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Dead World #2
Apocalypse of the Dead
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.
"One of those rare books that starts fast and never ever lets up. . . a rollercoaster ride of action, violence and zombie horror." --Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry on Dead City
"Gritty suspense. . .You're gonna like this guy." --Tom Monteleone
"A rising star on the horror scene."--Fearnet.com
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.
"One of those rare books that starts fast and never ever lets up. . . a rollercoaster ride of action, violence and zombie horror." --Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry on Dead City
"Gritty suspense. . .You're gonna like this guy." --Tom Monteleone
"A rising star on the horror scene."--Fearnet.com
513 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2010
97 people are currently reading
2397 people want to read
About the author
Joe McKinney
112 books667 followersJoe McKinney has been a patrol officer for the San Antonio Police Department, a homicide detective, a disaster mitigation specialist, a patrol commander, and a successful novelist. His books include the four part Dead World series, Quarantined and Dodging Bullets. His short fiction has been collected in The Red Empire and Other Stories and Dating in Dead World and Other Stories. For more information go to http://joemckinney.wordpress.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews
July 31, 2011
I love a good zombie story as much as the next person, BUT this book failed in almost every way for me. In my opinion the author failed to find a way for the reader to connect with his characters. By the time I got to page 160, I literally put the book down because I simply didn't care what happened anymore. Every other chapter we were intoduced to more new characters, while the ones we just read about were held in a long holding pattern until they drop back in out of the blue.
The zombies themselves are just the token plot mover. In one scene everyone can run effortlessly between them and in the next they are savagely taking people out. Another thing I didn't care for was how people just happened to know things they shouldn't have known (I won't give any examples due to spoilers).
While some of the author's actual writing isn't bad, at times it feels forced and overly embellished. I would only recommend this book to someone who absolutely LOVES zombies. If you are looking for a good book however, definitely skip this one.
(Where the heck did Barnes keep getting all of those bullets anyway? Richardson ran out of his bullets rather quickly, but Barnes kept firing, and firing, and firing, and he's probably still firing right now.) Sorry about the rant, just had to get it off of my chest.
The zombies themselves are just the token plot mover. In one scene everyone can run effortlessly between them and in the next they are savagely taking people out. Another thing I didn't care for was how people just happened to know things they shouldn't have known (I won't give any examples due to spoilers).
While some of the author's actual writing isn't bad, at times it feels forced and overly embellished. I would only recommend this book to someone who absolutely LOVES zombies. If you are looking for a good book however, definitely skip this one.
(Where the heck did Barnes keep getting all of those bullets anyway? Richardson ran out of his bullets rather quickly, but Barnes kept firing, and firing, and firing, and he's probably still firing right now.) Sorry about the rant, just had to get it off of my chest.
January 20, 2011
Well done, Mr. McKinney. Again.
Though this is a sequel to McKinney's Dead City, you won't be lost at all if you haven't yet read Dead City. A sequel that works as a stand alone book. Huh. I think this may be the very first time I have seen it done RIGHT.
Dead City was nicely done, and Apocalypse of the Dead picks up several years later. The original outbreak had been contained by building a border wall, thus containing the threat of the virus spreading to any other area than the original outbreak.
The zombies were contained behind the wall...but so were human survivors that were not allowed out, and they were unceremoniously kicked to the curb and left to fend for themselves by Our Government. All it took was a boatload of escaped behind-the-wall refugees, one of them infected and, well, you know....
I liked the continuation of the Dead City world with new characters, new storylines, new situations.
Jim Jones/Jamestown-esque moments with that most whack preacherman, but believeable.
One mentionable unbelieveable moment, if I may: How in the world can you strangle a zombie with a bra? Strangulation cuts off the air supply to the brain, shutting down the body. Zombies don't breathe and have no breath to stop. Tsk, tsk on that one, Joe. I still heart you, though, man.
Volume 3 (Flesh Eaters) is supposed to be out in April 2011, I believe.
Though this is a sequel to McKinney's Dead City, you won't be lost at all if you haven't yet read Dead City. A sequel that works as a stand alone book. Huh. I think this may be the very first time I have seen it done RIGHT.
