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Deadland

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Deadland is the world’s most ambitious new theme park, where zombie-themed robots run wild in a sprawling post-apocalyptic wasteland in rural South Carolina. Its creator, Derek Farber, is a young visionary who is obsessed with a mythical virus that killed a bunch of island tourists ten years ago but never went global. His park imagines a world in which the outcome was different, although most of Deadland’s visitors aren’t thinking about worst-case scenarios. They’re thinking about the cool pics they can post on Instagram after surviving the Log Flume of Doom.

When Farber invites the once-famous-but-now-disgraced virologist Dr. Piper Prescott to Deadland, she agrees—eager to see his creation, but skeptical of his true motives. While venturing through the park on her own, Piper encounters a frantic father named Nick Calvo, who claims he lost his 11-year-old son on a ride called the Cadaver Fields.

But as it turns out, Nick’s boy isn’t just lost—he’s sick. Very sick. And to Piper, the boy seems to be afflicted with the same mythical, island-borne virus that inspired Farber’s park. Unlike most of the world, though, Piper knows it isn’t mythical. It’s real—and it’s deadly. And if she doesn’t act fast, Deadland won’t just be a hunting ground for zombie enthusiasts.

It’ll be Ground Zero.

232 pages, ebook

Published December 11, 2020

110 people are currently reading
701 people want to read

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Sawyer Hall

7 books14 followers

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5 stars
123 (44%)
4 stars
80 (28%)
3 stars
61 (21%)
2 stars
13 (4%)
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2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for Dun's.
489 reviews35 followers
June 27, 2023
A fast-paced, action-packed, zombie-filled novel. I am not a big fan of roller coasters, but a zombie theme park with player points for completing challenges sounds very appealing to me. 😎

I love the science bits about the deadly virus. I found out on the last page that "Sawyer Hall is the pseudonym of a published author and physician", which explains the elaborate details of the medical and public health references in the book.

I took one star down because I didn't get the purpose of having different timelines for the multiple POV (instead of presenting them in a chronological order), and the ending feels a bit rushed. I borrowed the ebook via Prime Reading and spotted several editing mistakes. That said, it was a very enjoyable, thrilling read.
Profile Image for Sunnie.
438 reviews41 followers
October 11, 2023
A real page-turner in spite of the many typos!

Deadland, written by author Sawyer Hall, grabs you by the hair from the very beginning with a a fast-paced medical thriller that doesn’t ease up until the last word, and possibly beyond that! I would read a bit, then put the book down only to quickly pick it up again. Finally, after battling with myself, I read through to the questionable conclusion. It was that good; that creepy, that imaginative. Is it over with the last word? Maybe you should reconsider just to be safe . . .
Profile Image for XR.
1,980 reviews107 followers
February 3, 2021
It's Jurassic Park but without the dinosaurs!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kisara.
121 reviews2 followers
April 4, 2024
2.4 ✨

I was debating to give it three stars, but the end....It was a nice book. But not satisfying to read. Too much build up, and it didn't even feel like there was a proper climax? I had really high hopes and went into this read with an open mind. Sad to be disappointed.

I see where the allure comes from though, and I know why people rate it so highly, this one just didn't catch me the same way.
Profile Image for Ozsaur.
1,032 reviews
January 9, 2021
This is a strong 3.5 rounded up.

After a contagious disease causes millions to die from the vaccine, people are wary of them, and many refuse to vaccinate at all. Piper, one of the many POV characters in the book, is a pediatric doctor who is invited to a zombie theme-park by the man who ruined her career.

The story is told from many different POVs from Piper, to the father of a boy who is in remission from cancer, to the doctors at a rural hospital. I think that was my biggest issue with the book. Too many POV characters. I'd just settle in, and the next POV would start. It made the story uneven.

I did like the characters, and most of them were well done. I liked Piper a lot. The story had a nice level of suspense, but the switching POVs flattened the tension in a few places.

To be clear though, there weren't any real zombies.
Profile Image for Kathryn.
530 reviews16 followers
January 30, 2025
This book was a big disappointment for me. I really enjoyed The Doctor of the Great North Woods and the premise of this one sounded pretty darn good. It sounded like an amusement park that gives people the chance to try and survive a zombie apocalypse while racking up points in a gaming sort of environment. What it turned out to be was the author preaching to anti-vaxxers about doing their part in eliminating a deadly virus that could end mankind. Now, I’m not even an anti-vaxxer, but when I get a chance to sit down and read a book for the enjoyment of it, I don’t want to be drawn into politics, I want to be entertained.

