My experience has been that books in a series tend to fall off or weaken after the first one or, which I feel is even worse, there is no conclusion to any major plot points in the first book and that you have to get the next book in an effort to reach some sort of conclusion. Well, [Fall of Night] (sequel to [Dead of Night]) is a far, far cry from either of those put-offs. In fact, it is one of those rare instances where I think it was even better than the first book ... and Dez just keeps on kickin' some ass. ( )

ABR's full Fall of Night audiobook review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Being the Jonathan Maberry fan that I have turned into over the years and even though I didn't like William Dufris' past performance, I had to give this a listen. I really have no excuse, other than craving an amazingly well thought out zombie story to escape to for many hours.

First let me say thank you Mr. Maberry, thank you for intertwining all of your series into one extra long tale. And thank you for giving me yet another series to listen to, especially the Benny Imura series.

Fall of Night picks up almost immediately where Dead of Night left off. All of the characters that we started to love or hate in the previous story are still here. Yet introducing some fairly important new ones. Such as Benny Imura's father.

This is a pretty standard and self explanatory runs from the zombies type of story. Here is the golden jewel. The parts told from the perspective of those that are turning into zombie are nothing less than ear candy. Totally creeped me out each and every time. I had always wondered what one was thinking about turning this gruesome transition.

Sorry, no summary here. But if you want to be completely transported to life in the zombie apocalypse. To be surrounded by interesting characters. To follow the escapade of a truly evil villain that is neither human nor zombie. A great telling of a series that is a prequel to another series. You get all of that here.

Everything that I didn't like about William Dufris' performance in book 1 was not present at all in this book 2. Unless my taste has changed dramatically over the past 2 years.

I couldn't find any unnecessary over acting, over emphasizing, or anything annoying at all. Trust me I wanted to so I could say, "See I told you so...", but this just goes to show that a narrator that I once didn't like can become a favorite. Never ever judge an audiobook by its narrator, difficult I know, but just don't.

Audiobook purchased for review by the reviewer. ( )

Read from September 10 to October 09, 2014

Read/Listened for Fun (Paperback/Audible)
Overall Rating: 5.00
Story Rating: 5.00
Character Rating: 5.00

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Fall of Night by Jonathan Maberry has given me PABD (Post Awesome Book Depression)!

Story Thoughts: You know when a book just has you on edge THE ENTIRE TIME? Well that is me with this series. Even though I ultimately know where it is going because I have read most of the Rot and Ruin series. The path is still emotionally gutting. From seeing characters that I have heard about in the other series (Ledger and Imura) to the characters I already cared about from Dead of Night, I just care about everything they go through. This story made me cheer, cry, and cuss Jonathan Maberry just a little bit. When the last minute ticked away, I pretty much just sat there thinking: I am just not sure what I can follow this up with!

Character Thoughts: These aren't your typical "lovable" characters but dammit I loved all of them. I just wanted to find them a safe place to go. I loved their passion, stamina, and will to live. I loved the chances that they took. The people that they mourned (because it is a zombie book y'all--people die). The love that they still managed to have! I particularly loved all their batshit crazy moments--though Dez just gotta say that taking a bath in steak sauce is not on my Zombie Apocalypse plan *snort*. Each character was unique and brilliantly written.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated by: William Dufris /Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins

Holy crap William Dufris was excellent. This makes me want to go back and listen to the first one which I originally read. His pacing, accents, emotion, and urgency were just the right pace for this story. I will definitely listen to him again in the future!

Final Thoughts: PABD--I will try to fight through!

NOTE: PABD was stolen (with permission) from Tara from 25 Hour Books. It stands for Post Awesome Book Depression when you are just not sure what to read after because this book was so awesome. I will soldier through but I am going to completely change genres. It is the only solution! ( )

YES. This sequel to Dead of Night contiunes the zombies apocalypse in all of its violent, terrifying glory. If you're a fanatic Maberry reader (and you should be), you notice some awesome tie-ins to a couple of his other series.

Highly Recommended!! ( )