Sick by Tom Leveen

 Sick by Tom Leveen

What is it about?

"Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They're the misfits and the troublemakers - the only ones who regularly jump their high school's electric fence to skip class. So when the virus breaks out, they're the only ones with a chance of surviving.                                                                                                        The virus turns their classmates and teachers into blood thirsty attackers who don't die easily. The whole school goes on lockdown and the military surrounds the fence, but Brian and his best friend, Chad, are safe (and stuck) in the theatre department - far from Brian's sister and his ex-girlfriend with a panic attack problem.                                                                                      Brian and Chad, along with some of the theatre kids who Brian never gave the time of day to before, decide to find the girls and bring them back to the safety of the theatre. But it won't be easy, and it will test everything they thought they knew about themselves and their classmates." - The blurb of the book.

How did I come across the book?

I entered myself into a competition to win the book, and luckily I won.

What did I think?

Spoiler Alert

Firstly, a virus being set off making people into bloodthirsty unrecognisable 'zombies' isn't a very new concept. But Leeven seems to make it his own. He gives these characters more than just what's happening to them in this one book, we know about their pasts and what they want for the future. Because of this wonderful 3-Dimensional writing I was able to understand and not only sympathise but empathise with the diverse characters. For example, we know that in every apocalyptic story people panic, it's usually a shocking and scary plot, but so we readers ever think about those who already have existing issues? How do the people with cancer deal with zombies, or the people in wheel chairs or whose with a mental illness? Well this book briefly touches on this as Brian's ex-girlfriend Laura has an anxiety issue that is very real and very serious so it makes the whole realism of the novel more believable. The fact his sister is a cancer patient in remisson really tugged at those heart-strings as well giving the readers one more reason to route for these characters.

One part about the characters I didn't particular like was how many were introduced at once, I kept on getting Travis and Jamie mixed up in my head and Chad and Hollis, Jack and Dave, Cammy and Laura and so on. I found it a little confusing at first to wrap my head around.

A superb aspect was the great description. I have never been to America, or seen a real American school and so I don't know how these theatres in Ameican schools work but from this book I could very clearly see everything in my mind from the screw drivers to the huge landscape from the roof top.

Contrasting this great description I'd like to comment on how unbelievable parts of the story were;

there was the ending which was so abrupt and with little - very very little - conclusion, there was the 'coincidence' of the fact Laura had finally got her courage.. when there were hundreds of zombies after her.. and she was all alone.. with no food or medication. To me that just seemed to scream laziness on Tom Leeven's behalf. From this I was torn between the thought that this is encouraging to people with mental illness' as it proves that people can get rid of them, or that it was insulting to people with mental illness' as it makes their issue look so minimal and insignificant.

The love story was quite realistic in my eyes, I can see how someone with an illness can be too hard to be with, I do understand that, I don't see Brian as a selfish character because he found Laura too stressful for him and he wanted her to focus on herself, but it wasn't like he stopped being there for her, I mean they did remain friends. I liked this love story because I think Leeven look a risk doing something that makes the audience possibly hate the protagonist, and for that I admire him because it means we take the good parts of Brian and are happy and the bad parts of him - which makes him better to understand and relate to.

Overall, I think that this book was an okay read. I did find myself flicking through the pages with the hunger for the next chapter. I had considerable amounts of gore, which was ugly but in that evil fascinating way. I loves the relationship between Chad and Brian - they were my favourite pair in the book.

I would recommend this book to people who love a bit of suspense and a set of characters who are believable. If you don't like books that [ don't have a very conclusive ending then this book isn't for you.

Characters; 4/5 starts
Narrative; 3/5 stars
Literature; 3/5 stars
Overall; 3/5 stars

Websites for this book

Websites that look into this book; (right click to open)
Sick Official Site
Goodreads - Sick

Websites that sell the book;

Waterstones