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Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller

by Ben Tripp (Goodreads Author)

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 1,479 ratings · 173 reviews

A MYSTERIOUS CONTAGION. MASS HYSTERIA. SUDDEN DEATH. And a warning that would come all too late . . .

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published October 26th 2010 by Gallery Books (first published October 1st 2010)

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Mar 06, 2013 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies, horror, lgbt

Sheriff Danielle Adelman is one tough lady. Her younger sister runs away from home with Danny’s vintage Mustang, she suffers the physical and psychological effects from being a soldier in the Iraq war, she deals with petty criminals, and if that’s not bad enough, zombies are moving into her small California town. No wonder she drowns out her troubles with alcohol.

With her sister’s letter in her shirt pocket and a small band of survivors, Danny is on a mission to find her sister and keep her peop...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Marvin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

The horror genre and its close cousin, the horror film, has always been susceptible to fads. In the 50s, it was the atomic holocaust and its mutant monsters. in the 60s and 70s, thanks to Robert Bloch's Psycho, it was serial killers. For the 70s on, Vampires ruled with its evil nephew the paranormal romance making a splash in the 90s and on. All these themes existed before, surfaces often, and will continue to be visited by the horror writers and screenwriters. Yet each one had its particular he...more The horror genre and its close cousin, the horror film, has always been susceptible to fads. In the 50s, it was the atomic holocaust and its mutant monsters. in the 60s and 70s, thanks to Robert Bloch's Psycho, it was serial killers. For the 70s on, Vampires ruled with its evil nephew the paranormal romance making a splash in the 90s and on. All these themes existed before, surfaces often, and will continue to be visited by the horror writers and screenwriters. Yet each one had its particular heyday.

Nowadays it is the zombie novel.You can't walk through the book store without a zombie novel smacking you in the face. There's some pretty bad ones out there. Fortunately, Ben Tripp's novel of zombie apocalypse is one of the good ones. He does a lot of things right in this thrilling horror epic.

First, his zombies just don't urgh and argh. We never know for sure what the cause of the zombie plaque is but the author strongly hints at the idea of a viral epidemic. At first the zombies are the mindless quality yet they evolve to something else and that is what makes them interesting. The reader is treated to a changing threat leading to a intense and surprising ending.

Second, while the author gives us some horrific monsters, he also knows that man is the ultimate danger. In many ways this is more of a post-apocalyptic survival tale pitting man (and woman) against themselves. Tripp appears to take Sartre's admonition that Hell is other people quite seriously. Another nice touch is the author's update to the 21st century by giving us a new boogeyman in our social-political spectrum; a Black-water like private military army. Tripp's knowledge and use of current events such as the Iraq War nicely accents this thriller.

Third, Tripp has created a very strong female protagonist, a sheriff named Danny Adelman that is easy to like and root for. This also brings up one of the weaker aspects of this novel and that is her first motive for her actions. In the first chapter, Danny's baby sister runs away . We learn a lot about Danny but the sister remains elusive as is Danny's reason for taking risky and sometimes incomprehensible actions to find her. It is a minor complaint but annoying since there is so much going on with the survivors that this sub-quest seems unneeded.

Yet this is a riveting horror novel combining the best of adventure, survival tales and zombie horror. I highly recommend it to any zombie fans but also to those who simply love a good adventure yarn.(less)

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Oct 22, 2010 Corinne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ben Tripp is my husband, so I had the pleasure of reading the pages as he wrote them. Every day he would emerge from the tiny walk in closet that served as his "office" in our old apartment. I'd get my red pen, ready to give him notes. truth be told, i used very little red ink during that period. he's just a naturally fantastic storyteller who understands great characters and how to build tension in a moment. Sure, we own every horror flick ever made, Ben loves the genre. But this book is full o...more

22 likes · like · see review

May 02, 2013 Jord¥n marked it as abandoned

Shelves: adult, zombie-awareness-month-2013, zombies, horror, lbgt, disappointed

Too boring, cant get into this. DNF at 39%

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 27, 2012 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, horror, post-apocalyptic

