Meredith and Heather Willis, only 10 months apart in age,
are as close as two sisters can be, until the death of
their father in a car crash that the girls refer to as "The
Incident." Unable to move on with any real lust for life,
both girls deal the best they can, each living their own
private hell. Life is routine, boring, painful,
dull...until a new neighbor moves in next door.
Adrien St. Germain has all the young girls' hearts racing
at their high school. Everyone, including Heather, is madly
in love with him. Everyone except for Meredith, who is
completely immune to his charms. Not only is Meredith not
drooling over the newcomer, she dislikes him on sight and
even feels there is something off about Adrien. Her
suspicions mount when she decides to spy on him. Meredith
gets a peak into the St. Germain's creepy cellar through an
uncovered window and the tiny bit she glimpses sends her
imagination into overdrive.
The thing is, it may not be Meredith's imagination at all
that's at work here. Could the reanimated dead have moved
to suburbia and settled in next door? Are the
disappearances in her small town linked in any way to her
dreamy new neighbor and his crazy mother who never leaves
the house? Meredith thinks yes, but she is the only one.
Heather accuses Meredith of trying to sabotage her newfound
happiness and her aunt is baking muffins for the
interlopers. With no one on her side and only her wits to
guide her, Meredith suits up to take on a zombie horde
before everything and everyone she holds dear is devoured
right before her eyes.
This was kind of a fun read, but Adrien and Marie (mom)
have a few too many brain cells for zombies approaching the
century mark. I was never sold that zombies could actually
intermingle with humans successfully. Of course, with all
the paranormal books and movies you have to let your
imagination run wild a little but the zombie characters
never really...came alive? Were fully fleshed out? Bad, bad
puns, but you get the idea. The book had some creepy
moments and is a page-turner though!
Meredith Willis is suspicious of Adrien, the new guy next
door. When she dares to sneak a look into the windows of
his house, she sees something in the cellar that makes her
believe that Adrien might be more than just a creep—he may
be an actual monster.
But her sister, Heather, doesn’t share Meredith’s
repulsion. Heather believes Adrien is the only guy who
really understands her. In fact, she may be falling in love
with him. When Adrien and Heather are cast as the leads in
the school production of Romeo and Juliet, to Heather, it
feels like fate. To Meredith, it feels like a bad omen. But
if she tries to tear the couple apart, she could end up in
the last place she’d ever want to be: the cellar. Can
Meredith convince her sister that she’s dating the living
dead before it’s too late for both of them?