I don't like having to give this a bad review since, according to the author bio, it was written by a fourteen year old, but this book is bad. The plot makes no real sense. The dialog reads like it was written by someone who's never spoken to an actual human being.Having the POV switch between first and third person, and the tense shift between present and past (sometimes within the same paragraph) was annoying. I think the worst part though, was the "science"--having a "time travel scientist" look for a cure to the zombie plague by injecting them with human blood and then somehow watching the human DNA combine with the zombie DNA through an "X-ray Screen" made my brain hurt. ( )

When you think you’re getting a scary, angst ridden book you’re pretty happy. This book wasn’t it. The story had potential – a girl goes through a magical poster to another time in search of many things. She doesn’t realize that her whole life has been an experiment run by her father.

He created monsters, threw Time out of balance and kills off several of Carol’s friends in the process. I didn’t realize this was a YA novel (most of which I like) but I have decided it is. Too much teen drama, too much lying by adults and, some teens as well.

The premise is good, the characters are okay for the most part, but overall, I just didn’t like it. I’m sorry. ( )

I won a copy of Mutated Files: Case One through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. In the acknowledgement section, author Rachel E. Croxton states that she has kept this book, her first, as she wrote it when she was fourteen, for authenticity, even though it might seem a little cringey. I freely admit that this book has less to make a reader cringe than stories I wrote for a class in junior college. I'm not even going to sniff that I was much better at spelling and grammar when I was fourteen because I'm almost 68. We had a lot more emphasis on those subjects when I was in school.

In the prologue, we learn that when seventeen-year-old Carol Tyson was only a year old, her father disappeared. Her mother, Megara, was making dinner when Altan tells her he knows what he needs to do for the scientific work he's doing. He doesn't come home the next day. It's well past that 48 hours waiting period when Megara reports him missing.

Carol's problems start when she buys a poster of a really hot boy with a crossbow slung across one shoulder. His name turns out to be Neil Johnson, just as she thought. Their first meeting, after he emerged from the poster is less than ideal. I don't think either of my parents would have accepted the explanation Carol gives her mom for all the noise and mess.

Neil takes Carol to a zombie apocalypse four years in the future. The problem has already reached the past. The mission, which Carol has decided to accept, is to find out how to prevent the zombie apocalypse.

We learn that the problem was started by two scientists from the Dr. Josef Mengele School of Medical Ethics (a sarcastic joke I swiped from a friend -- Dr. Mengele was nicknamed the 'Angel of Death' for his experiments on humans prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz). One of them isn't quite as evil as the other, but it's the worse one who claims to have the information needed to save the day.

It took me a while to warm to Carol. Frankly, after Carol's best friend, Janette, came to the future, she was so competent that I figured Neil had recruited the wrong girl. As the weeks pass, Carol gains in competence before she falls into the less than gracious hands of Doctors Phelps and Jacobs. Dr. Phelps is able to tell Carol a couple of things about her family that she never knew -- and that makes her very angry indeed.

NOTES:

Chapter 1: Mentions: WalMart,

Chapter 2:
a. It's 2015 and Neil's information is about 2019.

b. We meet Neil's older brother, Fabian, who doesn't like to sleep because of nightmares.

Chapter 3:

a. We learn the Tysons' street address.

b. Megara watches a news item on the TV that tells the readers the future of 2019 is starting.

c. The news story becomes real for Megara.

Chapter 4:

a. Carol encounters a zombie.

b. Janette follows Carol.

Chapter 5:

a. Janette's last name is revealed.

b. Carol and Neil take refuge with a family after Carol's ankle injury.

Chapter 6:

a. It's a major zombie attack. Fabian refers to Neil as 'lil' Neilo'.

b. An scientist reveals he's despicable.

c. Look here for the lolly-dew flower song Mrs. Tyson used to sing to Carol.

Chapter 8:

a. There's another scene in the lab.

b. It's now March 2nd.

c. We meet Marietta, a very tough woman.

d. Janette meets Dr. Phelps in his secret lab.

Chapter 9:

a. Megara Tyson is driving and meets zombies, including a neighbor.

b. Neil tells what happened to his mother, as well as a story about when he was 10 and Fabian around 13.

Chapter 10:

a. Carol's full name is Carolyn Kimberly Tyson. Her birthday is September 3, 1997.

b. Megara's phone number is 804-555-1225.

c. Adam Phillip Tyson is mentioned.

d. Altan Phillip Tyson was born January 5, 1977, has A positive blood, and his parents were Janice and Phillip Tyson.

e. We learn who created the zombie virus.

Chapter 11: This is stated to be Part Two.

a. Carol makes herself mad by remembering an abusive boyfriend her mom once had.

b. Megara meets with misfortune.

Chapter 12: Carol has a fever.

Chapter 13: Neil thinks about the time when his family still, lived near Deep Green Lake on the outskirts of Waverly Town, near Sherry Town. They were taking a drive. Annoying cousin Nigel was along for the ride. Dad was stoned. Neil met Carol, who sits next to Fabian in Health Class. Because it's 2015, Neil was younger than Carol. We learn Neil's mom's name.
Mentions: Gollum, Lord of the Rings,

Chapter 14: Carol hears a voice in her head and something bad happens.

Chapter 15:

a. Finally, the evil plan is revealed.

b. "Provado" is a word in Spanish. Given its meaning, I think this might be a typo for "bravado".

Chapter 16: It's now April 2nd, a Thursday. The chapter says it's April 3rd in 2015.

Chapter 17: It's now April 5th. The voice in Carol's head explains itself. His name is Cyrus.
Mentions:

Chapter 19:

a. We get a big hint about Liam.

b. Dimitri was found in a dumpster, presumably when he was a baby.

c. Neil meets a girl named Mina who is trying to find a refugee camp called 'Eden'.
d. Neil and Mina meet a family of survivors.

The science is often on the level of made-for-TV animated cartoons. The point of view is sometimes in third person and sometimes in first person The reader often has to read a bit after the asterisks to figure out which character's first person viewpoint is being given. I readily forgave most of the faults because of the author's age when she wrote it, except for one: if that snapping sound was Carol's ankle breaking, she would have been in AGONY, and certainly wouldn't have healed as quickly as she did (I have first-hand knowledge). Also, don't let yourself get too attached to supporting characters if you have a soft heart. Those zombies are HUNGRY.

I knew the book was meant for young adults when I asked for it. I like books for children and young adults. I didn't mind the teen angst or the gore. There was plenty of action. I liked the book enough to want to learn how things will turn out for the characters. ( )