Susanne Winnacker

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker was a fast and entertaining read. This is a YA dystopian story that has Sherry, the main character emerge from her family’s bunker after three years. She and her father are searching for food to keep themselves and the rest of the family going. Why were they living in an underground bunker? To keep themselves safe from the infected, zombie like people that roam the countryside.

Sherry and her father are attacked and her father is carried off while Sherry is saved by another survivor, Joshua. After the two of them rescue Sherry’s father and gather the rest of her family, Joshua takes them to Safe Haven, where a group of survivors are living. Unfortunately by the end of the book, Safe Haven isn’t safe anymore and Sherry and her friends must find somewhere else to live. Also rumors reach them that there could be a cure for this zombie-like disease but that the government is keeping it to themselves while they study the effects of the disease with the idea of using it to develop indestructible soldiers.

While the book ended abruptly and definitely with a cliff-hanger, I did enjoy the story and look forward to reading the next book to see what is going to happen to these survivors next. Of course, being a YA book, there was an immediate romance between Sherry and Joshua, which I would have preferred developed a little more slowly, but after being locked up for three years in a bunker, I guess any teenager would fall for the first likely candidate.… (more)