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kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
First in the Revivalist horrifying urban fantasy series based in San Diego and revolving around Bryn Davis, a former soldier who takes a job working in a mortuary.
I'd have given it a "3", but there was just too much lame action and inconsistencies on the part of the female protagonist. If you're feeling uncritical and in need of some horror, you might enjoy this.
My Take
Oh, yuck! Actually, it is well-written...hey, it's Rachel Caine! My objection is to yet another stupid female protagonist. Bryn's been in the army, in Iraq. She talks about being under fire and waddling into dangerous situations lumbered down by pounds of weapons, vests, ammo, etc. About having been trained in urban warfare. Why then is she so stupid when she gets out of the army? Er...duh...maybe that's the real reason she left.
Then there's her childhood background. I'd'a thought Bryn would be a lot more savvy, instead, she behaves more like a suburban highschooler. Just pathetic. Loose thread there, Caine, at the end, why isn't Bry asking or wondering about Mr. French? He's certainly been on her mind every other time. Although, her reaction to her situation and those who, um, caused it, is realistic. Actually, she's a lot nicer than I would have been!
Then there's the basic premise behind this series. Oh, yuck. This may technically be urban fantasy, but to my mind, it's horror! A drug that brings people back to life with hidden command protocols. A drug that the newly revived must take daily for the rest of their unnatural, undead life. That's scary enough, but then there's the romance between two of the protagonists---one's undead and the other is not. Every time I imagined this---of course, it didn't help with Caine describing what happens if the undead person goes more than a few days without the drug---I just got all kinds of nasty, squidgy, ick feelings.
The activities in this story just don't seem well thought-out. Pharmadene spends a ton of money so Bryn can be very comfortably "undercover", but they moan and groan about the cost of the shot. Nor do I see how Harte could build up her little army without someone noticing. I have a hard time buying McCallister as player or man-whore. Sure, Caine is using the words, but she ain't making me buy into it. Nor am I buying Bryn letting her little sister hang out. She knows the kind of danger she's in and she doesn't consider that her sister may be used as leverage?? Just too contrived.
This is a cold bunch of people even though I do understand their reasoning. I probably will read Two Weeks' Notice if only out of morbid curiosity.
The Story
Bryn's paid her dues. She got her college education with some help from the army. Now she may be surrounded by dead people, but at least she's not the one making them dead. Anymore. Only, Bryn discovers how wrong she is. Her first day on the job and everything falls apart.
The only way McCallister can justify providing Bryn with the shot is if she helps them find out who is stealing the drug and selling it on the black market. Whoever it is, he's good, but it's one betrayal after another with Bryn's very iffy future ahead of her.
The Characters
Bryn Davis is a 26-year-old woman starting her first day on the job. A real job with a proper office and crisp, new business cards! At the Fairview Mortuary. Mr. French is her very protective pet bulldog. Annalie is her flaky sister. Considering how much she battens off her sister, she's amazingly judgmental.
Mr. Fairview is the fourth generation to run Fairview Mortuary. A very elegant, classy gentleman whom Bryn looks up to. Fast Freddy Watson is the creepy restoration man and Lucy is the very knowledgeable receptionist. Riley Block is a choice find! And she's really great at her embalming job with her own deep secrets.
Patrick McCallister is in charge of Pharmadene's security and is playing his own endgame. He's got one helluva past. Liam is his butler, er, I mean, his trust administrator. Irene Harte is McCallister's bitch of a boss. Cold and arrogant, she has lots of plans which her co-workers won't appreciate. Joe Fideli first shows up as a potential client for the mortuary, but quickly reveals his more decisive side. That semiauto in his hand is kind of a giveaway. I liked him. He's happily married to Kylie and they have three kids: Jeff, Harry, and baby Juliet. And, yeah, Kylie knows all about his type of security.
