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The Living Dead Sneak Peek
New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death! Download a FREE sneak peek today!
George A. Romero invented the modem 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 the 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 wido, 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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
George A. Romero invented the modem 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 the 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 wido, 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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
102 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2020
89 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
George A. Romero
89 books245 followersGeorge Andrew Romero was an American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968). He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 22, 2020
This was an extremely creepy book. People die twice in official statistics and when Louis and Charlie make an autopsy on a Joe Doe he's coming back to life what happens here? If you know The Night of the Living Dead you can easily guess what's going on here. This is the beginning of something very sinister. Well written, precise details, uncanny, ideal for getting in contact with the dead. Recommended!
July 31, 2020
A very good start! I can't wait to read the rest!
April 23, 2021
Disappointing, Cliched, Bad Characters
The author has far better prose than most of the books available for free on Kindle, which is probably why he was allowed to slap Romero's name on this terrible book. However, the key word is most, plenty are equal or superior, and the good prose only masks a bad book until the reading of it rips that mask off. This was a poor choice for a free extended preview - I'm not sure how anyone could read this and want to continue.
The first major issue is how cliche this is. All the typical, unthought out tropes are here with everyone being startingly incompetent, weird and pointless government agencies wasting time, secret conspiracy groups dedicated to ending the world for no discernable reason while commiting crimes that could never be kept under wraps, etc. Most of it feels rushed and unplanned, as well. It feels like the author is tyring to speed through establishing scenes so he can plod through character scenes on the way to the actions scenes. However, almost all zombie fluff is replete with this, so it doesn't have much effect.
Worse than all of that is the zombie scenes seem like rehashs of previously presented scenes. They are well written - the author presents a clear image of what is happening and where everyone is, the pacing is mostly kept quick and the scenes flow logically and consistently. However, I'm pretty sure the first major zombie scene is something I have seen almost beat for beat in one of Romero's movies, or another zombie movie, and the second zombie scene is extremely generic and completely reliant on character incompetence for driving the tension.
Worst of all is the characterization. The characters are all bitter, selfish misanthropes that drag any joy out of this book. When handled well, these types of characters can be compelling and interesting, but they are not handled well at all here. The author continually returns to their misanthropy until it becomes frustrating and dull. Most of the redeeming character features are rushed and serve the opposite effect from their intention by making the characters seem more selfish and misanthropic. The author seems to have been trying to create realistic characters, however he failed at this as they end up with a cardboard stock character texture that could be lifted from a writing class textbook. The characters are the worst part of this book and make it a chore to get through.
This book is permafree as an extended preview, so it is worth the money, but I wouldn't suggest anyone waste their time with it. If you want zombie fiction, better is available at the same price. Don't be fooled by Romero's name on the cover.
The author has far better prose than most of the books available for free on Kindle, which is probably why he was allowed to slap Romero's name on this terrible book. However, the key word is most, plenty are equal or superior, and the good prose only masks a bad book until the reading of it rips that mask off. This was a poor choice for a free extended preview - I'm not sure how anyone could read this and want to continue.
The first major issue is how cliche this is. All the typical, unthought out tropes are here with everyone being startingly incompetent, weird and pointless government agencies wasting time, secret conspiracy groups dedicated to ending the world for no discernable reason while commiting crimes that could never be kept under wraps, etc. Most of it feels rushed and unplanned, as well. It feels like the author is tyring to speed through establishing scenes so he can plod through character scenes on the way to the actions scenes. However, almost all zombie fluff is replete with this, so it doesn't have much effect.
Worse than all of that is the zombie scenes seem like rehashs of previously presented scenes. They are well written - the author presents a clear image of what is happening and where everyone is, the pacing is mostly kept quick and the scenes flow logically and consistently. However, I'm pretty sure the first major zombie scene is something I have seen almost beat for beat in one of Romero's movies, or another zombie movie, and the second zombie scene is extremely generic and completely reliant on character incompetence for driving the tension.
Worst of all is the characterization. The characters are all bitter, selfish misanthropes that drag any joy out of this book. When handled well, these types of characters can be compelling and interesting, but they are not handled well at all here. The author continually returns to their misanthropy until it becomes frustrating and dull. Most of the redeeming character features are rushed and serve the opposite effect from their intention by making the characters seem more selfish and misanthropic. The author seems to have been trying to create realistic characters, however he failed at this as they end up with a cardboard stock character texture that could be lifted from a writing class textbook. The characters are the worst part of this book and make it a chore to get through.
This book is permafree as an extended preview, so it is worth the money, but I wouldn't suggest anyone waste their time with it. If you want zombie fiction, better is available at the same price. Don't be fooled by Romero's name on the cover.
October 28, 2022
3 Stars
From what I read in the free preview I was disappointed George was a great director and writer though Kraus botched the rest of the book.
Pros
Free preview to decide if you want to buy the full thing or not is a great idea.
Great start from George
Cons
Kraus introduced way too many characters
Botched the rest of the book
From what I read in the free preview I was disappointed George was a great director and writer though Kraus botched the rest of the book.
Pros
Free preview to decide if you want to buy the full thing or not is a great idea.
Great start from George
Cons
Kraus introduced way too many characters
Botched the rest of the book
August 10, 2020
Romero+Kraus=Wow!
This was just a sneak peek but it did the trick! It was terrific! Not too gory, though I don't mind that. Scary. Suspenseful. Creative. Gotta go! I'm off to buy the rest of the book!
This was just a sneak peek but it did the trick! It was terrific! Not too gory, though I don't mind that. Scary. Suspenseful. Creative. Gotta go! I'm off to buy the rest of the book!
September 23, 2020
Sneak peek
I had a had time getting into this book. It was pretty slow for me. If it does not grab me by the first 5 pages I stop. This might be the book for you hope you like it more than I did.
I had a had time getting into this book. It was pretty slow for me. If it does not grab me by the first 5 pages I stop. This might be the book for you hope you like it more than I did.
July 8, 2022
The story started strong, losing steam a bit while introducing lots of characters. Then, it picks up towards the end leaving you wanting more. Looking forward to find out where the writing goes with the continuation of the story.
October 9, 2020
good book but really went off the deep end! I like the way it ended but it got really kumbaya. I liked the beginning the best.
May 21, 2023
Excellent
A great read by 2 fantastic authors, A gripping story, showing the start of the pandemic, from different perspectives. Highly recommended!
A great read by 2 fantastic authors, A gripping story, showing the start of the pandemic, from different perspectives. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews