Steven W. Booth

4.5 Stars Review copy

Penelope Jean Miller, Sheriff of Flat Rock County, Nevada, is back and still fighting to stay alive, but this time Penny is fighting more than zombies. She and her rag-tag band of zombie fighters are also trying to remain one step ahead of the people who caused the disaster in the first place.

The Hungry 5 - All Hell Breaks Loose delivers. The fun starts in the prologue and continues right through to the shocking conclusion.

Steven W. Booth and Harry Shannon continue to show more breath life into the zombie sub-genre. "Miller approached and spotted a long-dead female behind the wheel. She appeared to have gotten stuck somehow, perhaps when she'd run out of gas and couldn't reach the pump. She had an old rusty pistol in her lap. Miller guessed she had been bitten and then shot herself in the head to keep from coming back. She was wearing a nightgown and wore green, plastic curlers in her blood-splattered hair. Her mouth was open and flies had laid eggs within it. The corpse was not fully decayed. The odor of decay was now faint but still nauseating."

With old friends and new characters, the writers manage to keep things comfortable yet fresh and of course there is still the sexual tension between Penny and Scratch.

Once again, it's not necessary to read all the previous books in the series, but why miss out on all the fun. Will there be more books in the series? I've heard there will be, but once you read The Hungry 5 - All Hell Breaks Loose you will find yourself wondering how they'll manage to pull that off.

The Hungry 5 - All Hell Breaks Loose is available now from Genius Book Publishing though Amazon.com.

A fun read I can highly recommend. show less

*gasp*
Oh my god!! I was hooked from the freaking PROLOGUE...

At a military base in Nevada, a totally creeptastic guy, Lieutenant Albert is running some WICKED scary tests on, you know... humans... and ends up unleashing the WALKING DEAD after one of his "test subjects" reanimates on the autopsy table and bites an officer who then decided it BEST not to tell anyone what happened...

Sheriff Penny Miller- aka: the biggest, badass chick EVER, is sitting in her little office, when her deputy places show more a frantic call to her- claiming that ZOMBIES are decimating the town! Well, she's now concerned that her deputy is armed and on patrol... Drunk as a skunk. UNTIL she sees the masses of undead swarming the station as he tries to make it to safety.

Ever the "responsible" type, she goes to let the PRISONERS out of their cells- because she can't, in good consciousness, leave them there to be attacked by zombies! Four of them try and leave the jail before they realize it's a lost cause... And barricade themselves inside to fight the zombies off and wait them out! Only TWO survive the night.

Penny barely makes it through the wreckage of her once quaint little town, to her EX-husbands house. She's hardly ALIVE, and wondering how she'll even make it from the car to the front door when she hears her ex-husband's voice... Asking her 20 freaking questions!! To which she answers,

"I'm in a moderate level of distress at the moment." God I freaking LOVE this woman and her ability to take sarcasm to a whole new level!

Terrell Lee nurses her back to health and tells her he's ready to head out of town ASAP. Penny is clad in NOTHING but a Cowboys t-shirt... So it's that, or take her chances with whatever is in the mystery box that ex-hubby pulled out of the garage! She opens the box, only to find... wait for it... HER FREAKING WEDDING DRESS! (At this point... I am DYING...) Apparently the dress was the only thing he felt was worth saving from their divorce- she is HORRIFIED!

"I can't go out and do me some undead murdering while dressed like a red-state bitch on a reality show!"

They face biker gangs, the army, a crazy scientific creep... during the freaking zombie apocalypse... and she's panty-less the ENTIRE time, WEARING her freaking wedding dress! Come on, it just does NOT get better than this! They find help where I never would have expected, and I think I have a crush on Scratch. ;)

The Hungry is so FULL OF AWESOME, that I can't even describe it! It's action-packed from the first PAGE and oozing with witty, fabulous dialogue! This book defines Laugh Out Loud funny... often inappropriate, rude and utterly epic sarcasm from a completely rock your face off chick!

