Which is great and all, but I feel like in this story, his relationship just kind of makes him into an ass. He comes off as very clingy and won't leave Nicole for anything!

Scot is the ladies man of the group. He royally screwed things up with the girl of his dreams and spends a lot of this book trying to fix things with her. He strikes me as that guy you know who is kind of purposefully always acting like a douchebag, but really he's got a good head on his shoulders and has good intentions. I don't know, I think that he was probably my favorite of the four friends.

Okay, now the last friend is Kale. What do I think of Kale? He doesn't really seem to think things through before he acts. Even if his action is in the best interest of everyone else, it doesn't really seem to go well for him. I don't know, I think that Kale is the friend I thought the least about during this book, but he is not my least favorite. He just kinda got the short end of the stick, I think.

There are a lot of other characters who play decently important-ish parts in this book. There are the girls with their group, Kelsey, Nicole, and Sadie. Sadie weirded me out. She kind of creates her own religion/diety and talks to it throughout the book. That weirded me out mostly because I knew a kid like that in high school and he said goblins followed him through the halls... ANYWAYS! I liked the other girls. There's a few other characters you hear a lot from in this book, but I feel like these are the main main characters.

There is romance in the book. Mostly it was discussed above. I didn't like Alec's relationship just because of how he acted about it. Scot's relationship with his girl, I did like. I was pretty excited because I have been trying to pick out books where there are some steamy-ish moments and I have been failing MISERABLY!!! And this book delivered that to me and I liked that.

The plot of this book is fantastic! There is never a dull moment during the zombie apocalypse! They all move around a lot, things are always happening. There are a lot of flashback moments to the traumatic event that happened eight years ago and that switched things up a bit which was nice.

If I had to make any complaints about this book, I would complain about the number of points of view. There are like six at least. That in general is something that I don't care for, but it didn't even really seem that bad in this book. Also, it kinda felt long.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of zombies and The Walking Dead. It was a really interesting book and my biggest regret is not getting to it sooner! If you happen to dislike violence, profanity, and sex in your books, then this one is probably not for you. I will probably end up reading the sequel someday because I gotta know if they stop the zombie apocalypse or not!

[Jennifer Ricketts (Donnie Darko Girl) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for an honest review. You can find my stop on the blog tour at Donnie Darko Girl.

"We leave as four."

FOUR is a zombie story to be devoured, heh heh. But seriously, this was a great zombie read with well developed characters and a well written plot. There's even something extra thrown in supernatural-wise besides the zombies, which had me turning the pages to find out what it was because it isn't revealed for quite a while.

The four main characters - Jeff, Scot, Alec, and Kale - are friends from high school who are like the four Musketeers, but they've had drama where two of them hate each other and they all four generally drifted apart after high school. They organize a reunion of sorts, and pretty soon everything goes to hell. Literally.


Scot's a player. He has a sort-of girlfriend, and I say sort of because he cheats on her, constantly. He's a douche, but I didn't totally hate him. I disliked him greatly, lol.

Alec is sweet and ready to settle down with his high school sweetheart. He's having trouble with his dream of becoming a firefighter. I liked him quite a bit. He seems to make solid decisions and be a caring person.

Jeff was transferred from the regular military to a special military that's kept quiet from the public. He got into great shape after high school after spending that time wishing he was stronger.

Kale doesn't seem to have grown up much after high school. He has a roommate, and they play video games a lot. He's pretty gung ho about being a hero and won't let the other guys forget about the mysterious event that happened when they were younger, and I was glad for that. I HAD to find out what happened and what it meant for them in the present time.

Watching these guys try to put the pieces of their friendship back together was riveting. There was a lot of baggage there they could either work through or choose not to. The characters were well written, the plot well developed, and the action with touches of romance was balanced well.

Something happened when they were in high school, and there were hints here and there that it was a supernatural occurrence of some kind and what it was could help in the zombie apocalypse. I was DYING to know what it was and couldn't wait to find out.

Oh, and of course the zombies! The zombies were scary AF. Some were super fast, others were slow, and you basically didn't stand much of a chance against them. The totally, totally skin crawling, shiver inducing, look-under-your-bed-before-sleeping kind of zombies. Ah, George Romero would be so proud!