Pharmadene is a pharmaceutical company which has inadvertently discovered Returné, a drug that will bring people back from the dead. They keep tabs on every aspect of every employee's life right up and beyond death. What happens to Violetta Sampson certainly puts things in perspective. Jonathan Mercer and Sams created the drug. Sams is dead and Mercer is on the run.
Manny Glickman is a brilliant and excessively paranoid scientist who is something of a sociopath. He does, however, have a couple of saving graces. Pansy Taylor certainly seems to think so.
The Cover
At first glance, the cover appears to be situated in a palace with its high arching window bracketed by pillars, the old stone floor, a darker stone forming the wainscoting, and wallpaper peeling away from the upper wall. But then you notice the arched iron doors on either side. Just the right height for a fancy burial vault. That's just the background. Bryn herself has a cocky pose, legs braced as wide as her tight black skirt allows, hands on hips, and her long blonde hair lifting in a breeze. She's in three-quarter profile with her head turned to look out at us. One determined lady.
The title sums it all up. Bryn is most definitely a Working Stiff in every sense of the word.
I'd have given it a "3", but there was just too much lame action and inconsistencies on the part of the female protagonist. If you're feeling uncritical and in need of some horror, you might enjoy this.
My Take
Oh, yuck! Actually, it is well-written...hey, it's Rachel Caine! My objection is to yet another stupid female protagonist. Bryn's been in the army, in Iraq. She talks about being under fire and waddling into dangerous situations lumbered down by pounds of weapons, vests, ammo, etc. About having been trained in urban warfare. Why then is she so stupid when she gets out of the army? Er...duh...maybe that's the real reason she left.
Then there's her childhood background. I'd'a thought Bryn would be a lot more savvy, instead, she behaves more like a suburban highschooler. Just pathetic. Loose thread there, Caine, at the end, why isn't Bry asking or wondering about Mr. French? He's certainly been on her mind every other time. Although, her reaction to her situation and those who, um, caused it, is realistic. Actually, she's a lot nicer than I would have been!
Then there's the basic premise behind this series. Oh, yuck. This may technically be urban fantasy, but to my mind, it's horror! A drug that brings people back to life with hidden command protocols. A drug that the newly revived must take daily for the rest of their unnatural, undead life. That's scary enough, but then there's the romance between two of the protagonists---one's undead and the other is not. Every time I imagined this---of course, it didn't help with Caine describing what happens if the undead person goes more than a few days without the drug---I just got all kinds of nasty, squidgy, ick feelings.
The activities in this story just don't seem well thought-out. Pharmadene spends a ton of money so Bryn can be very comfortably "undercover", but they moan and groan about the cost of the shot. Nor do I see how Harte could build up her little army without someone noticing. I have a hard time buying McCallister as player or man-whore. Sure, Caine is using the words, but she ain't making me buy into it. Nor am I buying Bryn letting her little sister hang out. She knows the kind of danger she's in and she doesn't consider that her sister may be used as leverage?? Just too contrived.
This is a cold bunch of people even though I do understand their reasoning. I probably will read Two Weeks' Notice if only out of morbid curiosity.
The Story
Bryn's paid her dues. She got her college education with some help from the army. Now she may be surrounded by dead people, but at least she's not the one making them dead. Anymore. Only, Bryn discovers how wrong she is. Her first day on the job and everything falls apart.
The only way McCallister can justify providing Bryn with the shot is if she helps them find out who is stealing the drug and selling it on the black market. Whoever it is, he's good, but it's one betrayal after another with Bryn's very iffy future ahead of her.
The Characters
Bryn Davis is a 26-year-old woman starting her first day on the job. A real job with a proper office and crisp, new business cards! At the Fairview Mortuary. Mr. French is her very protective pet bulldog. Annalie is her flaky sister. Considering how much she battens off her sister, she's amazingly judgmental.
Mr. Fairview is the fourth generation to run Fairview Mortuary. A very elegant, classy gentleman whom Bryn looks up to. Fast Freddy Watson is the creepy restoration man and Lucy is the very knowledgeable receptionist. Riley Block is a choice find! And she's really great at her embalming job with her own deep secrets.
