The second of a planned trilogy has the main characters Alex and Tom (who we find out is still alive), and some new 'mains' Lena and Chris, all following separate story lines that eventually converge on an old mine filled with the ravenous zombie-esque "Changed."
At times I found the constant shifting between narratives distracting, but overall the characters' fight for survival was riveting and often quite disgusting. The author Ilsa Bick is a native Wisconsinite, a Veteran of the US Military, and a former child psychologist. Her background in psychology really gave grit to her story; she obviously used it to help her writing brutally play with my emotions.
I'm still surprised that this book is geared towards the "YA" market; as an adult I was often shocked at the graphic descriptions of violence, sex, and even instances where characters feared they would be raped! But, in Bick's defense, I think her edgy writing would be attractive to many young men out there, especially since the YA market is glutted with books geared solely towards hormonal teenage girls. In that same vein the characters, while surrounded by chaos, are still strong and fight against it. It is awesome to see kick ass female leads who can give young women AND young men someone to look up to.

Of course, the book ends with a massive cliff hanger and I can't wait to finish the series. It was a mistake to read this on my meal breaks (not recommended). Hopefully we will find out soon when book three is expected.