Z-Boat(Z-Boat Book 1) by Suzanne Robb
Permuted Press, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1-61868-2-345
Available: Trade paperback, multiformat ebook edition (Kindle,Nook, Smashwords, Kobo)
Experienced submarine captain Brian Kingston has accepted a search and rescue mission– a simple enough job for him and his crew. The huge payoff– half up front and half upon completion– is enough to silence any warning thoughts. The target is The Peacemaker, one of the most impressive submarines in any fleet, that is essentially an underwater laboratory. A distress call had gone out from the scientists inside, sent to study decayed things underwater, and Kingston’s orders are to find The Peacemaker, obtain an unidentified item and collect any survivors.
The idea behind Z–Boat was really cool. In addition to the events of the rescue mission, the personality conflicts and intensity of emotions in a closed environment built up the tension, and I wondered how the story would play out in the submarine. While the action was fast-paced, it didn’t feel like the story took off until well into the book. Too much time was devoted to setup and background: I wanted to get on the zombie sub long before the author let me.
The description was well-done, and the characters Robb developed were interesting, although there were so many characters that occasionally they blended together for me. The biggest issue is that the book needs editing. There are multiple instances of missing words and odd turns of phrase that really made it tough for me to get into the story. There were also a couple of instances where the captain’s name, Brian, was misspelled as “Brain”: funny and ironic but not appropriate. Overall, Z-Boat is an okay read with an interesting scenario that needs a bit more work. I have not read this author’s work in the past.
Contains: Gore, Swearing
Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher
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