I tried - repeatedly - to finish this book. I so wanted to like it - and it wasn't half bad for the first 20% or so (though the main character obsessing over wanting a shower in the middle of a crisis was extremely stupid). I plowed through another 10%, but started having major issues with Mike's hatred of women, mentally handicapped, the elderly, and gays. The way the author talks about women in the book makes you wonder what Tufo is like in real life. The random jokes and constant side comments were old, but I get what Tufo was trying to do, and I could deal with it (at one point Mike mentions that if you aren't from New England you aren't going to get his humor, and first of all, as an author you should be able to write so anyone will get your book, and two, I was born, raised, and currently live in Massachusetts).

I kept plowing, however, because this series has lots of fans and I do enjoy zombie books and would love to have a new series to read.

About halfway through the book I just had to give up, however - the author randomly switches the point of view from first person to third person, and then goes off on a huge tangent about Mike and his best friend which has NOTHING to do with the plot, and then spends page after page discussing bathroom smells in great detail.

As much as I wanted to give this book one star, I still have to give it two stars (even with the lack of finishing the book) because the story line clearly has a lot of premise to it. I do wish he had fleshed out the backstory more (I always want this) and Tufo definitely has to learn how to write women characters (well, he needs to learn how to write any non-prime-of-his-life male characters), but I did like the plot when Tufo was actually writing about the plot.