If you're a zombie/horror fan, you really need to snag a copy of FOUR. I would NOT steer you wrong! Plus, I'm picking up the second installment asap. :D

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four starts out with a similar feeling to a lot of zombie stories. A vault is opened in California and the undead pour out of it and begin to bite everyone they see, turning those bitten. The story differs as the mysterious secret a group of four friends share gets revealed. The friends: Alec, Kale, Jeff (aka Homer), and Scott have grown apart since highschool and after Jeff nearly dies in a submarine accident decide to have a reunion.

At first the secret is alluded to with no real information being revealed. Eventually though the truth comes out and the story takes a major turn away from what would be found in a standard zombie novel.

There are a few disclaimers to go with this book. There is a lot of graphic violence and sex. There is also a fair amount of profanity. This didn't bother me, but I could see it not being great for all audiences. Another thing is the book could use a little tightening up. There were a typos and word misuses (ie coward used instead of cowered) not enough to wreck the story, but enough to pull a little attention away.

The book had some really good aspects as well. I really liked the way the book was formatted. It was divided into books that were broken into short chapters. The view switched between following one of the four friends allowing the action to be covered from various locations. There is a lot going on in the story and longer chapters could have made it seem like you were reading about the same time frame over and over. I also enjoyed the characters, I didn't like all of them necessarily, but I think that was sort of the point. There were times when they were jerks and the fact that I didn't like them spoke to the realism of their actions. Finally the twist that is employed for the creation of the zombies, I'm not going to give anything away, I'll just say that it's not the typical government cover up of a super virus.

With the popularity of zombies right now I can see this book doing very well. So if you are a fan on zombie and want a new twist on the creatures pick this one up.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

[Erika Messer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge lover of anything zombie so this book was right up my alley. I expected just an all out horror novel but it surprised me with flashbacks to before the apocalypse and how four friends survived life and death. They have to fight to stay alive but the story makes the reader ask the question if their former and current lives are worth the fight. It was a completely new take on the zombie apocalypse which is refreshing for me and I really loved the little bits of humor and sarcasm the author mixed in the batch.

The novel slips back and forth between past, present and future times and the reader is shown a lot of information about all the friends and their extended circle. But this after all is a zombie novel and as we all know, nothing is certain and not everyone will survive. Watching the group work together and at times work apart is what really made this book great for me. Nothing is perfect especially in the zombie apocalypse and these friends will have to work out a lot of issues to get through unharmed. I really enjoyed this book and all of the action during the zombie scenes and I also love that it isn't your typical zombie novel. I think anyone with a zombie penchant will enjoy it :)

I received a complimentary ebook in exchange for my honest review.

[Ray Bliss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four: A Zombie Novel by Zack Gorlick

This is not your typical zombie novel; it comes with a twist that works. There’s lots of action throughout the book and the zombies will not disappoint. Don’t mistake this for just a zombie book though as there is an actually story going on that will keep you wanting to turn the page to find out what happens next.

At its heart this is a story about 4 friends that get together for a reunion after a number of years. “Unfortunately, the night of the reunion occurs when the dead start to rise.” Old grudges come back to life along with the camaraderie they used to have. There are several flashback scenes that piece together everything in the story together and why their friendship broke up as well. The story does not get in the way of the action, but enhances it to a nice degree that makes you care even about the zombie chow.

If you like zombies, a fast and fun read, gruesome gratuitous deaths, and non stop action you will like this book.

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads for a fair and honest review.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beta read. If you buy this book, you're gonna need to clear your calendar for a few days. You will not be able to put it down. Fabulous characters, brilliant plot and very well-written. I loved it. Awesome xxx