Continuing on my apocalyptic/zombie phase, I stumbled across the CD version of this at my local library and decided to give it a shot. I haven't read a LOT of zombie books (I guess it's all relative), but I thought this was probably better than most. The biggest reason was that the author created a very flawed individual as his lead character--a female Iraq War veteran now turned local sheriff, already damaged both physically and mentally, who attempts to keep things in order as chaos erupts aro...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Allisonwcraig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: really-liked, urban-fantasy

As zombie thrillers go, this was a good one. Was it the best I've ever read? No. But it was definitely enjoyable. I especially liked the description of the start and subsequent mutation of the infection. It was well thought out, believable, and slightly scary. There wasn't a lot of technical background, such as where this virus had come from, but it was still interesting. This is obviously the beginning of a series of books, which is good. I look forward to more in this series.
The author does a...more

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Jan 31, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Rise Again is an above average zombie novel from first time author in this genre Ben Tripp. It focuses on a small mountain town, Forest Peak, CA and the people and events that transpire when an unknown possibly weaponized virus is released.

The actual release point was Los Angeles but due to the spread pattern, wind direction and panicked civilians, the virus spread to other locations. This is the first novel that actually created a somewhat believable real-world cause for a zombie outbreak. Not...more Rise Again is an above average zombie novel from first time author in this genre Ben Tripp. It focuses on a small mountain town, Forest Peak, CA and the people and events that transpire when an unknown possibly weaponized virus is released.

The actual release point was Los Angeles but due to the spread pattern, wind direction and panicked civilians, the virus spread to other locations. This is the first novel that actually created a somewhat believable real-world cause for a zombie outbreak. Not to pick apart another author's work, but a previous novel in this same genre insinuated that the Ebola virus had somehow been mutated into something more deadly. While this sounds really cool for a plot device, basic research into Ebola shows that it’s very susceptible to UV and therefore not a viable candidate.

Looking back at Rise Again, the initial read through showed it was well written with good action, believable character development and character interaction. However, after mentioning in several passages the decomposition and decay of the infected, essentially goo in their clothes for those unlucky to have been trapped in a sealed car, we now have evolution (?) of the decaying infected. Not only does this go against the basics of thermodynamics and psychics it’s not a very good plot device. This is where the storyline runs off the rails and moves into another direction that severely stretches the previously established facts as presented earlier in this novel.

Let’s take a step back and look into the story a little more deeply.
How does something that is dead, as described numerous times in painstaking detail throughout the novel all of a sudden begin to evolve? (Attack of the smelly, gelatinous monsters?)

Here's an example: the story starts on the 4th of July which most of us know to be a summer day and usually quite warm especially in California. So in the middle of summer, with high temperatures (as mentioned in the early chapters) thereby facilitating a rapid decay rate, we have rotting corpses 'learning' pack mentality and somehow moving faster.

Yeah, kind of makes you think. That’s a stretch even for this genre.
Decay and decomposition will increase in the warm weather and not only bloat the bodies but once they 'pop' and the fluids drain out, bodies have a tendency to dry out fast with exception to the side of the body that is in contact with the ground or any other surface like a floor, chair, bed or couch. (Isn’t basic science fun?) But, this is not mentioned or described and did not occur in the story.

This popping and rapid decay coupled with the high temperatures would make the infected dry out like seasoned firewood and very brittle making it easier to 'break' them into smaller pieces ala axe handles, pry bars, shovel handles or that handy sharpened wooden fence post you keep around in case of vampires. (Oops! Sorry about that, wrong genre.)

While the concept of decaying matter learning or evolving goes against known protocol it does make for an interesting read.

