The book starts off with a pretty decent action scene which gets your attention. The action is described using short bursts of sentences, not long and overburdened with excessive detail. Some people like too much detail but I like a smooth read where I don’t need Google translator for the big words (yes I’m literate, but like I said I enjoy fun, smooth reads.)

The dialogue, the important part, is VERY believable and even the characters thoughts come out as believable. By that I mean the dialogue is something that you’d most likely actually hear, not contrived. The dialogue and character interactions are true-to-life and sometimes disturbing. Its a sad fact that kids can get tormented emotionally by peers and I love how the book chronicles both the main story and the characters lives without creating havoc. The characters develop just enough to pull you in, and they make those hard choices that, in reality, would most likely occur. For instance, if facing a monster and hanging over a cliff would you A) get eaten B) let go and fall?

The teens act and behave just as real teens do, and if you don’t have kids you might not get into this aspect. When dealing with monsters its important to have as much realism as possible which leads to the chills and furrowed brow. As you read, the pages are filled with the thoughts of the characters so that you can follow the story from your perspective AND theirs. It was like a fantasy rendition of The Breakfast Club at times. Not in a boring way, but in an interactive way.

The first action scene is followed up by a surprise action scene which was more like a gift because most books go from the initial action to the story line. This book went from action to story line/action and it didn’t let up for awhile.

THERE ARE TWISTS and they start on page 15. Where did the girl go? Actually, her showing up alive was the first twist. After all that, you expect her to ‘turn’ and eat hospital people but you get….a twist. They aren’t complicated twists, only fun. You don’t have to do a lot of thinking or figuring out, not those kind of twists, but twists where you THINK the story will keep heading one way and then it goes “nope” and suddenly turns you to the right a bit…then the left….then straight then to the right again. Its crazy how much i loved this read.

It keeps you engaged because you HAVE to know what is happening. The first chapter didn’t seem to stop. It was so full of action that I literally couldn’t even stop to answer my door. Whomever it was can come back. I was at the diner scene and not stopping.

So basically, short and easy to digest writing style. True and believable dialogue. Wonderfully detailed without over-use of big words or redundant fight scenes. It reminded me a bit of Lord of the Flies versus Silver Bullet but only way cooler. For whatever reason, i couldn’t physically stop reading until the 3rd chapter