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 I really didn't know what to expect from Red Hill by Jamie McGuire because Red Hill sounded so different in tone from McGuire's Beautiful Disaster series. I haven't read Beautiful Disaster, but the fact that McGuire decided to transition from writing a contemporary romance series to an apocalyptic, zombie tale really impressed me. I personally never would have expected McGuire to take such a bold departure from Beautiful Disaster. 
 Red Hill is a book that contains zombies, but it is far from just being about zombies. If you're looking for something action-packed and gory, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Red Hill is a zombie book with a heart; this is a novel more about how people and their relationships during an apocalypse. The zombies aren't described in too much detail and there isn't too much on a focus on them throughout the entire novel. In fact, McGuire never fully explains how these zombies came to be, instead the reader is shown more about the impact of zombies' and how they affected ordinary people. 
 I can definitely see why McGuire is a New York Times Bestselling Author and why her books have resonated with so many people. McGuire does a perfect job at molding characters and shaping their personalities into something so real and concrete. Character development is definitely McGuire's strong suit and I loved how conversational the dialogue between characters was. I never really fell in love with any of the characters, but even I can admit that the characterization is superb. 
 Red Hill is slow-paced and it may take some readers a decent amount of time to fully immerse themselves into this book. The thing is that once you're engrossed, Red Hill is the kind of book that doesn't let you go. I had this insatiable urge to find out what would happen next and so I couldn't stop turning the pages. This isn't the type of book I would usually enjoy; I usually enjoy more plot-driven novels, but this one definitely worked well for me in so many ways. 
 There is one scene in Red Hill that is just so icky and nasty beyond comprehension. I was repulsed, disgusted and I couldn't understand what the point of this plot event was. This scene didn't really add much to the overall value of the book and it just felt like it was to add to the shock factor; I really don't think such a scene should be randomly inserted in a book. The fact of the matter is, this scene couldn't end soon enough for me and I am sure countless readers will agree with me. 
 Red Hill is an extremely enjoyable, emotionally-charged thriller that will keep readers hooked till the very end. Most of the novel is well-done, except for a slowish paced beginning and an ending that was nearly perfect, except that I felt that it wasn't 100% conclusive. This was definitely a big step for Jamie McGuire and I think her fans will agree that this was a great move on her part!