Dead City was nicely done, and Apocalypse of the Dead picks up several years later. The original outbreak had been contained by building a border wall, thus containing the threat of the virus spreading to any other area than the original outbreak.
The zombies were contained behind the wall...but so were human survivors that were not allowed out, and they were unceremoniously kicked to the curb and left to fend for themselves by Our Government. All it took was a boatload of escaped behind-the-wall refugees, one of them infected and, well, you know....
I liked the continuation of the Dead City world with new characters, new storylines, new situations.
Jim Jones/Jamestown-esque moments with that most whack preacherman, but believeable.
One mentionable unbelieveable moment, if I may: How in the world can you strangle a zombie with a bra? Strangulation cuts off the air supply to the brain, shutting down the body. Zombies don't breathe and have no breath to stop. Tsk, tsk on that one, Joe. I still heart you, though, man.
Volume 3 (Flesh Eaters) is supposed to be out in April 2011, I believe.
December 13, 2015
This book made me question my whole love for the genre. I found myself debating if I should ever read ANYTHING zombie related again and I had to tell myself, "No! This is just an aberration. Who knows why everyone gave this book five stars? You've given books that were awful in retrospect oddly high ratings before. People get caught up in the flow of things and much like the characters in this book get swept away by poor choices. Zombie books are still one of the more interesting plot mechanisms to explore all sorts of themes, like bioethics, systems of government, philosophy, science, religion, art, and still be a kick ass thriller or absorbingly scary. Don't give up!"
So I won't. But this book made me want to take a shower, so it's not just bad (and I think it's bad) but there's a residual sliminess about it for some reason. And it's puzzling to me! Was everything else I've read by this author a fluke? There's a bunch of things in play with this book, so I'll try to break down my particular accusations:
1) Sexism. I wondered after the 1st one, if the underlying current of sexism would be happening in this book--and yep. The last book felt like only the jerks who catcall on the streets survive the zombie apocalypse. They've still survived and the main female in this is a porn star called Bellamy Blaze. Now, granted she's a porn star with tragic depth (all those parts of the book I could barely read I was wincing so hard), and is one of the few rational people left at the end of the book.
The majority of the men in the book have major issues towards women (and men--there was a surprising amount of man/man rape in this book): the golden child immune person is also a would-be rapist; Colin definitely treats women like property and abuses his girlfriend (he, along with many others featured, had a completely implausible character switch); Barnes you could argue was a total sociopath and hated everyone equally; Jeff--he was set up to be all heroic, but he also was a thief, a manipulator, druggie (acid seems to be a horrible drug of choice while fleeing falling cities); Aaron who was like the rape facilitator; and then Jasper, rapist/maniac. The only three non-horrible men in the book are the old Marshall and Billy and the reporter. And like 10% of the book is about them.
2) I know I joke about tropes--poor government response, bad cops, evil preacher, orphaned children--this book hit on the nail every single one on my list. It even gets the bonus point of "zombies on a boat"--but I found it too unbelievable. It doesn't help that the unsympathetic characters turn on dimes.
For example: Bad Hurricane hits Houston, the flooding, the corpses in water, and chemical refineries create a terrible stew and lo, zombies are born. The US government builds a huge wall around Houston, trapping 200,000+ people in the flooded area with zombies. So it's 3 years later--there are still people in Houston trying to escape over the wall or by sea--the US Government shoots them. No one over the wall--which I find implausible. There's no way we'd leave 200,000 citizens behind like that. Especially when the bite kills between instantly - 2 hours in this book. It even states that a tiny scratch killed a test subject that didn't move whatsoever 16 hours. But that if you move at all, 2 hours. Why not, if you've built a zombie proof wall, start quickly putting those people in quarantine? Rescue them?
Or kill 'em all like dogs! Crazy pilot Barnes style! Except when he goes down over the wall, and then it's oops! Breaking out of the wall, screw everything I was saying before, with barely any commentary on it. And then he's willing to basically kill any baby that slows him down at all in his quest to survive, until he pulls another total reversal.