Overall, the storyline was good with several minor subplots that didn't detract from the main story. The thinly veiled though not directly named Blackwater (now known as Xe) PSC’s that appear towards the middle add to the plot and ratchet up the tension and drama a bit more. The Mad Max- Road Warrioresque caravan of up armored vehicles full of survivors that now prowl the rural areas searching for supplies and more survivors adds a nice twist to the story as does the use of a hardened female character in search of her wayward younger sister who took her most prized possession on the morning the infection first appeared. The issue of fuel or running out of food and ammunition is very lightly touched upon and there is no mention of what happens when a vehicle breaks down and needs spare parts.

Damn, really hate those little details.

Rise Again was well written and held the interest of the reader far better than previous novels of the same genre.
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Jan 19, 2011 Robert Beveridge rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished, owned-and-still-own

Ben Tripp, Rise Again (Gallery, 2010)

It was inevitable that the explosion in popularity of the zombie novel would bleed over into the big presses, and in the past year that's happened in a big way. Some of them have landed novels that hit it out of the park (Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Alden Bell's The Reapers Are the Angels), while others seem to have just grabbed someone who sounded like he was writing a book containing zombies. Gallery found themselves in the hands of the lat...more Ben Tripp, Rise Again (Gallery, 2010)

It was inevitable that the explosion in popularity of the zombie novel would bleed over into the big presses, and in the past year that's happened in a big way. Some of them have landed novels that hit it out of the park (Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Alden Bell's The Reapers Are the Angels), while others seem to have just grabbed someone who sounded like he was writing a book containing zombies. Gallery found themselves in the hands of the latter with Ben Tripp's Rise Again, a book that had some potential, but not much in the way of execution.
Plot: decorated-but-damaged Iraq War vet Danny Adelman has been elected sheriff of a small town in the San Bernardino mountains of California. On the night the novel opens, her younger sister runs away (taking the Mustang, which becomes a running joke throughout the book. Whenever it's mentioned, the other character's response is, invariably, “she took the Mustang?”). The next day is the big town fair, naturally, so Danny puts off going to look for her until after her duties as an honorary judge at the chili-eating competition and dealing with the usual small-town mischief got up to in crowds... except things are different. There've been rumors of some sort of disease striking in remote third-world locations, but the night before, it hit Los Angeles. There's a policeman from the Big City in town to warn her that thanks to an obscure World War II disaster backup plan, her town may be responsible for hundreds of thousands of refugees. Not that it matters, because the infected, who manifest their symptoms by running, screaming, and tearing their hair out, come on the scene pretty rapidly. I don't think, given that the subtitle of the book is “a zombie thriller”, it's much of a spoiler to say that not long after the screamers finally keel over, they rise from the dead, and eventually discover a taste for human flesh. From there, it's your typical zombie survival novel, save that Danny is still holding out hope that perhaps her sister is still alive somewhere out in the dead-infested wasteland.

That would be a pretty solid center for a zombie novel, no matter how improbable it is (and when you think about it, it's a setup that, no matter the resolution, will be a letdown one way or the other), and had Tripp stuck to it, he might have come up with a corker. He didn't, unfortunately, allowing himself to go off on long tangents here and there. As a result, the novel has an episodic feel it really shouldn't, given that there really is supposed to be a driving force at the core of things. It often seemed as if Tripp got lost in the idea of describing the post-apocalypse wasteland and culture, rather than focusing on Danny and her quest to find her sister. As a result, we have characters who are set up as major who end up getting killed off a few pages later, plot lines that should have been minor that ended up being major (and vice versa), and that ending that is guaranteed to satisfy no one. Given the current preponderance of zombie novels, I could recommend at least a half-dozen, both from the major leagues (the two mentioned before, Cheri Priest's Boneshaker, Joan Frances Turner's Dust) and the minors (Wayne Simmons' Drop Dead Gorgeous, David Moody's Autumn quartet, most anything on Eraserhead Press' new Deadite imprint), you should pick up before resorting to this. **
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Dec 12, 2010 Annmarie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalyptic, zombies

