The Zombie Always Knocks Twice
E. Van Lowe
Hollyweird #1
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Imajin
Cover Artist: Ryan Doan
Kindle ebook: 978-1-926997-74-2
Trade paperback: 978-1-926997-81-0
Page Count: 177 pages
Synopsis:
Hollywood California, Swimming pools, movie stars… and now the risen dead
Hollywood can be a difficult place to grow up, especially if you’re Kristine Golden, a fifteen-year-old necromancer with a sworn duty to lay the risen dead back to rest and no desire to be in the movie business.
When handsome deadie Alex Romero swaggers into her life, Kris must keep her promise, despite her growing feelings for him. If that’s not enough to give a girl a headache, a murderous zombie comes knocking at Kris’ door, rocking her world and threatening her family.
Can Kris solve the mystery of the rampaging zombie before someone else winds up dead? Or will the walking dead take over Hollywood and turn it into… Hollyweird?
Excerpt
The man coming up the block toward
us in the hooded sweatshirt stopped directly in our path, about ten feet
away. The hood dropped revealing his
face. The hair on the left side of his
head had been shaved off revealing tiny bits of bony white scalp. Huge staples held his crooked jaw in
place. There was a large indentation in
his forehead from some sort of blunt force impact. His left eye was covered with a milky, white
cataract, and the right drooped unnaturally into his cheek.
My breath caught yet again. Standing before us was a zombie.
‘LEAVE US ALONE!” the zombie
screeched.
Then he took off on a dead
run and plowed into Alex with the impact a freight train.
Just
great, I thought. Hollyweird—where the dead come out to play.
Zombies aren’t what the movies make
them out to be—slow moving, brain dead, brain suckers. They’re the result of a raising gone
bad. They can be strong, and fast, and
very dangerous. Also, a bite from a
zombie won’t make you a member of the living dead, although I’m sure it must
hurt like hell.
The one that plowed into Alex was
almost six feet tall and about seventeen years old. He hit Alex with inhuman force, propelling
him backward. They slammed into a parked car that seemed to explode on impact. The twisting metal and shattering glass
sounded like a horrible automobile accident.
The car was totaled, and Alex was embedded into the passenger side, like
a toy soldier into a wad of Play Doh.
“Oh, God!” I screamed.
Alex’s eyes were closed. He wasn’t moving… but the zombie was. He peeled himself away from Alex and the
wreckage.
“Zombie!” I called at the top of my
lungs. “I command you to tell me who
raised you and what you are doing here.”
The zombie faced me, a puzzled look
on his distorted face. It dawned on me
he hadn’t known I was a necromancer until then—not that it made a
difference. He wasn’t bound to me so he
didn’t have to answer my questions. I
was bluffing.
“LEAVE US ALONE!” He screamed in
response. He started for me and a wave
of fear rippled my gut.
“I command you to stay back!” I called, but my voice was cracking, my words
lacked conviction. I took a few shaky
steps backward. The zombie continued
toward me.
Just then the sound of twisting
metal snagged both our attention. Alex’s
eyes were open, and he was separating himself from the wreckage. He shed the automobile with the ease of a
snake shedding an old skin. He began
advancing on the zombie.
“What’s going on down there?” We all looked up and saw three men, all
Johnny do-gooders, running up the block in our direction.
“Leave her alone,” one of them
called.
The zombie looked from the
advancing men to Alex and me.
“Hhhhh!” Hot breath hissed angrily at us. Then he took off past us like a deer,
bounding up the block. By the time the
men reached us he was nowhere in sight.
“You ok?” one of them asked.
“Yes. He… attacked us?”
“What the heck happened here?”
Another of the men asked. He was staring
at the twisted pile of metal that used to be a Buick.
Before I could open my mouth, Alex
launched into an explanation. “My girl
and I were out for a stroll, and he was taking a sledge hammer to that car when
we happened upon him. Guess it was some
kind of vendetta. And when he saw us he
decided to add us to the list.” The lie
flowed from his lips effortlessly.
“Hey, aren’t you on that TV show?”
the third man asked.
Alex smiled. “The
Beloved. Yes. You watch it?”
“No, but my girlfriend does. She can’t get enough of you vampire guys.”
Any suspicions the men may have had
about our presence on the street or Alex molesting me immediately
vanished. Alex was a bona fide Hollywood star. I
guess they thought all stars were boy scouts.
Where have they been?
Several minutes and three
autographs later the men were gone, and Alex and I were walking back to the
party.
“You told that lie like you do it
all the time,” I said.
“I’m a dead person among the
living. I do do it all the time.”
That wasn’t what I was talking
about, but I didn’t push it. He seemed
annoyed. I guess being attacked by a
zombie wasn’t an everyday occurrence for him either.
“If it makes you feel any better, I
memorized the car’s plate number. I’ll
take care of the damage,” he said, his words softening.
“Thanks. That does make me feel better.” I wanted to hold my tongue, but I couldn’t. “So, you have any enemies who’d want to send
a zombie after you?”
“I don’t have any enemies. I’m a lover not a fighter.” The annoyance was back.
“Maybe you loved the wrong woman.”
“I’m dead. I can’t love any woman,” he replied. The
words were seething with anger or pain.
I couldn’t tell which.
“He said ‘leave us alone.’ Who’s us?” I asked.
“I don’t know!”
He was getting agitated again so I dropped the
subject. But not without noting there
was more to Alex than he was telling me.
A vindictive zombie had been set loose in Hollywood.
It was something I needed to look into along with the deadie from the
diner. My, my, I was suddenly a very
busy girl.
The Zombie Always Knocks Twice by E. Van Lowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Background: Kris is a fifteen year old girl with some pretty weird powers, she is a necromancer and it is her duty to return those raised from the grave back to their peaceful state. This all seems fine normally, but trying to do this, deal with your father, and pass algebra II, it is getting frustrating.
Review: Such a fun read. kris is independent and strong, and trying to solve all life's problems way too soon in her own life. The book is fast paced and full of twists, surprises, a mystery, and drama that keeps the reader intrigued. Kris has a crazy friend that is always getting into trouble, meets a boy that is a TV star who needs her help, is dealing with a raised cheerleader, a zombie, and her father and sister acting nuts.... All of this made for great laughs and suspense. Looking forward to book 2.
View all my reviews
About the Author
E.
Van Lowe is an author, television writer, screen-writer, playwright and
producer who has worked on such TV shows as "The Cosby Show," "Even
Stevens," and "Homeboys In Outer Space."
He
has been nominated for both an Emmy and an Academy Award. His first YA
Paranormal novel, "Never Slow Dance With A Zombie," was a selection of
The Scholastic Book Club, and a nominee for an American Library
Association Award. His Best Selling novels, “Boyfriend From Hell” and
“Earth Angel,” are the first two books in the Falling Angels Saga. “The
Zombie Always Knocks Twice” is the first book in his Hollyweird series.
E
lives in Beverly Hills California with his spouse, a werewolf, several
zombies and a fairy godmother who grants him wishes from time-to-time.
Find The Author
Blog Tour Giveaway!
Open to US only.
10 Kindle copies of The Zombie
Always Knocks Twice
1Bewitching zombie prize pack
contains: zombie bag, zombie zone caution tape, fake brains in a meat container
(because what's a zombie prize pack without brains right), two rubber duckies,
a large bloody hand print sticker, Bat Bite hand sanitizer, Halloween theme
bottle stickers, a purple skull mug, and a Bewitching notebook, pen, and
necklace.