On another note, this book was riddled with typos and the way it jumped around from morning, night, morning, afternoon and so forth, it was hard to maintain any continuity. I didn’t experience that with the other book. And, it felt like something a high schooler wrote, bad. It’s as if this was written by a different person. I don’t think I’ll continue to read anymore stories from Sawyer Hall.
Profile Image for Amber.
5 reviews3 followers
February 27, 2021
I received this book in a goodreads giveaway.

I enjoyed this book. I got hooked pretty quickly which surprised me. The different timelines was a bit confusing though. I also thought that there was some questions that were not answered. Things I would have liked to know more about. But maybe that was just me missing it or perhaps it was done on purpose.
Profile Image for Chrystal Roe.
1,301 reviews13 followers
December 23, 2020
Excellent

This is a very exciting story. A terrifying virus breaks out at an amusement park. No cure or safe vaccine exist. Lots of scary moments and plenty of action in this story.
Profile Image for Dee Garbo.
76 reviews1 follower
December 18, 2023
I’m giving this 3 stars, it’s an okay plot and all, but I just feel there could be more to the story?
Profile Image for Karen Siddall.
Author 1 book117 followers
January 18, 2021
A timely thriller-horror story about a fabulous new theme park and a virus that gets in with the guests.

Deadland was an absorbing story, heart-pounding and exciting. It is a timely thriller, horror story considering our current pandemic and recent approval to distribute and mass-inoculate with fast-tracked vaccines. (So, it is hitting a little close to home and may not be the right book for some at this time.)

I liked the characters, especially Nick and George Calvo, and rooted for their success throughout the book. Blake and Lola Abernathy felt like real teens with their distractions, worries, and sibling rivalry. Poor Asher seemed like a good kid but we really don't get to enjoy him much before he becomes desperately ill. Dr. Piper Prescott was another favorite character. I liked that she seems to regain her confidence and get back on her feet while under pressure, and I liked that she was a more than competent competitor in the Deadland scoring. I did not understand Derek’s past animosity toward Piper and that part of their backstory.

The separate timelines for the Calvos, the Abernathys, and Dr. Prescott were a little odd to me. The three groups of park visitors were all there on the same day, yet Piper’s story stayed about a half a day ahead of the others until she joined up with the Calvos.

The idea of the visions of Hell as the theme for the various sections of the park was a winner for me but not being overly familiar with any one of them had me wondering about the presence of zombies there at all. I understood the zombies part in the scheme of the game but wondered that they were in keeping with the theme. Parts of this reminded me of the old Fright Nights at Six Flags Over Texas – good times!


I thought the situation with the various personnel at the local hospital was a great addition to the plot. I worried about the young, inexperienced, and inept doctor, and the lazy lab tech actually made me mad. This part of the story kept me guessing who would figure things out and save the day. The hotline story was a total surprise and totally shocking. All in all, the action at the hospital was a real highlight.

I recommend DEADLAND to readers that enjoy apocalyptic style tales, medical thrillers, and even those that would enjoy a pulse-pounding action story set in an amusement park. With the exciting plotting and the page-turning quality of the writing, I’ll certainly be looking for more by this author.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.


Profile Image for tonya_with_an_o.
754 reviews20 followers
January 26, 2024
I'm torn on this. Most of the book was immensely entertaining, and combined two of my favorite elements: contagion and amusement parks. However, the execution definitely left much to be desired. The spelling, grammatical, and word-choice errors were distracting and the ending was very abrupt. This left me feeling like a better editor could have really polished this piece into something special, but it didn't quite happen. 2.5 stars rounded up.
Profile Image for Clownmama .
84 reviews1 follower
February 6, 2023
Pretty good

This definitely has a good story going for it, but the ending was SUPER rushed. I would have been ok with another 100 pages if it meant a fully fleshed out ending. I also would have liked a follow-up with the other victim to live. So overall, it was a good start, but it needed a better ending.
Profile Image for Jilly.
788 reviews5 followers
July 3, 2023
I actually really enjoyed this book. It isn't anything like I have read before and I was fascinated to see how it would play out. A deadly virus at a theme park! Only one outcome surely? It was also interesting to see the 2 sides of the vaccination question. Yes or no? Which side do you come down on and do you trust the so called experts? Should you trust them? Who are they? An interesting question in the wake of Covid 19. A point to note is that this book was written before our recent pandemic.

***************************

Deadland is the world’s most ambitious new theme park, where zombie-themed robots run wild in a sprawling post-apocalyptic wasteland in rural South Carolina. Its creator, Derek Farber, is a young visionary who is obsessed with a mythical virus that killed a bunch of island tourists ten years ago but never went global. His park imagines a world in which the outcome was different, although most of Deadland’s visitors aren’t thinking about worst-case scenarios. They’re thinking about the cool pics they can post on Instagram after surviving the Log Flume of Doom.