I know, I know, I'm reading another apocalyptic book, with zombies now. It's wrong, but it's like dystopian candy to me. I'm on a roll. So this feels like the "before" pic for The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Danny's a ex-soldier (and a woman) with PTSD and a bit of a drinking problem, and is a small town cop in California. Her little sister has just run away, in Danny's cherry red Mustang. Before she can go find her, all hell breaks loose in town as refugees from the city come to town running and...more

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Oct 23, 2010 William Bentrim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rise Again by Ben Tripp

The plethora of zombie books tends to drown the entire genre. Luckily Ben Tripp has a book that really does rise again. I fully intended to dislike the book because it was another, yes another, zombie book. Some time of trigger turns a majority of the population into mindless zombies. While the protagonist never determines the trigger, I personally suspect it is the stupefying effects of negative campaign advertisements. They just make you want to zombify yourself. Small t...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Lainy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: zombie fans

Recommended to Lainy by: amazon.co.uk

Blurb From Goodreads

A MYSTERIOUS CONTAGION. MASS HYSTERIA. SUDDEN DEATH.

And a warning that would come all too late . . .

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—s...more Blurb From Goodreads

A MYSTERIOUS CONTAGION. MASS HYSTERIA. SUDDEN DEATH.

And a warning that would come all too late . . .

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—starting with what might very well be the end of the world. Danny thought she had seen humanity at its worst in war-torn Iraq, but nothing could prepare her for the remorseless struggle to survive in a dying world being overrun by the reanimated dead and men turned monster. Obsessed with finding her missing sister against all odds, Danny’s epic and dangerous journey across the California desert will challenge her spirit . . . and bring her to the precipice of sanity itself. . . .

Filled with adventurous human drama—and shocking inhuman horror—Rise Again marks a vivid and powerful fiction debut.

My Review

The story starts by introducing us to Sheriff Danny (Danielle Adelman) and her sister Kelley, Kelley is writing a letter to her sister who she feels has neglected and left her behind many times and she has had enough. It is a slow start as the author is building up a picture of our main character and the town however once the contagion actually starts (just shy of 100 pages) it really takes off. During the book we have flash backs to Dannys time in Iraq and offers a window into understanding how she is the way she is.

The zombie side of it is fabulous, roughly where it starts (which quite a few zombies books pass over) and how it progresses. We follow our band of survivors and the struggles and horrors they face, not only the flesh eating kind but fellow humans at their worst.

There is a few friendships formed, some unlikely and interesting to read however it doesn't take over or away from the story. Once you get by the first quarter it is really fast paced and the ending is really good and there is plenty of gore to satisfy the horror fans.

I really enjoyed this book and would read more by this author, 4/5 for me(less)

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Apr 13, 2011 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-horror

Generally, I am not a fan of zombie fiction. It’s not that I dislike horror, far from it. It’s just that it gets a bit too bloody for my taste. There are exceptions to this, regardless of the bloodiness, and this is one of them.
Rise Again is set in the San Bernardino Mountains, and revolves around Sheriff Danny Adelman, a female military vet, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The story opens, not with Danny, but with her younger sister, Kelly, writing a letter to Danny telling her a...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rise Again is a novel of Fiction by Ben Tripp from Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster.

Book Blurb:

A MYSTERIOUS CONTAGION.
MASS HYSTERIA.
SUDDEN DEATH.

And a warning that would come all too late . . .

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home.

But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her s...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Melki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: up-at-the-crack-of-doom, horror, zombies

Sheriff Danielle "Danny" Adelman is having the mother of all bad days. She wakes up late and hungover, to find her sullen kid sister has run away. She makes her way to town where crowds are already gathering for the 4th of July celebration. And what better way to nurse a hangover than to judge a chili cookoff? Word arrives that some boys have seen a dead body on the outskirts of town. Soon people are dropping like flies. The streets of town become clogged with vehicles and the dead. The few surv...more Sheriff Danielle "Danny" Adelman is having the mother of all bad days. She wakes up late and hungover, to find her sullen kid sister has run away. She makes her way to town where crowds are already gathering for the 4th of July celebration. And what better way to nurse a hangover than to judge a chili cookoff? Word arrives that some boys have seen a dead body on the outskirts of town. Soon people are dropping like flies. The streets of town become clogged with vehicles and the dead. The few survivors are working hard to restore their town to some semblance of normalcy when someone hears a strange and chilling broadcast on the radio - "...will rise again. Repeat: The infected dead will rise again."