Patrick McCallister is in charge of Pharmadene's security and is playing his own endgame. He's got one helluva past. Liam is his butler, er, I mean, his trust administrator. Irene Harte is McCallister's bitch of a boss. Cold and arrogant, she has lots of plans which her co-workers won't appreciate. Joe Fideli first shows up as a potential client for the mortuary, but quickly reveals his more decisive side. That semiauto in his hand is kind of a giveaway. I liked him. He's happily married to Kylie and they have three kids: Jeff, Harry, and baby Juliet. And, yeah, Kylie knows all about his type of security.
Pharmadene is a pharmaceutical company which has inadvertently discovered Returné, a drug that will bring people back from the dead. They keep tabs on every aspect of every employee's life right up and beyond death. What happens to Violetta Sampson certainly puts things in perspective. Jonathan Mercer and Sams created the drug. Sams is dead and Mercer is on the run.
Manny Glickman is a brilliant and excessively paranoid scientist who is something of a sociopath. He does, however, have a couple of saving graces. Pansy Taylor certainly seems to think so.
The Cover
At first glance, the cover appears to be situated in a palace with its high arching window bracketed by pillars, the old stone floor, a darker stone forming the wainscoting, and wallpaper peeling away from the upper wall. But then you notice the arched iron doors on either side. Just the right height for a fancy burial vault. That's just the background. Bryn herself has a cocky pose, legs braced as wide as her tight black skirt allows, hands on hips, and her long blonde hair lifting in a breeze. She's in three-quarter profile with her head turned to look out at us. One determined lady.
The title sums it all up. Bryn is most definitely a Working Stiff in every sense of the word.
kat7890erina's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
It took me a while to suspend some of my disbelief, but I got there.
Bryn is ex-military and just starting out a new role in a mortuary until she unfortunately finds herself dead, resurrected, and hooked on a daily nano-shot to keep her in the land of the living. I know, it's wild.
Anyway, if you like a paranormal romance adventure, give it a go.
It took me a while to suspend some of my disbelief, but I got there.
Bryn is ex-military and just starting out a new role in a mortuary until she unfortunately finds herself dead, resurrected, and hooked on a daily nano-shot to keep her in the land of the living. I know, it's wild.
Anyway, if you like a paranormal romance adventure, give it a go.
beckels9's review against another edition
2.0
I would've really liked it, but the romance parts felt really jarring. I've always hated it when heroines ignore really pressing matters to make out. It's just so unreal and annoying.
knittyalex423's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
devansbooklife's review against another edition
2.0
Bryn Davis was killed on the first day of her job. She accidentally found out her new boss was selling a drug that could reanimate a corpse and it cost her. When she wakes up revived she finds herself working for the pharmaceutical company that created the drug, trying to find out how the drug was released on the black market.
This had promise. I liked the idea a lot and really thought I would like Bryn. She was ex military after all, I was hoping for a kick ass zombie. Zombie, that is what Bryn becomes. A high functioning one but a zombie none the less. She wasn't a bad ass, she was bkring, lackluster, drab.
Despite the promise of something new, I was bored stiff (haha, see what I did there). Maybe I disliked it because I have read so many paranormal books. And this just felt flat and lifeless (okay I will stop). Maybe the other books in this series pick up. I won't be finding out.
This had promise. I liked the idea a lot and really thought I would like Bryn. She was ex military after all, I was hoping for a kick ass zombie. Zombie, that is what Bryn becomes. A high functioning one but a zombie none the less. She wasn't a bad ass, she was bkring, lackluster, drab.
