Deadlocked 3 - Review

Deadlocked 3 (Deadlocked, # 3)

By: AR Wise

Genre: Horror, Zombies

Source: Borrowed from my SNL, Holly @ Words Fueled by Love

( Goodreads | Amazon Currently $2.99 )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The Deadlocked series continues as Billy heads into the city in search of his mother. During his quest, he will meet a strident military figure that will alter his journey and two brothers that will become his closest allies. However, his trip will endanger the family he has only just met, and he might not be able to save them.

Billy's journey into the city will reveal many of the secrets of this penultimate novella. No characters are safe from the terror that has engulfed the city, and as the motives of those in charge begin to be revealed, the fate of all mankind will be in question.

Keeping with AR Wise's pattern for the Deadlocked series, Deadlocked 3 switches from Laura's POV to Billy. Billy is leaving Laura and the girls at the docks and heading into the city to find his mother. Billy's story and Laura's story (Deadlocked 2) actually take place simultaneously unlike Laura and David's story (Deadlocked) where Laura picks up where David left off.

Billy's a likable character. He's a good guy, and he's trying to hold onto that through this horrible new world he's found himself in, yet it's practically impossible when there are enemies on every side. And to be truthful, Billy isn't even sure who all his enemies are. It's kill or be killed. And Billy has to do what it takes to survive and make it back to the docks where Laura and the girls are.

The thing that I like about this series by AR Wise is that the characters don't just have everything handed to them because they're the main characters. Sometimes the main characters die. But situations like shooting a pad lock don't always work out for the main characters of Deadlocked. And truthfully you just never really know what will happen.

I did find Deadlocked 3 to be very much less gruesome than Deadlocked 2. Laura's story was brutal. And in some ways it seemed like Billy had it a lot easier than she did. But at the same time, not every character's experiences will be the same. Of course, like the other stories, Billy comes across other characters who have all kinds of intentions.

I wasn't sure about the addition of Levon and Mark. Levon seemed to be a play on a stereotype which I typically get annoyed with, but Mark balances him out I think. And then there's Captain Reagan who we're told will play an crucial part in Deadlocked 4.

As with the other books, I enjoyed the author's notes at the end. AR Wise explains his thinking process in a way that gives more meaning to the series. I sometimes wish all authors would do the same thing. There are just so many thousands of decisions authors make throughout the writing process that make the stories into more than they appear on the surface.

Deadlocked 3 does have a ton of cursing. There are f-bombs left and right. While I understand this is the apocalypse and people probably aren't all concerned about their language, I don't see everyone in the world suddenly developing a need to drop f-bombs like this. This also falls into one of my frustrations with authors who don't differentiate enough between characters. Not every character thinks, talks, or acts the same way. And I think a lot of times authors fall into the trap of writing only characters who behave and speak exactly the way the author themselves think, act, and speak. I imagine it's difficult to make each character unique in all aspects, but this is one that is important to me. While AR Wise's characters definitely have distinct personalities, I have picked up on them having too similar (for my taste) speech patterns.

All in all, I'd give Deadlocked 3 3.5 stars. It's a really solid zombie read, but not as intense as Deadlocked 1 or 2. Have you read Deadlocked 3? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my "All Things Halloween" October review event.