January 29, 2021
Mad World Post Five
Week 4, Day 5 – Mad World
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Release Date: January 3, 2015
Cover Design: Jimmy Gibbs
Formats: ebook, audiobook, and paperback – grab the ebook for just $0.99 for a limited time!
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Universal
Audible
Goodreads
When Vivian and Hadley find themselves in a situation even more threatening than the dead walking the Earth, Axl and Angus must find a way to put the growing tension between them aside and work together to save their friends.
RIP: Characters we lost in Mad World
Guys, we lose a lot of characters in this book! I had to pull up a list – thank God for One Drive because I still have my notes from when I was writing these books – and I was shocked by how many people die. (I know I shouldn’t have been considering my proclivity for killing off characters, but still.) So, here’s the list of people who died in this book:
Trey –
Sigh. I hated killing Trey because he was a nice guy, but I wanted to do something with Parvarti and it made sense that his death would be the catalyst for a big change in her. Trey had potential to really make it as a survivor. He was young and determined to learn, and had he made it farther, he would have been a big asset to the group. Unfortunately, he had to die.
Megan –
Jon risked everything to save his sister, including Vivian and Hadley’s lives, and it was all for nothing because as it turned out, Megan was dead before she left that casino. We never learn exactly what she went through in the Monte Carlo, but whatever happened, it was too much for Megan. I don’t think I planned to kill her off immediately, but I knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to bounce back from the trauma of her time in the Monte Carlo. It also made me think of the Hunger Games in a way. The series starts with Katniss going to the arena to save her sister, but because she goes to the games, she starts a fire that leads to a rebellion that ultimately kills her sister. Not that this is the same because Jon’s actions aren’t what leads to Megan’s death, but everything he does is in vain because his sister can’t be saved. Again, she was the catalyst to move the plot forward, but she was also just too damaged to add to the group. I felt like I had more than enough baggage to work with without adding her.
Jhett –
We don’t get to know Jhett very well before he dies, and you might not even remember him, so I’ll do a quick recap. We met him at Sam’s Club in Shattered World. He’s the teenager who was with Nathan’s group, and he’s on duty in the control room when the men from Vegas break in. He is definitely an example of a character who didn’t really inspire me that much, which was why he had to die.
Lexi AKA Dirty Blonde –
Vivian doesn’t have the best impression of Lexi when they meet at the Monte Carlo. She smells and she’s mean, and she’s very suspicious. But when Vivian needs help getting Megan out of the room, she enlists Lexi’s help. Because of her, they’re able to get Megan out of the Monte Carlo, and it earns Lexi her freedom as well. Unfortunately, she’s yet another casualty when the men from Vegas come knocking.
Arthur –
Arthur arrived with Winston’s group in Broken World where we found out he not only had cancer, but had lived long past the doctor’s projections. It doesn’t take long to realize he’s not in good health, but that doesn’t make his sacrifice any less heartbreaking. Still, because he throws himself at the zombies, the rest of the group is able to get to safety and formulate a plan.
Nathan –
A husband and father, he volunteered to go to Vegas and free the women trapped in the Monte Carlo even though he knew it was a risk. Unfortunately, he gets bitten as they’re leaving and forces the group to pull over and end things before he changes. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I would do with him when I wrote him in, but he ended up being kind of boring and I had better characters to work with, which was why he died. Sorry, Nathan.
The bad guys –
We see a lot of bad guys die in this book. Brad and Mitchell who get what they deserve after leading the men from Vegas back to the shelter. Tat, who gets a knife to the head courtesy of Axl, as well as lots of other men at the shelter and in the casino, including Hadley’s revenge. It’s a lot of death, but all of it is well deserved, and it had to happen to close this chapter of the story. There was no way the group could go on safely if they didn’t tie up every loose end in Vegas.