When Farber invites the once-famous-but-now-disgraced virologist Dr. Piper Prescott to Deadland, she agrees—eager to see his creation, but skeptical of his true motives. While venturing through the park on her own, Piper encounters a frantic father named Nick Calvo, who claims he lost his 11-year-old son on a ride called the Cadaver Fields.

But as it turns out, Nick’s boy isn’t just lost—he’s sick. Very sick. And to Piper, the boy seems to be afflicted with the same mythical, island-borne virus that inspired Farber’s park. Unlike most of the world, though, Piper knows it isn’t mythical. It’s real—and it’s deadly. And if she doesn’t act fast, Deadland won’t just be a hunting ground for zombie enthusiasts.

It’ll be Ground Zero.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
8 reviews2 followers
March 2, 2021
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to Goodreads and the author for the opportunity to read and review the book.

The plot of this book was very intriguing, but the writing left a lot to be desired. The world's deadliest virus inspired Derek Farber (an Elon Musk type) to create an amusement park called Deadland, which was inspired by the virus...but also inspired by religions and interpretations of hell? It was kind of hard to grasp what the full inspiration was. And it was also hard to gather what Farber's real intentions were. I believe to release the virus then cure people? By the end I still couldn't really figure that out.

The characters were somewhat developed, but there could have been much, much more development. There were multiple points of view that the book went between (Piper, Farber, George and Nick Calvo, Blake, Kyle/Stick...I think there were others as well) which is fine in itself, but for this particular book it made it so none of the points of view were really "full" if that makes sense.

There were *a lot* of spelling/grammatical errors as well as an abundance of continuation errors that I noticed, which really to me only means the book should have been edited a little more.

I did get hooked, and like I said, the plot was really intriguing, so I would recommend the book as a whole. I would read more by the author as well, I would just say to lean into editing a bit more.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for R.
861 reviews5 followers
April 19, 2021
This was a fast-paced, interesting book. I won it in a giveaway, but it has taken me a while to finish reading it.

To be honest, the only negative thing I have to say about the book (that has to do with the book itself and not with personal taste) is that there were some distracting mistakes in the book. In particular, I noticed there were some mixed up pronouns (like maybe the author had one character doing the action and decided to change it to another) that took me out of the story for a moment while I sorted things out.

The only reason that this took me a while to read was because the content ended up being rather heavy with the current events taking place in the world. That has nothing to do with the book, of course. I didn't expect, at first, that I would find the content difficult to digest (since I'm a fan of zombie apocalypse fiction). However, I did have to take several breaks to read lighter stories while I digested this story.

It was a good book, and I do recommend it. As I stated, the difficulty I had with getting through it had more to do with my own reaction to current events than it had to do with the book itself.
Profile Image for Jane.
2 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2021
This is a fast paced action thriller. The Story takes place in a Zombie Theme Park. Lots of Suspense to the read and it kept me guessing. I loved all the action and goings on at the hospital. This was such a great plot line. Likable and believable characters. I really did get invested in the people. I loved Dr. Piper Prescott and I was rooting for Nick and George Cavallo. If your a fan of Apocalyptic tales, action, suspense and/or thrillers then this is the book for you. Another five star read. I most definitely recommend.

I won this book in a ‘Goodreads Giveaway’ and am under no obligation to leave a review but it’s standard for me to express my opinion after I have read a book. I find it not only helps us Readers get an idea of what the story is about but the Authors are very appreciative of our reviews.
Profile Image for Jane Owen.
89 reviews23 followers
April 24, 2021
This was a fast paced action thriller which was based on a Zombie Theme Park. I thought this was a great plot line, like able and believable characters and it was very well written. There was great suspense which kept me guessing. I loved Dr. Piper Prescott and I was rooting for Nick and George Calvo. I especially loved all the goings on at the hospital. This is a five star read and a definite recommendation for anybody whom enjoys Apocalyptic, action, suspense and/or Thrillers.

I won this book in a ‘Goodreads Giveaway’ and am under no obligation to leave a review although it’s standard for me to leave my opinion on mostly everything I read. I find it not only helps us readers when choosing a book but the authors are always extremely grateful.
Profile Image for Sheri White.
Author 1 book17 followers
July 27, 2021
This book was a blast. An amusement park that lets you experience the zombie apocalypse? I would so go.

A virus somehow gets into the park that affects people quickly, and the park owner must try to contain the infected.

It's not exactly a zombie virus, but it's dangerous and deadly, and could wipe out the world in weeks if it got out.

There are no real zombie attacks, or dead people rising and biting, but it's still intense and suspenseful. The park itself sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm surprised nobody has come up with the idea for this is real life.