There's not a lot of new things that can be done with the zombie genre. The strength of this book lies with its cast of characters, particulary the strong females in the group. Danny is a Veteran with three tours in Iraq under her belt. A borderline alcoholic, she is suffering from PTSD, and obsessed with finding her sister, and keeping her small group together and safe. She is constantly ruminating her decisions, worrying that one of her actions may have cost someone his life. Such introspection is rare for a character in a horror novel and I found it refreshing.

Danny's group finds a temporary refuge while she goes alone to look for her sister, only to discover that some of the dead are evolving, becoming both faster and smarter. Things go from bad to worse with the arrival of Blackwater, oops! I mean - Hawkstone Security. (You can almost picture Haliburton skulking behind a pile of corpses, just waiting for their contract to start rebuilding...)

The survivors soon come to realize that roaming bands of zombies may not be as terrifying as the actions of their fellow men.

Fans of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead graphic novels should find plenty here to hold their interest. I'm fairly immune to violence and gore, but I went "eeewwww!" a few times.

Be sure to visit author Tripp's website - http://www.riseagainthenovel.com/ for free downloads of zombie masks, bookmarks, holiday cards and alternative dust jackets that allow you to fool others into thinking that you are reading great literature, a textbook or a cookbook, instead of an entertaining zombie novel.(less)

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Jan 18, 2012 Snogged rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm going to start by saying that I wish this book wasn't the kind that put the start of a new chapter in the middle of the page or three-quarters through a page instead of starting on a new page. For reasons I can't really explain, that trend just irks me and I'm really not sure it saves that much paper either.

I really enjoyed the character of Danny Adelman though. She was pretty hard-core and I liked her sense of ethics. I didn't like that she so frequently drinks and drives, but whatever, I c...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Eddie Puente rated it 4 of 5 stars

Took this book on vacation, tried starting it several times. 9 hr flight and I couldnt get it started. Once I got home its been non-stop. Will finish tonight, 4 starts thus far....

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Oct 29, 2010 Nely rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review

Danny Adelman is a veteran of the Iraq war suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. She is working as the Sheriff in the quiet town of Forest Peak (which is about an hour outside of LA). She knows she's not going to have a good day when she wakes with a hangover, realizes her young sister Kelly has run away in none other than her car and dreads dealing with the crowds at the town's Independence Day gathering. What more could go wrong right? She definitely wasn't expecting for people to gri...more Danny Adelman is a veteran of the Iraq war suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. She is working as the Sheriff in the quiet town of Forest Peak (which is about an hour outside of LA). She knows she's not going to have a good day when she wakes with a hangover, realizes her young sister Kelly has run away in none other than her car and dreads dealing with the crowds at the town's Independence Day gathering. What more could go wrong right? She definitely wasn't expecting for people to grip their heads, screaming at the top of their lungs, run off and eventually drop dead, and rise as flesh-eating corpses.

This book scared me to death. I don't know what my infatuation with zombies is... I'm not a fan of scary movies nor do I read a lot of horror, but tell me it's a zombie book and I just MUST read it. Thus was the case with Rise Again, and although it did scare me to death, I could not put it down.

Mr. Tripp created one bad-ass heroine in Danny. She is not perfect - far from it - but her strength, perseverance, the need to protect the civilians that have remarkably put their trust in her to help save them as well as her unstoppable need to find her missing sister were something that I was in awe of. She grew on me and I found myself cringing and more than once not wanting to turn the page in fear that something would happen to her or some of the other characters. As with all zombie books, I'm always afraid to love a character for fear of them getting killed off. I truly think this is what up's the fear factor in these books for me. Some of the supporting characters were awesome as well, and some were just the type that you love to hate. I love how humanity always turns against itself at one point or another in these type of books. Sometimes the zombies are the least of the worries.

