How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back by Diana Rowland

How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back (White Trash Zombie, #4)

by Diana Rowland

Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in fourth book in the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards

Our favorite zombie Angel Crawford has come a long way from her days as a pain-pill-addicted high school dropout with a felony record. After a year highlighted by murder, kidnapping, and the loss of her home, all she wants to do is kick back, relax, and maybe even think about college.

But when key members of the “Zombie Mafia” go missing, she has no choice but to get involved. Angel is certain Saberton Corporation is behind the disappearances, yet she can’t shake the sense that a far deeper conspiracy is at work. With the small band of friends she can trust, Angel strikes out to track down the missing zombies.

From a seedy redneck bar in the backwoods of south Louisiana to a high society cocktail party halfway across the country, Angel claws her way through corporate intrigue, zombie drugs, and undead trafficking. In no time at all she's embroiled in kidnapping plits and hostage negotiations—though for once she's the one calling the felonious shots. Add some breaking and entering, criminal damage, and a wee bit of terrorism, and Angel's up to her undead ears in the kind of trouble she excels at.

But when unexpected danger threatens to destroy her, all the brains and bravado in the world may not be enough to keep her from going to pieces.

Reviewed by Melanie on

4 of 5 stars

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My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

We are four books into this series. Angel is really on track to make something of herself. She has passed her GED. She loves her job at the morgue. She is helping out at Pietro's lab and even thinking about going back to school to learn more for this job. Angel and her Dad continue to do well. All the while she is improving herself, she is still the same ol' Angel and adding her own flare to everything she does.

In this story, we have Saberton kidnaps Pietro and blackmails his Congressman girlfriend. There are a lot of questions about why Saberton Corporation and their CEO, Nichole, have such a hatred of zombies. The things that they do to some of their zombie hostages in this book are really just unbelievable.

We really see Angel use her ability to think on her feet and use her street smarts to really help out in a more covert type of operation when she travels with a team to recover the hostages. She proves that it isn't all brute force and weapons skills that are needed for this type of job. I really think she proves herself and not only increases her self confidence, but proves herself to the other members of the team who had written her off as a non-player.

We learn additional information on the zombie lore. I'm not sure how I feel about this new bit of information. I just don't think I like how it comes about and it doesn't seem realistic. Yes, I'm aware that zombies are not really real, but I just still need to feel that it makes sense in the world that has been built. This just seemed to me to be added to fill some need to "fix" a hole, not because it was originally part of what the author's idea of the zombie lore should be.

There is a lot of questions that come up in the very last chapter of the book. It really changed a lot about the story and left me wondering where the overall story arc is going. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say that I was not happy about it. That being said, I have faith that Ms. Rowland has a plan and I'm willing to wait it out.

Narration
This is one of my favorite series on audio. Allison McLemore does a terrific job with Angel's voice. She really pulls off that redneck aspect to Angel's voice with sarcasm to boot. She also is able to handle the non-Southern voices and is great with both men and women's voices. This series will be an autobuy audio on release day for a while to come.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 14 July, 2014: Finished reading
  • 14 July, 2014: Reviewed