If you're a zombie fan like I am, you will love this and wish there were more to read. Sequel maybe?
Profile Image for Jesse Miller.
188 reviews6 followers
October 2, 2022
I was craving some Ghostland style fun last night and spotted this gem while scrolling Amazon. The book is full of great characters, be they teen influencers that ditch their little brother when they spot boys, or an airheaded antivaxxer that gets used as a guinea pig. The main character, Piper, is no fainting flower or fool, and I love how she doesn't back down from telling the truth, even if the whole world mocks her. The gore and horror elements are strong, and the Deadland Park sounds like a horror fan's dream come true. The whole virus plot was scary, and the death count by the end of the book is in the millions. Just wow. I highly recommend this one!
Profile Image for Kit.
1,517 reviews16 followers
March 4, 2023
Read : March 4, 2023
Rating : 4,5 Stars

This was pretty good even though I was hoping for full on, moaning, shuffling zombies.

To clarify, this does not have zombies but boy does this virus sound bloody scary to contract.

I liked the characters and thought it was a fun little read and I really love the cover, it's amazing.
I've gotten this one in kindle form but I'll purchase a "real life" copy as well just for the pretty cover.
The ending was, in my opinion, the biggest letdown of the book, I expected a little bit more but since its book 1, there might be a fulfilling ending down the line.

I would most definitely read another book by this author.
Profile Image for Karen.
524 reviews22 followers
March 18, 2025
Not really a "zombie" story. I'm not really sure I'd even call it zombie adjacent.


That being said, I still enjoyed the story. The book starts out normal enough, then it gets a little weird/concerning, and then we go off the rails and plummet over the cliff. Fun times.



354 reviews7 followers
September 4, 2021
Very apropos with the spread of covid 19

Ten years after what could potentially be the worst plague in history. Unfortunately the cure was worst than the bug. Bug killed fewer than 3000 because he struck in an isolated region. The cure, however, killed 10% of the population. But now it's back. Or maybe it's evil cousin Skippy.

This reminds me of a short novel, also written pre-covid, which seems to predict a plague of potential epic proportions, The Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant, although Grant's novel is much darker.
Profile Image for Elise.
364 reviews33 followers
April 15, 2021
A book about a pandemic read during a pandemic

I honestly enjoyed this book. I loved the sound of the theme park and would honestly love to go to one in real life.... without the killer virus of course. Being in the medical profession myself and watching COVID and trying to save people during a pandemic I honestly related to this book heavily. It was very well written.

Overall very much enjoyed!!!
Profile Image for Melissa.
1,162 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2021
Very timely horror/suspense novel

I won the book from a Goodreads giveaway. Except for some punctuation, spelling errors and even a few missing words (which seems to be more common in Kindle books such as this one, than in printed books,) I liked the plot and some of the main characters. The physician/author said in the afterward that the book was written pre-Covid, even though it feels like it was written during the pandemic. I recommend it.
12 reviews1 follower
March 1, 2023
Exciting Read

I don't always take the time to write a review but I find this book was worth my time. I enjoy a good apocalyptic or zombie book. This one was refreshingly different than the average books. I liked that it was action packed yet not as bleak and hopeless, as one would normally find in this subject. The characters were interesting and well written. I read the book straight through.
53 reviews1 follower
February 17, 2023
More than just a cool zombie book!

This absolutely wonderful story of not just a deadly virus but also about human stupidity and callous arrogance. The medical detail was on point, the characters were strong and either likable or made you want to punch them in the teeth, and the plot was more plausible than I want to think about. All in all, an excellent read!
Profile Image for Jody Schaefer.
79 reviews4 followers
April 28, 2023
I love this book

Kindle unlimited books can be very hit or miss but this one is amazing. There’s a couple errors or missing words but nothing extreme. The only thing it’s missing is a good audio version. I mean Alexa will read it for me but she’s not great at tone/inflection. If you’re on the fence about picking this book up do it. You might just love it as much as I did.
Profile Image for jedioffsidetrap.
772 reviews
dnf
October 8, 2023
dnf… A rich guy builds this freaky theme park based on a real zombie virus that was contained & then invites this virologist to rate how real it is? A worldwide vaccination program against the virus killed tens of millions? A kid staggers around obviously sick & dying and no one helps? All seem rather unlikely things to happen in the same world. Kookily dumb.
Profile Image for Meredith.
545 reviews31 followers
March 31, 2024
Fast-paced "zombie"-filled horror/thriller. I kind of wish this was longer because the ending felt a little rushed but overall I enjoyed this story. A horror/zombie-themed amusement park sounds like fun. This was sold to me as Jurassic Park but make it zombie/deadly virus instead and that's totally accurate.

Would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a quick read.
88 reviews4 followers
April 25, 2021
This was a pretty good book. More about a world changing virus and inoculation than a theme park. Read it in one day while at the hospital for an appendectomy. Got really good by the end of the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews

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