✍ Suckers - Z. Rider

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published 17 February 2015 by Dark Ride Publishing
Number of pages: 330

My rating: ★ ★  It was OK

"WHEN WORN-OUT MUSICIAN DAN FERRY decides to take a shortcut back to the band's hotel, he picks the wrong dark alley to go down. Within days of being attacked by a bat-like creature, he becomes consumed with the need to drink human blood. Terrified of what will happen if he doesn't get his fix--and terrified of what he'll do to get it--he turns to his best friend and bandmate, Ray Ford, for help. But what the two don't know as they try to keep Dan's situation quiet is that the parasite driving Dan's addiction has the potential to wipe out humankind.

Poignant and terrifying, heartfelt and ingenious, Suckers is a story of sacrifice and friendship in the face of an alien contagion that threatens to destroy humanity."

"Suckers" is the first novel by Zoe Rider - a horror tale.

I liked Zoe's writing style, and I thought the story had a lot of potential.



I felt that the first third of the book was far too slow, with far too detailed descriptions of every action made by the protagonists.

The second third was more interesting, with better pace.

Unfortunately the final third took a funny turn which led to an abrupt ending for the the main characters and a resolution for the main story line totally rushed and squashed into an epilogue.

I have read that the author felt the book was about the two main characters, and not actually about the wider issues surrounding them, hence she had envisaged the ending as it played out.
Unfortunately that simply did not work for me, and this work felt overall unsatisfying for me, hence the "It was OK" final verdict.
I felt that, if the story was just about the two main characters, at least the title of the book should have been different. But there is more than that to it... it felt as if, after the slow start, things would unfold to epic proportions or to earth shattering truths... unfortunately they didn't, and the story just ended.

I look forward to read further works from this author, I just hope they are going to be better paced and constructed, as I truly see a real sparkle within Z. Rider.

[ARC received via Netgalley]

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About the Author

Z. Rider grew up in New Hampshire and lives in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, where she spends most of her time in a windowless basement basking in the glow of computer screens, except when she's out on the deck swing reading a book, or running off to catch a concert somewhere.

"Suckers" is her first horror novel. Two more are slated to follow: "Insylum" on June 23, 2015, and "Man Made Murder" (book one of the Blood Road trilogy) on October 13, 2015.

Z. believes that fear is a powerful and universal emotion, that our fears are inexorably bound to all that we stand to lose—from the mundane to the things we hold most precious. That’s the horror Z most enjoys reading; that’s the horror she strives to write.

Z. Rider spent her formative years hanging out in billiard halls, rec rooms, and wherever else she could find a pool table—not that it’s made her an especially good player, but it is great for shutting up the noise in her head. She used to test air-to-ground missiles for the Air Force. And she enjoys being crammed against the front of a stage in small, dark clubs across the Southeast while her favorite hard-working, underrated bands kill her over and over with their music.

Find Z Rider on Facebook, Twitter or on her own website