Synopsis:
George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete.
Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times bestseller The Shape of Water (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and Trollhunters (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero’s widow, to complete The Living Dead.
Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.
It begins with one body.
A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.
It spreads quickly.
In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.
Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.
We think we know how this story ends.
We. Are. Wrong.
Edition:
E-ARC via Net Galley
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of The Living Dead from the publisher in exchange for review consideration. This does not in any way impact the content of my review.
Trigger Warnings:
Sorry, I kind of failed here. Due to life circumstances, I actually read this a long-ass time ago, and I’m just getting to the point where I have the time/ability to review again. Overall, I recall this being a pretty socially conscious story, so I don’t recall any racial/abusive/what have you triggers, but don’t quote me on that. Otherwise, it is still a zombie apocalypse story, so there’s gonna be violence, blood and gore.
My Thoughts:
Boy, it’s a good thing I keep notes when I read books for review. I read this one kind of a long time ago. But, if you read my site regularly, you probably know the last nearly year has been a real fucking nightmare, so…thoughts and prayers? To me, for me? Yeah, I don’t know. Either way, onward we go!
Although at 656 pages, The Living Dead might seem a bit intimidating, believe me when I say every page will fly by. The story goes from zero to sixty in, like, 3.5.
I’ve been kind of over the whole zombie thing (with a few exceptions *ahem* The Night Eats the World *ahem*) since approximately season 2 of The Walking Dead. Yes, we get it. They’re dead, they’re all messed up (hahahahaha see what I did there? I crack me up). But before your panties become wadded, know that if it’s from the mind of, or set in the world of George Romero, I’m back in. So, I was actually really excited for this one. I mean, it was written primarily by Kraus (if my understanding is correct), but from notes and snippets that George had already compiled. In a way, it feels like George gave us one story of the dead who wouldn’t die from beyond this own death. It’s kind of beautiful, really.
“Housewives forming covens as a means of survival. Stopgap police forces burning citizens to contain what they stubbornly believed was a biological agent. A young man encouraged by the chaos to play out delusions of vampirism. A troupe of ren-fair motorcyclists who believed their Arthurian code could withstand any strain. A paraplegic man trapped indoors, tortured by his helper monkey, begging her to send help. Such strange tales, and Hoffmann read them over and over. One day they might remind us who we used to be, and who we tried to be, and that recollection could save the world.”
If you’re looking for a tale that delves heavily into the why of things, this probably isn’t going to do it for you. But if lots of action interspersed with the very human feeling of “What the absolute hell is going on?” and “What did we do to deserve this,” I think you’ll be quite pleased.
Tonally, I thought it felt a lot like Dawn of the Dead. Like, this is a thing that happened, and we don’t like it at all, but now we need to get about the business of not dying ourselves. It has that sort of cynical vibe to it that Romero was able to channel into his work so beautifully. Like, we know damned good and well that no matter why this is happening, it is somehow related to the shitty way we humans have chosen to conduct ourselves out in the world.
But somehow, despite the deep feeling of cynicism, The Living Dead still manages to be a whole lot of fun. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this story is probably going to make you feel somethings. A whole bunch of them. And then you’ll probably want to spend some time after the story closes sitting with those feelings. I know I did. It made me think the way Romero’s work always has – so, good job Daniel Kraus!
Rating:
For those who want just a little more of the master’s take on the zombie apocalypse.
The Living Dead By George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus Tor Books Published: August 4th 2020 ISBN: 9781250305121 Paperback, Hardcover, E-book, Audio 656 Pages George A. Romero Foundation (GARF) Daniel Kraus' Website Publisher's Website
Awesome!!! I need to dive into this one soon!