This is Not a Test ~ Courtney Summers

A little larger so you can see
some of the beautiful graphic work

Title: This is Not a Test
Author: Courtney Summers
Publication Date: June 19, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
326 pages
Review Courtesy of: Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis from GoodReads:
It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?





What can be said about Courtney Summers. Except that I will read anything and everything this woman publishes. This is Not a Test is no exception to her superb writing. The story is realistic and gritty, just like life would be.

 Zombies begin to take over your town. You're stranded in a high school with 5 other classmates. How do you think that would go over? Not well? Full of tension? Rampant hormones? Stress? Or is everything all hunky dory?

Tensions mount as one of the classmates is accused of murdering previous group members, and then someone is bitten. What is going to happen now? Meanwhile, Sloane is struggling with her own demons. Such as her sister Lily who abandoned her to their abusive father. Maybe the zombie invasion is just what Sloane needs to finish her original task.

Stylistically the e-book version of the book is stunning. I cannot wait to see what the finished printed product looks like. Blood splatters across the new chapter pages.


I have a love-hate relationship with zombies. I absolutely love zombie movies and books, but they are also the stuff of my nightmares. I don't know why, but I dream about having a zombie fall-out shelter. One of the reasons I loved this book so much is because it sat with me long after I finished it. it haunted me. It still does. Damn ending!