Horror YouTubers Lilith and Nathan love zombie movies...which is strange since an actual zombie uprising is happening right outside their front door.

When Lilith's parents come to take them to the safety of their old hometown, Leatelranch, the two rebel and end up getting separated on the streets of New Southport.

For most of the book, Lilith and Nathan are separated, trying their best to survive in a world that's literally trying to kill them.

All the Tommys in the World is an ambitious book with a very elaborate original story. It features a lot of characters, and the author works hard to build the unique world the story takes place in.

Unfortunately the way the author chooses to tell his tale is confusing, as he chooses to use non-linear chapters that jump forward and backwards in time for flashbacks that seem to be randomly inserted in the story.

There are also huge time jumps in the story...literally years at points. And they don't always make sense.

The author introduces a fascinating lore to why Leatelranch exists and details how it's laid out...but then introduces some type of funeral ritual that is central to the story, without fully explaining what it is or why they do it.

I enjoyed the Leatelranch portions of the book more than the New Southport, but each section of the story requires huge leaps of faith to follow along and accept everything works just as the author writes it.

And while I don't need "Happily Ever After" in my horror stories, the ending of the book was downright depressing, and kind of made the entire journey pointless.

I'm giving All the Tommys in the World by Javier Gombinsky 3 stars out of 5.

Having spent way too much time slogging through zombie apocalypse (ZA) novels, many published through Amazon and sold for next to nothing, I have a great deal of patience. I love ZA fiction; I really do. When I first moved to Seattle, I read nothing but ZA books -- whether this was because Seattle (and the PNW in general) are Zombie Central USA, or because the weather up here is so depressing (it rains over 200 days a year), I truly wasn't interested in anything but ZA fiction.

So, that said, I'm not sure I was able to get through the first chapter. The moment I read "looked into her gorgeous eyes," I had to realize: Did I really want to spend time that could be more enjoyably spent reading someone like David Mitchell on this...? I applaud the author for publishing the novel, I really do. I myself have published no novels. But, in the end, I decided to give myself a break. Life is too short.

This book was definitely creepy and sometimes scary, but mostly confusing. There are some original ideas and some mysteries that were *almost* enough to keep me reading, but in the end I quit just over half way through.

I wasn't enjoying the book. It was a slog. The characters were 2D cutouts, with only the two main characters having any rounding out. The events were chaotic with no apparent reason behind them. There were many inconsistencies that should have been caught by alpha readers and many poor word choices that an editor should have fixed.

I received a free ARC for my honest review.

A couple stay in their apartment while a zombie apocalypse invades the city. When told that the zombies are almost gone, they decide to go outside. Zombie packs cause them to separate. Lilith goes to her hometown. It may not be the best place to go to as there is a cemetery of 300:000 plague victims. The zombies move fast and talk. Lilith thinks the zombies have a plan. With the clues she has, it becomes apparent that surviving zombie attacks is more important than trying to figure out the clues she has. Nate is stuck in the city. He ends up teaming with wisecracking kids. Nate does plan to be with Lilith in her hometown. Will they get back ogethr? Will they survive the zombies?

This isn’t a zombie movie as those have zombies not talking and walking slowly! There are rotting corpses, arms and legs missing and ambiance. Mysteries of the zombies and certain characters linger to the end.. I used my imagination to solve some of the mysteries of them due to the author’s writing. I enjoyed this zombie story as the zombies were “different.” It’s a fun zombie story that defies your expectations.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately for this book, an honest review isn’t going to be a positive review. This was billed as a zombie story unlike any zombie story ever told. That much was true, but I had multiple problems with this book.


The overriding issue I had with this book is that there was no organized plot to it – it was simply a series of random events strung together. Plot twists were teased via obtuse dialogue and epiphanies were announced but never revealed. I was very tempted to DNF this book, but stuck to it to the bitter end hoping to find out what the point of it all was. Unfortunately, there was no point to it all. There were constant unexplained time jumps forward and backward, and unannounced POV changes that left me wondering whose POV was being used and why.

I gave All the Tommys in the World two stars on Goodreads, and I think that’s being generous. In all sincerity, I can’t recommend this book at all to any audience.

All the Tommys in the World by Javier Gombinsky just couldn't catch my interest. I generally like zombie books but this one just didn't seem to be one I could like.

I received this an ARC through Netgalley. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. There were multiple timelines that felt choppy at times going back and forth from. The cause of the zombie outbreak was always alluded too, but never clearly defined in my opinion. Lilith and Nathan, the main characters, have a strange relationship and just couldn't get into them. I almost DNF'd the book.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title**

The premise of this book had me very intrigued, however, it failed to deliver any intrigue. It left me wanting more. and it turned out to just be...odd and strange. I can hang with that occasionally. It isn't my favorite, but I can hang if it gets us somewhere in the end. But what I hate when I'm reading a book is to be confused. This one just had me confused. The jumping timelines with no clear distinction really bothers me. Call me simple, but I don't want to do guesswork when I read a book. I want it to do the work for me! LOL!