In the end, I loved this book! It was not overly gory nor overly violent, although there is both, yet it was done in a tasteful manner. I mean it is a zombie book - blood, guts and brains are expected. But what I found refreshing were its rich characters, great action and tight, well-paced story. Horror and, especially, zombie lovers will find a gem in this one.(less)

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Oct 26, 2010 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you are wanting a good zombie book for the Halloween holiday, I do suggest you get Rise Again. In some ways it does remind me of Night of the Living Dead and even references the movie in a few places. We mostly follow Danielle Adelman (Danny) who is an Iraq war vet with PTSD. On a side note: If any guys out there are worried that the protagonist is female, do not worry as Danny is hard as nails and a great heroine. You won't miss a thing. *think Sigourney Weaver in Aliens* Anyhoo... Danny los...more

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Feb 19, 2011 Rolando Gill rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 20, 2011 travelgirlut rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombies, dystopia

I liked this, though it left me feeling somewhat disturbed all the way through. I guess that means the author was doing his job if I was left feeling a little creeped out anytime I put the book down. I do have a couple minor quibbles with the book. A couple of major seeming characters were killed off a bit suddenly, and the plot seemed to never really go in one solid direction. There was the storyline of Danny finding her sister, and then the story of Danny dealing with everyone else. They seeme...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

This is the best book I ever wrote.

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Jul 16, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie-apocalypse-stuff

This is such a wonderful read. It was really hard for me not to give it 5 stars, brilliant and well crafted sentences.

The ONLY reason it did not get 5 stars from me was at one point later in the book a particular character you think is in one place in a certain condition then shows up in another place in a completely different condition. Left me saying WTF?! Then the author a little later explains how the character went from point A to point B. Almost felt like it was a mistake that the author...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Doug Lewis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie-stuff

I gave up for a bit on finding a good zombie read after a few too many permuted-press SUPERplausible endless weapon list/convenient super secret forces training books. Seriously - i got turned on to the genre through max brooks' world war z and thought "Wow - i love this" then have just been repeatedly let down since then. Bourne, McKinney, Recht, and Ibarra are all hacks. Mira Grant is decent, but really just writing bloated cyberpunk with zombies. Jonathan Mayberry is great - but seems distrac...more I gave up for a bit on finding a good zombie read after a few too many permuted-press SUPERplausible endless weapon list/convenient super secret forces training books. Seriously - i got turned on to the genre through max brooks' world war z and thought "Wow - i love this" then have just been repeatedly let down since then. Bourne, McKinney, Recht, and Ibarra are all hacks. Mira Grant is decent, but really just writing bloated cyberpunk with zombies. Jonathan Mayberry is great - but seems distractable in a Mark Twain kind of way, if that makes sense (i'm loving Rot & Ruin though - kind of embarassing to shop in the Young Adult section though). Keene is a great writer - but he's writing demons, not zombies, and doesn't realize it. Or doesn't care, cool whatever. Every anthology is garbage (except John Skip's). Kirkman is amazing, but waiting a month for a few pages of TWD is like eating a bite size snickers when you really want to eat a whole cake. And don't get me started on how DONE i am with ZomComs and RomZomComs - they just need to stop.

So I was very relieved to pick this one up. Strong female protagonist - and none of the cheesy impossible ending stuff you're expecting for more than half the book. I hate predictable yet highly unlikely plot turns, and this one makes you think you're going to get that, but then just refuses to do it. The characters are well developed. The commentary on the military industrial complex is heavy yet doesn't impede the movement of the book. (though i kind of expected the extended bit-by-bit flashback to resolve more than it did)

The author isn't fond of Blackwater - or whatever he calls them in this book so he won't get sued - and as a member of the real military i totally agree with his views. So overall, i really enjoyed this book and read it in about 2 days in my spare time. It was totally refreshing compared to the last half dozen zombie reads that i have had. So thanks Tripp.

