A review by jaironside
Sadie Walker is Stranded by Madeleine Roux

3.0

Enjoyable enough but underwhelming when compared to Alison Hewitt is Trapped. It's set in the same world and Alison, who we know and love from the previous book, gets a mention or two but this is really Sadie's story. Unfortunately Sadie is a lot of promise that never really delivers. She has knowledge of outdoor pursuits and survival skills but doesn't use them. She creates a bow and arrows which work effectively and then doesn't use them. She stands by very puzzled as the ten little Indians stuff is going on and she's pretty sure she knows where it's coming from but doesn't act. It's really frustrating. Meanwhile her fluctuating hormones over two potential male companions when she swears all she wants to do is look after her nephew is just baffling.

My biggest niggle is that none of the other characters are fully rounded. I'm sure the author was trying to make us suspect everyone, instead they all came across as flat and not very engaging. When the grand reveal occurred it wasn't a surprise - I'd been waiting for it for at least thirty pages.

So a lot of annoying stuff. However this is still a good read and a pretty engaging survival story. Sadie's voice keeps you reading and if the plot is a bit jerky and uncoordinated with sub plots that go nowhere - well you could always be losing brain cells watching the x-factor. Seriously if you like a good survivor/ zombie novel this has plenty to keep you entertained. I would just have liked a bit more plot and character development especially on the 'rabbits' but perhaps we can hope for that in book three?