Book Review, UK Giveaway & Apoc Love Interview: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

When Sherry's family runs out of food, Sherry and her father venture out of their bunker to search for more. Unfortunately, Los Angeles is now overrun with Weepers, people infected by a mutated rabies virus. Sherry is saved from certain doom by Joshua and meets up with fellow survivors. Despite the dire circumstances, Sherry longs for vestiges of her Other Life, things such as a good meal, sunbathing and a chance at romance.

Probably my favorite part of the novel was the morbid humor.  You have a ton of creepy, scary action oriented scenes with our main characters fleeing the Weepers (zombies, basically), but then you get these funny asides that help balance out the tension.  

Joshua is the love interest, but action is more the selling point than romance.  He's the tough survivor type with a hidden vulnerability, and Sherry seems to fall for him mostly due to proximity.  But hey, in a Weeper world, beggars can't be choosers. (That's not to say they don't have some great scenes together - they do.)

Also? Loved the ending.  It introduced a great twist which I think will take the next book in an exciting new direction.

And because Susanne is an Apocalypsie, we also get an Apocalypsies Love interview today! Susanne tells us what she especially loves about her book.

What is your favorite scene in the book?
Well, my favorite is a scene with Joshua and Sherry close to the end of the book (on the roof) because it is so emotional but I don’t want to give away too much about it. ;)

And I love all the scary scenes. They’re fun to write and I like to scare my readers!


What is your favorite line in the book?
My favorite line is from the scene I mentioned above, so I’ll keep it to myself but I’ll give you my second favorite line: “As far as she knew, Grandpa had spent the last six months happily in heaven and not rock-hard next to our frozen peas.”

I love it because it’s so morbid. Scary, morbid and creepy – that’s what I like!

The US cover is quite scary, morbid and creepy.

Ha - that was my favorite line for sure. What setting was most fun to write?
The bunker Sherry and her family spent the last three years in. It was fun describing the oppressive atmosphere and showing what it did to everyone. No sunlight, no wind, no sky; only the same bleak walls every day.


Who is your favorite supporting character - one you could see getting a spin-off book - and why?
Tyler. He’s only a few years older than Sherry but he’s already gone through many horrible things in his life and it would be fun to explore his character further. It would probably be a dark and sad book for the most part but definitely fascinating to write.


What has been your favorite part of your publishing journey so far?
Getting a glimpse behind the scenes. Before the deal, publishing and the people in it were a bit of an enigma to me. I love working with people (my editor, copy-editor, publicity department etc) who love books as much as I do and who work hard to create the best book possible. I’ve grown so much in the short time I’ve been working with them.

Thanks Susanne!

THE OTHER LIFE is out now in the UK and due in May in the US. Find out more about the series at the author's website.  Check out Susanne's THE OTHER LIFE preview interview from last Dystopian August. 

Curtesy of Usborne, I have two finished copies of THE OTHER LIFE up for grabs to residents of the UK.  To enter, fill out this form by Feb 24, 2012 at 11:59 pm GMT.

See index of all dystopian reviews on Presenting Lenore

FTC disclosure: I received this book from the publisher.