CONTAMINATED - Em Garner

There's a formula for angsty YA books and it's there because when done well, it works. That formula includes a teenage, female protagonist, without her parents (generally recently gone or taken away), responsible for a younger sibling/friend, imminent danger, and there's usually a boy - nice and not pushy (he understands what she's going through) - but she can't think about him with everything else going on ... until that moment when she needs him.  Think about some of the top YA books, like The Hunger Games, and you'll see these points.

You'll also see this formula in action in Em Garner's Contaminated ... also done very well.

An epidemic (a pandemic?) was recently caused by a very trendy diet drink, which has created a 'contamination'. Those contaminated become, mindless, aggressive people - essentially 'zombies.' Teenager Velvet Ellis has been alone with her little sister since their parents were taken in the 'Round Up' when the cities started to get a handle on how to control the contaminated. Now Velvet's mother has been identified and she's been neutralized with a special collar ... she's still contaminated but she won't get aggressive or attack anyone.

Velvet's problems should be over, but she's kicked out of her government funded apartment because her mother now lives with them, she quits school, loses her job, and there's a new wave of contamination starting and the government is rounding people up again if they show any signs of contamination.

It's interesting to look at a book like this, written before the COVIS-19 pandemic, and see how well the author predicted some of the chaos. Not bad here.

Velvet is a pretty good protagonist.  She doesn't wallow in self-pity like so many characters in these YA books tend to do. We maybe spend a little too much time setting up the situation of being totally alone. Leaving the school was probably the least interesting of the early encounters and I'm not sure what it bought us. A simple paragraph about having to quit school to take care of her sister would have been believable and sufficient.

The situation with losing her job was frustrating, and I wanted her to stand up to her boss a bit more. I did think we'd see the boss again, given the exit we see, but I was a bit disappointed there.  Maybe in the next book?

The little sister is nicely portrayed - her desires and unabashed innocence really work.  And the 'romance' was nicely handled.

I like the writing and the characters and the world-building, but given it all, there's very little action in the book (and by 'action' I mean 'something happening that causes something else to happen'). Velvet is pretty much in control through it all - sometimes it's hard, but she's never at anyone else's mercy.

I like the new take on zombies and YA readers will want to identify with Velvet. I like the writing and world-building, a little more plot would push this higher up in the ratings.

Looking for a good book? Contaminated by Em Garner is a YA dystopian, zombie novel with much to like, but lacks a real bite.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

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Contaminated

author: Em Garner

series: Contaminated #1

publisher: EgmontUSA

ISBN: 9781606843543

hardcover, 336 pages