TWO WEEKS NOTICE - Rachel Caine
A Revivalist Novel, Book 2
ROC
ISBN: 978-0-451-46462-0
August 2012
Fantasy
 
San Diego, California (An Alternate Time)
 
Bryn Davis is dead. At least she was dead, but she has been revived with a highly controversial drug, Return é , developed by a pharmaceutical company, Pharmadene. The drug literally keeps her alive, and with some tweaks thanks to her friend Manny, Bryn is one of the few lucky ones that still have free will. Kind of. Given her undead status, it's somewhat surprising that she manages to have, at least on the surface, a somewhat normal life. In the first book of the series, Bryn was killed by her employer at the funeral home where she is now the director. So, she has a job. She is also in the middle of a blossoming relationship with Patrick McCallister, who was instrumental in "reviving" Bryn, and who has supported her every step of the way since. So, she has a relationship. She even has friends, and not just the undead kind.

What Bryn doesn't have is peace of mind. Her sister is missing, and Bryn is almost convinced that if Annie is not dead, she is probably being revived on a less than regular basis by the drug Pharmadene produced. While looking for her sister, Bryn is also running a support group for Pharmadene employees that have been saved by the government and then "converted", which means killed and then revived. Imagine the trauma that could cause someone, especially when they become addicted to the very drug that is keeping them alive. And then there's the FBI. Technically, Bryn is not an FBI employee, but she has sworn to work for Uncle Sam, and so when the FBI comes knocking, Bryn has no choice. This time, she's being asked to get a job with the new, revamped and presumably government infiltrated Pharmadene company because there is still something fishy going on. So, that normal life Bryn kind of has is neatly offset by all this craziness with her sister, the support group and now, the FBI.

TWO WEEKS NOTICE is the second in Rachel Caine's new Revivalist series. You may recognize Ms. Caine's name from her teen Morganville Vampire series or the Weather Warden and  Outcast Season series. The Revivalist series is very different, but Caine maintains her action-packed, high energy pace in this group of books as well. I am most definitely not a fan of zombies because... frankly, they gross me out. What's great about these zombies, because that's what they are even if you want to call them something else, is that if they take their medicine on a regular basis, they can actually be like normal people! Isn't that great? And once I got past the ick factor, I was caught up in the story, the characters, the dialogue, and even the secondary characters, who are all amusing and very interesting. TWO WEEKS NOTICE is creative, well-written and hip and bound to be a huge success…zombies and all.

Astrid Kinn