This Is Not A Test By Courtney Summers

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?

Courtney Summers is known in the YA/Teen book world for her contemporary novels CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE, and FALL FOR ANYTHING.
This is her first step into the Horror genre with her first Zombie novel.
In the beginning we see a very depressed and intimidated young girl, Sloane Price. Living alone with a very strict and abusive father, her sister has abandoned her. Out of now where the zombies arrive and she must find shelter outside the home. Ending up at the local school house with a group of others. They decide to stay until things outside die down. They have water and food enough to last for months.

About 75% of the novel is a very dramatic, character driven novel. Sloane is still torn by the abandonment of her sister and the abuse by her father. The group hiding out are each experiencing their own paranoia, both between each other and constant fear of the zombies.
There is a bit of a romance that happens, but with the fear and hyper sensitivity the characters are feeling it is more of finding comfort in others than falling in love.
This is my first time reading a book by Courtney Summers, I do not read much contemporary and when I heard this one would have zombies in it, I jumped at the opportunity.
Needless to say my favorite part was the last 25% when the zombies make a huge appearance. The author does not approach them carefully either. There is gore, great detailed scenes and a run for their lives.
I am very happy she decided to take on this project because I was happy to have read it.
I have heard that those that like her contemporary books will enjoy this novel as well, there has been some great reviews so far that I have read that have been long time fans of her books.