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, i don't actually read many books about zombie apocalypses but when i read the blurb to this one and saw that there would be a reunion between highschool friends who were keeping secrets i got interested!
I'm so happy i decided to read this one. I really was surprised in a good way.
From the beginning i was hooked! The story begins with the opening of a vault created to shelter people from an apocalypse that never happened. Now a special force, in wich one of our main characters, Jeff , is included is sent to open one of the vaults, near Jeff's hometown, and rescue the people that got trapped inside. But once they open the vault, chaos happens.
While numorous zombie attacks are happening killing a lot of people in the process ( as expected from a zombie apocalypse) we get glimpses into the pass of this group of friends who was supposed to be reunited this same night after a few years without seeing each other, and start realising this is in some way related to something that happened to them in highschool.
In this group of four friends ( hence the title) they all are really different from each other and they're way of coping with what happenned it's also different.
We have Jeff aka Homer, who is like the glue of the group and is really brave in my opinion. I really liked him. Then we have Scott who is kind of a douche, but i think he is also the character who made me interested the most. I think part of the reason is because you can see how damaged he is and how he struggles with himself. Really curious to see his evolution in the next books.
We also have Alec, who honestly was kind of boring in my opinion. He wasn't a bad character exactly, but his only purpose was his fiancé Nicole and that was annoying as fuck. And finally we have Kale, who wants to be a hero no matter what and because of that ends up messing up a lot. I'm still not sure how i feel about him. We have more characters, but i think this are the most important.
This book did not spare in gory scenes, and people who i though would survive at least more than halfway through didn't. This one has some romance too, wich i really apreciate.
I think one negatuve thing i have to say about it is that it has way to many POV's and some of them weren't really necessary! Another thing is that sometimes there were a few coments abou women and weight that bothered me but not so much that took my enjoyement of the book.
Overall it was a really solid book,with a lot of action and i'm looking foward to read the others in the series and see what happens next!
I recieved a free copy of this book from reading deals in exchange for an honest review!

[Gen Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge lover of Zombies and this book didn't disappoint. The imagery used was excellent, well written and gory, just like every Zombie book should be.

I finished this in two days (which honestly would have been less if I didn't have pesky work) because each chapter left me glued and wanting to know what happened next. I loved how it was broken up into episodes. It was a nice touch.

The characters were all well developed and I grew attached to a few which is a no-no in anything Zombie apocalypse. Be prepared for some twists and turns as well and some fantastic one-liners.

[Sachin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful.
Really enjoyed this read. Something very very different

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway from Goodreads. I was very excited to read this novel, and possibly due to my high expectations I was pretty disappointed. This book has an interesting concept, and even some interesting parts. The concept, like that of many zombie novels, is that the end of the world comes when a Vault is opened and undead poor out. The story centers around four friends and the events that surround their lives both before and after the event. The narrator switches from first to third person, which is pretty annoying, and the book in unnecessarily violent and sexual. I am not against either of these things, but they were done in a very pre-teen video game way. It was violence for violence's sake. The interesting story line was ruined by narrator changes and random (and also unrealistic) events. I was disappointed.

[Monica Ganz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four is one of those scarce books that had me utterly glued to it from the very beginning until I reached the end. Jack Scott did a great job of writing this story with just the right amount of zombie action, horror, thrill, and suspense that had me curling my toes as I turned each page. What I think I loved the most was the actual story that was going on behind all of the zombie action. You typically don't get that from any other story out there that mainly just has nothing but action and no story at all. The characters were all very unique and well developed as you go through the story. It's a very well written zombie book with actual twists and turns. This was my first time reading a book by Zack Scott but I must say he has my respect for being able to add more to the typical kind of book others never seem to add to. Curious to see what else is in the works.

[Skylar Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about four friends facing the zombie apocalypse all while accepting their past and embracing their future.

The synopsis makes this book sound a lot more serious than it really is. There is a lot of humor throughout and plenty of over the top scenes. FOUR also has some romance, some drama, and a lot of zombies. It is not a realistic story and is clearly intended that way given the main characters' back story. There are a lot of supporting characters and a high body count. So if you like fast, violent and suspenseful reads pick this up.

I could see it turning into a pretty cool movie and hope to read the sequel soon, whenever it will be available.

[Aria Peyton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in awe of Zack for being able to create such a complex set of characters and keep track of them all. And then kill some off... The way he describes the zombies chomping, the action happening, the death and mutilation of too many people--it's like you're there, but oh, so glad you're not there. I'm not a zombie book reader since I had a gross-out moment when I encountered one in a vampire book years ago, but this was so well written and so compelling to finish it. And then go onto the next...

[P Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great zombie tale but it's really more than that. There's a coming of age element to the story between the friends and there are more than just zombies and humans involved that represent good and evil. The author really surprised me in a few places with the direction the book took which doesn't happen very often. So it's original, unique horror fiction that I would recommend. The author doesn't shy away from gore, so if you're a gore lover, you'll get your fill.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!!!

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat, lots of character development but in a way that compliments the story. Can't wait to read the next one.

[Bill Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst zombie book ever!