All in all, this wasn't for me, but it doesn't mean it isn't for you. Give it a try if you've read everything else in the world of zombie literature as it's definitely different!

NetGalley offered this e-book copy in exchange for an honest review. First, I loved the characters & was hooked from the very begging & needed to know what happened next. I devoured the 1st half, honestly confused about the mixed reviews.. Then in a blink of an eye, there was WAAAY to much going on! A lot of people had said they couldn't follow what was happening, I thought it was due to the story jumping from present to past, boy was I wrong! Some had mentioned there were a lot of characters to follow, I only agree where Nate was calling them by their costume names but the kids were referring to each other by their actual names.. That took a minute to comprehend... Who doesn't love a good zombie twist? Yet every single time you wrapped your brain around what was going on, something else was introduced. Loved how the action started right away, the humor, the gore & the characters but felt a majority of the twists, could have gone without. Wish I knew what happened in the end, but I couldn't force myself to find out.

An interesting and fresh take on a zombie story. I did find some continuity issues in the writing, but it was a good story at its core. This is the first novel by a new voice in horror, and while not perfect shows a good deal of promise. I will definitely be up for reading his second novel when it comes out.

All The Tommy’s In The World by Javier Gombinsky is a horror novel, based on a zombie uprising.

First, let me thank NetGalley (who sent me a widget), the publisher Pigfarm Press and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Lilith Kane was raised in the town of Leatelranch, a town created around the largest cemetery in the world.  Although she was born with a weak heart, her parents deliberately told her zombie stories to prevent her from knowing what really happens behind the cemetery walls.

Nathan's mother died when he was very young, and he was raised by his father, who was a caretaker of the cemetery.

Lilith and Nate escape Leatelranch, and became Youtube sensations on the matter of all things horror, mostly zombies.  So when, there is an up-rising of the real thing, they are surprised to find themselves hiding inside.  Eventually, they pick up the courage to travel outside the building, but are quickly forced to split up.

They both discover that Leatelranch may hold the answers they need.


My Opinions:   
I was really looking forward to a good zombie/horror book.  It had been a while.  Unfortunately, although the premise looked promising, the book did not deliver true scares or much actual gore (in my opinion).

It would have been an easier read if the chapters were designated as "now" and "then".  It took a couple of paragraphs each time to figure out the time-frame, and it was rather frustrating, and initially confusing.

The characters didn't appeal.  Even from the get-go, I didn't like Lilith, although Nate was a bit more interesting.  Unfortunately, neither of them, nor the other characters which appeared in the book thrilled me.  They weren't deep enough, and their backstories were not as developed as they could have been.  As well, it took much too long to get to their back-stories.  By that time I had lost total interest in them surviving.

As well, this is a rather long book, and I admit to occasional boredom.  The ending was more confusion, and suddenly it felt rushed.

However, the overall plot was good, and I could tell that the author had put a lot of thought into it, and was passionate about zombies.  I may not have enjoyed this one, but I will watch this author.

While reading this book, I felt I was missing critical information to the world that would help me understand what is going on much better. Even for a zombie book, this one gets bizarre in ways that ended my ability to suspend reality. I feel readers are not given a good enough answer to what is occurring in the book to have the ending explained, so this book feels unresolved to me. The connection to the cemetery keeper’s secret & the dead needed to be explained better to get a complete insight so I could understand what this book is trying to say. I recommend this book to zombie fans and fans of graphic novels, and those who enjoy the ultra bizarre. I think this story could work well as a graphic novel which is why I had a hard time with this book. I'm not a huge fan of graphic novels. I don't want to say too much and ruin the details of the book for others. And I would like others to lend me their thoughts on this book.

All the Tommys in the World is a really fresh new take on zombies. From the beginning, this book really pulled me in and had me wanting to know EVERYTHING that was going on. Most books take on the beginning, what happens when the zombie apocalypse begins and how does the world change? All the Tommys in the World moves past that and shows what it's like to live in combination with the zombies and try to live a somewhat normal (but mostly bizarre) life.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Pigfarm Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All the Tommys in the World by Javier Gombinsky essentially has YouTubers surviving a zombie uprising and a sort of conspiracy theory and suspense novel. Honestly, the book has some moments that are interesting and kind of fun to read, but mostly the writing style and organization of the book made it pretty confusing. It was really hard to continue reading because the story was all over the place. In some ways it seemed as though there were multiple great ideas being shoved into a single story that possibly could have been a spin-off or a prequel so the story could be a little more streamlined. I really wanted to love this book so it was disappointing.