Despite the promise of something new, I was bored stiff (haha, see what I did there). Maybe I disliked it because I have read so many paranormal books. And this just felt flat and lifeless (okay I will stop). Maybe the other books in this series pick up. I won't be finding out.
charms1976's review against another edition
4.0
Since Rachel Caine is one of the wonderful authors who have mastered the vampire niche, I was thrilled to discover that she was going to include the world of zombie like creatures as well! While her vampire series is focused on the young adult crowd -- and adults who are addicted to them too! -- her Revivalist series is focused on the adult genre. While I have never been a huge fan of the zombie craze, I was ready to open them with open arms and dive into the dark side with Rachel Caine.
Talk about some bad luck! Bryn's first day on the job at a local funeral home goes from bad to worse when she ends up dead. Her boss is involved in some shady dealings with a top secret drug from pharmaceutical company Pharmadene. When she gets caught snooping into the private meeting, she finds herself becoming one of the clients on the steel table. Yet, when she awakes she finds herself revived and not in the here after. She is given the secret drug and brought back as a sort of zombie like creature by undercover agents Patrick McCallister and Joe Fideli. Bryn is forced to work with them to bring down the company that is creating this drug.
Now when I think of zombies I think of brain eating, flesh sagging, brainless creatures. Author Rachel Caine brought zombies to a better evolved typed of zombie. On the outside, Bryn appears to be a normal human being. Unfortunately, she is just being kept alive because of the drug. If she doesn't get a shot, her body starts to decay like any normal dead body. Basically Bryn is dependent of the drug that she is trying to stop being produced. I liked the dynamics of the plot and loved each of the characters involved. I absolutely loved Joe Fideli the best though! He was hilarious and at very protective of his family. I didn't really like Patrick at first though. He seemed cold and distant which made it hard for the romance to progress for me.
Even though the romance was not what I liked, the story and story progression was wonderful. I love this new and creepy series and can't wait to read about what is to come for Bryn!
Talk about some bad luck! Bryn's first day on the job at a local funeral home goes from bad to worse when she ends up dead. Her boss is involved in some shady dealings with a top secret drug from pharmaceutical company Pharmadene. When she gets caught snooping into the private meeting, she finds herself becoming one of the clients on the steel table. Yet, when she awakes she finds herself revived and not in the here after. She is given the secret drug and brought back as a sort of zombie like creature by undercover agents Patrick McCallister and Joe Fideli. Bryn is forced to work with them to bring down the company that is creating this drug.
Now when I think of zombies I think of brain eating, flesh sagging, brainless creatures. Author Rachel Caine brought zombies to a better evolved typed of zombie. On the outside, Bryn appears to be a normal human being. Unfortunately, she is just being kept alive because of the drug. If she doesn't get a shot, her body starts to decay like any normal dead body. Basically Bryn is dependent of the drug that she is trying to stop being produced. I liked the dynamics of the plot and loved each of the characters involved. I absolutely loved Joe Fideli the best though! He was hilarious and at very protective of his family. I didn't really like Patrick at first though. He seemed cold and distant which made it hard for the romance to progress for me.
Even though the romance was not what I liked, the story and story progression was wonderful. I love this new and creepy series and can't wait to read about what is to come for Bryn!
michalice's review against another edition
3.0
I love Rachel Caine and was happy to get this sent to me from the publishers and couldn't wait to dive in. When I began Working Stiff I though it had a slow start and middle and took a while for any real action to start. Working Stiff finally picked up just past the halfway mark and I found myself wanting to keep reading to find out what happens next and managed to finish the last half of the book in a few hours.
Working Stiff is about a girl called Bryn who accidentally finds herself mixed up with a company called Pharmadene, the creators of Returné, and ends up being a puppet for them to manipulate. She is sent back to the funeral home with the task of finding out who is the supplier of Returné and has a time limit to do ti, or her own supply of Returné will be stopped and Bryn will begin to die again.
Things I liked about Working Stiff were the developing relationship between Patrick and Bryn, and I really liked how they didn't just dive straight in, but took for the whole books to actually do anything about it, which made it more believable to me. I also loved Manny, he may be slightly crazy and have some OCD issues, but he made me laugh a lot. When the book finally started to get interesting it was all the action, fighting and the fact that it actually seemed like they were doing something to stop Pharmadene, instead of twiddling their thumbs.