So, spoilers (view spoiler)
Great, fun, read - worth your time, though.

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Oct 24, 2011 Nicole Shelby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-once

I'm a sucker for good zombie flicks, zombie comics, and zombie tales. This one was absolutely, compellingly-entertaining. I literally couldn't stop reading it. I stayed up way too late, and snuck in bits all day long - I finished it in less than 2 days. It was action-packed and disturbing. I cringed. I like when the author/creator of a zombie story takes the premise of a zombie-apocalypse seriously and tries to project how/why it might happen, and what the possible outcomes could be. Once you ge...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Sketch Sanchez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie-apocalypse, horror

I've been on an end-of-the-world kick lately and have been devouring anything I can find. Fortunately (or unfortunately) alot of this includes Zombies, and while I've read a few stinkers here and there I've also read some excellent ones.

This one tops them all. In fact this may be one of the best books I've ever read.

While definitely a slow starter (I wasn't even sure I wanted to continue), the novel simply grabs a hold of you and becomes near impossible to put down. I retrospect it's obvious tha...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Kim Smiley rated it 1 of 5 stars

Worst zombie apocolypse book ever! I was intrigued by the first chapter, then it was all downhill for me after that. This book bored me so much that I had to speed read through the last 1/4 of it, only because by that time, I just wanted it to be over. And I was just not impressed whatsoever. I've read some really good zombie books and this one was really disappointing, especially when I went to great lengths to get this book because I really wanted to read it. The story was too long, way too de...more

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Dec 11, 2010 Dr. Detroit rated it 4 of 5 stars

Somewhere along the line when I wasn’t paying attention – probably too busy re-alphabetizing my records – the market became saturated with zombie fiction, some quite good and some I hope never to see again even if it means the premature donation of my eyes to science. “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”? Feh… I’d rather watch a poodle being groomed.

When it comes to the walking dead, I’m a purist in that I prefer my geeks drooling, shuffling, decomposing, moaning and entirely consumed with their qu...more

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Dec 17, 2010 Chris Freeman rated it 3 of 5 stars

I initially wanted to read Rise Again based on a very strong review of the novel in the "book review" portion of the Daily Kos blog (yes, it surprised me, too, to see a review of a zombie novel at DK). I really only thought the book was "just OK", though. I couldn't quite give it only two stars but it was only so-so. Funny thing is, I checked out the reviews at Amazon and it's almost entirely five-star reviews. Maybe I'm just not a connoisseur of the zombie novel. I don't really think that's it,...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Infernal Apex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, scary

This book was an absolute treat. I'm a sucker for anything "zombie", but so much of it is garbage and I've become very cynical of the genre.
I decided to give "Rise Again" a try after reading many good reviews and I'm glad I did! This is now one of my all-time favorite zombie stories.
The fast paced action is great, but the character development and human drama is what really makes this a wonderful read. I'm a big fan of Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" comic series and you'll love "Rise Agai...more

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Dec 19, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal-zombies

Rise Again brings a realism to the zombie genre that I haven't seen done this well before. When people start dropping dead, the townspeople of Forest Peak, including Sheriff Danny Adelman, don't have a clue what to do. As those who survive manage to hold it together the best they can amidst the chaos, the dead begin to get up and start walking around. Denial sets in for many, yet a few put a name to the phenomenon - zombies. How refreshing to find characters embroiled in a zombie book actually h...more

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BEN TRIPP is an artist, writer, and designer who has worked with major entertainment companies and motion picture studios for more than two decades. He is also one of the world's leading conceptualists of public experiences, with a global portfolio of projects ranging from urban masterplanning to theme parks. He lives with his wife in Los Angel...more

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