REVIEW: Apocalypse of the Dead by: Joe McKinney
AND THE DEAD SHALL RISE
Two hellish years. That’s how long it’s been since the hurricanes flooded the Gulf Coast, and the dead rose up from the ruins. The cities were quarantined; the infected, contained. Any unlucky survivors were left to fend for themselves. A feast for the dead.
AND THE LIVING SHALL GATHER
One boatload of refugees manages to make it out alive but one passenger carries the virus. Within weeks, the zombie epidemic spreads across the globe. Now, retired U.S Marshal Ed Moore must lead a group of strangers to safety, searching for sanctuary from the dead. A last chance for the living.
LET THE BATTLE BEGIN.
In the North Dakota Grasslands, bands of survivors converge upon a single outpost. Run by a self appointed preacher of fierce conviction, and frightening beliefs, it may be humanity’s only hope. But Ed Moore and the others refuse to enter a suicide pact. They’d rather stand and fight in the final battle against the zombies. An Apocalypse of the Dead.
This was one of the greatest zombie novels in circulation. It’s a nearly flawless novel that contains a deep gut wrenching horror that would even frighten the Undead. This is a high octane writer, with a storytelling ability that’s reminiscent of King’s earlier works.
Plot: The action driven plot was superb and was faultless in every way. Despite the girth of the novel, 500 pages, it was a fast paced read that didn’t let up. It didn’t take me very long to read this story because it was a very fast moving story. The idea of the Grasslands and the whole religious undertone to the book created a thought provoking read. The story was action packed but it managed to also touch upon some deep rooted philosophy that made this story an excellent read. He did an excellent job of juggling a wide cast of characters from different storylines as well as maintaining a strong pace.
Realism: In the review for Dead City, I mentioned that the realistic qualities of the story made for a strong horror atmosphere, because the more realistic you can make it then the more you touch base with the reader. (As long as it’s realistic to a certain extent) He keeps true to that realism with this story. The philosophical statements within this story were supplemented by the realistic atmosphere, which is something very hard to direct on page as well as establish a connection that resonates within the reader, but he does it with a flawless touch.
Characters: Again, the author creates a personable (and very realistic) cast of characters. He managed to make that connection between the readers and characters, as well as show how these characters evolve as the story progresses. I thought it would have been nearly impossible to showcase the emotional evolution of certain characters when you have a cast of characters that large, but he did it with ease.
Writing: In my opinion, this was the greatest quality to the story. The writing itself was solid, concise, and moved fluidly. The descriptive writing held a certain eloquence to it that I admired in a lot of ways. Some descriptions about the Grasslands still reside in my head, because they were that vividly written. What surprised me was how the quality of the writing evolved since Dead City. What impressed me was how he was able to transist the strong descriptive writing between both environmentally descriptive scenes as well as actions scenes. I have read plenty of novels where the author can write one hell of a fight scene, but lacks any good descriptive writing concerning environment or vice versa, but the author creates a strong balance with his descriptive writing, something which is rare for a face paced horror novel.
Overall: This is by far one of the best zombie novels in circulation. Characters are personable yet their reactions are realistically drawn and coordinates the story well. The only thing that I would have changed with this story was that it wasn’t long enough. This was a hefty read, but it was quick because of the pace. I just felt that this easily could have been a 600 or 700 page novel and still would have been a fast read. This story has been nominated for the Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Novel and I can see why. This is a magnificent story with a inspiring writing style that only gets stronger as he goes along. This story has been nominated in the same category as Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. I personally wouldn’t be able to make a decision between those two books because they were both very well written, but it’s also great to see how zombie novels are affecting the Bram Stoker awards. I wish the best of luck to both Jonathan Maberry and Joe McKinney with their nominations!
This is one of the best zombie novels in circulation, by an author who is evolving with an excellent stride. I expect to see stronger novels in further pieces because it’s apparent that he’s strengthening with everything he writes. I would consider this a must read for horror fans and a staple read for future zombies fans. Note to other aspiring authors: you can learn a lot from this superb novel, take notice to how strongly he balances different kinds of descriptive scenes. I look forward to reading more works from this prime example of a great horror writer.
Available on Amazon.
