Mandy Reviews: The Returners by John Bullock

ISBN #: 978-1471074738

Page Count: 172

Copyright: January 30, 2012

Publisher: Lulu.com

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

The last thing Tom Keighley remembered was nearly being hit by a car one grey, wet, Monday morning. That was nearly a hundred years ago. When he is plucked from a strange contraption in a mysterious building, Tom is thrown into the tiny village of Charles Brook, the last beacon of humanity known to exist in the world. Tom must find his place in the Brook, a village where the streets are so narrow that his shoulders touch the walls. A place where only the well armed or foolish go outside at night. A place where the high, thick wooden walls keep out the dead.

Mandy's Review:

First, some background info for you ...

The Returning was a major event where the Returners came and almost destroyed humanity 98 years before the time of this book. The characters use this event as a reference point in history, similar to the birth, life and death of Christ. The years are referred to as BR (Before the Returning) and AR (After the Returning).

A person automatically becomes a Returner less than a minute after they die. They're called a Returner because they return to life after their death, similar to that of a zombie.

This book was a little lackluster for me. The most exciting thing about it is when Tom awakened almost 100 years later than he remembered. From there the book seemed to be building to something that never happened.

The ending was disappointing as well. I thought I would become privy to a front row seat to a battle between settlements, but it never happened. Perhaps the author did this on purpose to make it a segue into a sequel. I say he should have made the book longer and included the battle in this book.

As it stands, The Returners is a tease: promising to be a great entertaining read but failing to deliver.


*Ebook was received from author in exchange for an honest review.