I was interested in this because I like a good zombie story but for me, this wasn’t one of the good ones. I’m not saying it is bad, it was just one that I couldn’t finish.

In this take on zombies, we are dropped into an existing zombie apocalypse which doesn’t seem to be worrying anyone. The first characters we meet are Youtubers that review scary movies and have Hollywood zombie knowledge. From the beginning this pulled me out of the world because who needs Youtube when there are zombies literally outside your door? Then we find out that people are running with the zombies (kind of like running with the bulls). But these aren’t the zombies of Hollywood. They move faster, retain knowledge from when they were alive, and are dangerous. But people think that because they’ve seen zombie movies, they know what to do so no one really seems concerned.

I think the casual nature of this apocalypse is what initially pulled me out of the story. It was also part of why I found it to be confusing. There were also weird time jumps that didn’t make sense to me and changes in perspective to people that weren’t the main characters. Anyway, I got confused and lost the plot several times.
I didn’t feel any kind of attachment to any characters and never really got a good sense of place. Many of the ideas had lots of potential but weren’t fully fleshed out and others were just questionable. There was some fun writing, witty moments, and gore but it just didn’t do it for me.

HOWEVER, if any of this sounds interesting to you the book is available for purchase. Maybe it will be something you enjoy.

Unfortunately for me, All The Tommys in the World didn’t live up to the hype. I don’t typically read horror but thought I would give it a go - sadly it was one of the few books I’ve read that I wasn’t able to finish.
I found that it was well written and relatively easy to read, however I often became confused by what was going on in the story - I felt I was lacking context or missing significant information.
Whilst this was my experience, I somewhat attribute that to having no prior exposure to horror novels, and feel readers with that reading background may enjoy this creation.

I was really looking forward to reading this one; however, I was disappointed. While the storyline was great, it didn't flow easily & didn't keep me wanting more

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

So this was an interesting take on zombies. And while I appreciate what it did, it has solidified my suspicions on my zombie preferences. I want them either completely brainless only knowing that they need raw flesh (The Walking Dead) or totally passable as a living person who can live among the living without going crazy and eating everybody (iZombie). The really smart zombies of this book just aren't for me.

What I didn't like about All the Tommys in the World is that is dragged in certain places. Also, at times it became a bit confusing. If you're someone who enjoys a lot of world building this could be something you like. The characters are not well developed which isn't a bad thing for me specifically but I wanted to mention it for anybody who wants that building in their stories.

With that being said, I would still give this book a solid 3/5. I enjoyed the story and the characters enough to keep me going throughout the book. A couple of times I found myself lost but was able to get back on track. The best part of this book is how weird it is. It has certain incoherent aspect to it that makes reading it feel like you're going through a nightmare.

I'm not sure who I would specifically recommend this to. It's weird, it's different and it's got zombies so if those things appeal to you maybe you would enjoy this one.

All the Tommy's In the World spans 90 chapters and clocks in at an inexplicable 552 pages. Having myself been a horror Youtuber, I really wanted to like this book.

All the Tommy's In the World follows a group of characters I don't care about through a bizarre narrative and nonsensical plot. There's a fairly graphic child death, and maybe multiple dog deaths (I'm not entirely sure what was being communicated in those scenes,) and there's a chapter where a group of characters take a nap for several years.

I get the sense that the author truly loves horror, and for the most part, his allusions to horror tropes seem to serve as homage. Unfortunately, many of the references to cultural touchstones seem forced. Youtube is mentioned so sparingly - and with no exploration of what it means to the characters- that it may as well not have been mentioned at all. Nate's shirt is described multiple times, and it's only in the final pages that we learn he was wearing a Joy Division shirt all along. Solid outfit choice for a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but if that detail was intended to tell us something about the character, it should have been mentioned off the top.

There are some compelling turns of phrase and moments of brilliance in this novel, but the pacing and narrative elements really do them a disservice. Teeth are always gleaming in the moonlight, eyes are constantly burning, swelling, or glowing. Puzzle pieces are always "falling into place," which might lead you to believe this story will come together in the end. It does not. It feels like doing a 1000 piece puzzle only to find the box only contained 999 pieces.

Ultimately, I think this was a decent story that wasn't told well. I almost feel like it would have been better served by a series of graphic novels, because the pacing is so fast and many of the interesting concepts were more visual than abstract. The author has a creative mind, and I would definitely consider reading more of his work, but this novel just didn't do it for me.

I found this book difficult to read and it had lots of potential but I wasn't able to get through it as the writing was scattered