Although Working Stiff didn't leave lasting first impressions I would still consider giving book two a try when it is released.
Working Stiff is about a girl called Bryn who accidentally finds herself mixed up with a company called Pharmadene, the creators of Returné, and ends up being a puppet for them to manipulate. She is sent back to the funeral home with the task of finding out who is the supplier of Returné and has a time limit to do ti, or her own supply of Returné will be stopped and Bryn will begin to die again.
Things I liked about Working Stiff were the developing relationship between Patrick and Bryn, and I really liked how they didn't just dive straight in, but took for the whole books to actually do anything about it, which made it more believable to me. I also loved Manny, he may be slightly crazy and have some OCD issues, but he made me laugh a lot. When the book finally started to get interesting it was all the action, fighting and the fact that it actually seemed like they were doing something to stop Pharmadene, instead of twiddling their thumbs.
Although Working Stiff didn't leave lasting first impressions I would still consider giving book two a try when it is released.
amym84's review against another edition
5.0
This book has been on my TBR list for a while now. I thought that I would finally get around to reading it before the second book [b:Two Weeks' Notice|12925173|Two Weeks' Notice (Revivalist, #2)|Rachel Caine|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331685203s/12925173.jpg|18080684] is released in August.
Bryn was just hired on at a Funeral Home. She's at her first day on the job and to say the least it's a very traumatic first day for Bryn all ending with her uncovering what seems like illegal drug operations going on after hours. Bryn blacks out and wakes up sometime later only to discover she's be "revived". From here Bryn is thrown into a tangled mess with a pharmeceutical company that developed a drug to bring back the recently deceased.
I though that this was a good, new take on the zombie story. It doesn't get as gruesome as Bryn coveting brains for food, but there are definitely down sides to this version. Such as, every day Bryn must receive of shot of the drug otherwise her body will literally start to deteriorate yet her mind will remain sound and understand what is going on the whole time. What's worse is this process takes days to happen. Scary!
I liked the set-up that Rachel Caine gives us here. This book is the first in a series so obviously the introduction book, but she does a good job with the flow of the book to the point where we know where the second book will pick up and what storyline it will follow.
I don't think we've learned all there is to know about all the characters, and I think there are a few things from the past hinted at here by Caine that may pop up later in the series (however many books this series may be). I think it's a good start and I can't wait to continue reading it. Until Then!
Bryn was just hired on at a Funeral Home. She's at her first day on the job and to say the least it's a very traumatic first day for Bryn all ending with her uncovering what seems like illegal drug operations going on after hours. Bryn blacks out and wakes up sometime later only to discover she's be "revived". From here Bryn is thrown into a tangled mess with a pharmeceutical company that developed a drug to bring back the recently deceased.
I though that this was a good, new take on the zombie story. It doesn't get as gruesome as Bryn coveting brains for food, but there are definitely down sides to this version. Such as, every day Bryn must receive of shot of the drug otherwise her body will literally start to deteriorate yet her mind will remain sound and understand what is going on the whole time. What's worse is this process takes days to happen. Scary!
I liked the set-up that Rachel Caine gives us here. This book is the first in a series so obviously the introduction book, but she does a good job with the flow of the book to the point where we know where the second book will pick up and what storyline it will follow.
I don't think we've learned all there is to know about all the characters, and I think there are a few things from the past hinted at here by Caine that may pop up later in the series (however many books this series may be). I think it's a good start and I can't wait to continue reading it. Until Then!
pnwtinap's review against another edition
4.0
Rachel Caine hasn't disappointed me yet. This book had a lot of character development in there beginning but I can really glad because it helped you behind attached to Brynn so then all of her outrageous struggles became believable. I was rooting for her until the end and can't wait for more books in the series.