Read this... Read this NOW! You won't be sorry! show less

You would think after three other entries in this series it might start to get a bit tedious. Not so at all. The writers continue to breath life into the Penny Miller saga, this time taking the action to the California coastline where the threat of zombies is little more than the occasional rumor.

At the outset, it's just Penny Miller, the former Sheriff of Flat Rock, Nevada and her boyfriend, Scratch trying to keep a low profile. If you've read any of the previous books in the series, you show more already know that can't last long.

I was excited to get my hands on The Hungry 4: Rise of the Triad. It was akin to being on a crash diet for six months and stumbling onto a bag of Halloween candy left unattended. It might not be good for you, but it sure tastes sweet.

I love how the story gets right to the action, "The woman moved like a heat-seeking missile. She closed the gap, lifter her bloody hands, reached out, and grabbed Carlos by the sides of his head. She leaned closer in, as if to kiss him on the lips. Alex felt queasy. It was on." It certainly was.

There were several plot twists that allowed us to get away from the incessant onslaught of zombies, oh there are still plenty of zombies, just that it's not ALL zombies, ALL the time, which I found refreshing. Plus, there are characters and places that I thought were gone forever, but are back in book 4 and the explanations are quite acceptable.

One thing I found missing in book three was the snarky dialog from Penny Miller. Well, it's back. Stuff like, "We have to careful as a virgin with a vibrator." And, "They were both as dead as Lindsay Lohan's acting acting career." As well as many not suitable for this review. Did I mention The Hungry 4: Rise of the Triad is recommended for a mature audience?

The official release date is Friday, September 20th, but I see it available now as a paperback and for the Kindle at Amazon.com. It's not 100% required that you read the first three books in the series to enjoy The Hungry 4: Rise of the Triad, but you're missing out of some great zombie fun, if you don't.

I absolutely give my highest recommendation to this one. Will there be a book 5? I think the authors already have the story idea, it all depends on if the interest in the series continues to grow and I don't see why not. Enjoy! show less

Review copy

When last we left our intrepid zombie fighters, Sheriff Penny Miller, her sometime lover, Scratch, Captain Karl Sheppard, Rolf and the cadaver dog Dudley, the group had been heading down the highway in a stolen police cruiser.

In the epilogue of The Hungry 5: All Hell Breaks Loose, we are led to believe that same cruiser is taken out by a missile launched from a drone following the cruiser.

I figured that could very well be the end of one of my favorite zombie series, but thanks to show more some creative thinking, authors Steven W. Booth and Harry Shannon are back with book six. Good news for fans of this entertaining set of books.

In The Hungry 6: The Rule of Three the objective is to find and eliminate the Triad, the three masterminds behind the program that caused the zombie apocalypse and now plan to use their mistake to do the unthinkable.

Once again, Sheriff Miller and what is left of her friends are in the thick of things. "Thirty-six hours was barely long enough to complete her assignment . It was finally here, the end game. It meant the eradication of the United States, and perhaps all of North America if things went as planned."

Returning to this series was like putting on a set of warm gloves on a bitter Winter day. Sheriff Penny Miller, Queen of the snarky dialogue is back in form. Scratch is as surly and protective as ever. Rolf is still a bit out there, although we learn much more of his story and he contributes in a big way. And then there are the zombies...lots of zombies.

"A little girl in a pink Disney costume with a golden plastic tiara emerged from the mob. Her black hair was disheveled, little brown eyes rolled back, little mouth and lips attacking the air like sea creature suction on the smeared wall of an uncleaned fish tank. Miller shot her through the head without a second thought."

If you've never read any of the Sheriff Penny Miller Saga, you really ought to start at the beginning and read them all, even though the authors do their best to make this a complete story that stands well on it's own.

From Genius Book Publishing, The Hungry 6: The Rule of Three, is available now for the Kindle from Amazon.com.

I you're a fan of zombie lit, don't hesitate to read this series, and if you've been reading these stories all along then I know you want to see how it all ends...or does it?

Definitely recommended. show less