These zombies aren't fast. The fastest zombie it even pointedly states moves as fast as a grandma on a walker. How do they get overwhelmed so quickly? People know about zombies with the terrible example of Houston. If you saw a zombie in your area, wouldn't you just lay low inside away from windows? How are entire neighborhoods falling within what seems like minutes from slow "zombies". Perhaps the author gives too much information and in doing so I find the total collapse of society highly unlikely. For starters, these aren't traditional "zombies"--the people ARE alive. Jeff strangles a zombie with her own bra. (See point 1). Because they're zombies and reliant on catching raccoons, most starve or die in accidents within 2 weeks.
So what they are is just slow, infectious, brain dead cannibals. One that a whole country filled with gun enthusiasts had three years to study via the Houston disaster. The most unbelievable and saddest thing to me is that the few zombies that break free from Houston (and kind of an asshole move--why would you steer a boat with bitten ol' you & a ton of zombies towards land), the first group they encounter is prisoners on garbage detail. Prisoners armed with spiked poles and shanks, surrounded by prison guards. You think that would almost be the perfect welcoming committee to a bunch of zombies, but nope.
3) The Government’s Response to the Would Be Rapist Golden Child? So horrible. So dumb. It makes The Stand doctors behavior to Stu seem all Albert Schweitzerish.
4) The fat kid on the plane to LA had obviously been bitten. How? How the hell did it spread so fast? How did the kid not turn on the plane? The book states things like 2 hours if you don't move much, although most of the people who get bitten turn pretty fast it seems--and then immediately shows something totally opposite.
5) I just didn't buy so much. Not the characters, not what was happening basically on any level, except that maybe people in a world changing event like this would go to the lowest depths. Which is what I guess the theme of this book is. There's so many more things I could bitch about with this book, but I picked it up just to flip through it and find something egregious and here's this:
"This walking corpse is Marvin Reece's.
Have mercy on my soul, dear Jesus,
Just like I'd do if I was you, Jesus,
And you was this corpse of Reece's."
"This is the body of William Bunn
Who would like to be killed by a gun.
Really, his name was not Bunn, but Hood,
But Hood wouldn't rhyme with gun, and Bunn would."
The reporter on his way to the crazed evangelical preacher death-cult camp notices that it's a national trend apparently, that when you get bitten to write some crappy doggerel (see above) and tape it to your chest. "I guess I'm not the only one who does his best work with a deadline." If I had two hours or really any time after getting bitten, I'd be leaving a note for loved one and killing myself, (and in this universe, really have a myriad of options and not just the only the brain one) but NOT selecting a gem from a book on puns found at a Cracker Barrel and being a walking dead billboard. No one would do that.
Also the end. Compare the last few chapters with the Jonestown Transcripts. All I'm going to say about that, which seems exploitationist and a little lazy.
So I won't. But this book made me want to take a shower, so it's not just bad (and I think it's bad) but there's a residual sliminess about it for some reason. And it's puzzling to me! Was everything else I've read by this author a fluke? There's a bunch of things in play with this book, so I'll try to break down my particular accusations:
1) Sexism. I wondered after the 1st one, if the underlying current of sexism would be happening in this book--and yep. The last book felt like only the jerks who catcall on the streets survive the zombie apocalypse. They've still survived and the main female in this is a porn star called Bellamy Blaze. Now, granted she's a porn star with tragic depth (all those parts of the book I could barely read I was wincing so hard), and is one of the few rational people left at the end of the book.
The majority of the men in the book have major issues towards women (and men--there was a surprising amount of man/man rape in this book): the golden child immune person is also a would-be rapist; Colin definitely treats women like property and abuses his girlfriend (he, along with many others featured, had a completely implausible character switch); Barnes you could argue was a total sociopath and hated everyone equally; Jeff--he was set up to be all heroic, but he also was a thief, a manipulator, druggie (acid seems to be a horrible drug of choice while fleeing falling cities); Aaron who was like the rape facilitator; and then Jasper, rapist/maniac. The only three non-horrible men in the book are the old Marshall and Billy and the reporter. And like 10% of the book is about them.
2) I know I joke about tropes--poor government response, bad cops, evil preacher, orphaned children--this book hit on the nail every single one on my list. It even gets the bonus point of "zombies on a boat"--but I found it too unbelievable. It doesn't help that the unsympathetic characters turn on dimes.
For example: Bad Hurricane hits Houston, the flooding, the corpses in water, and chemical refineries create a terrible stew and lo, zombies are born. The US government builds a huge wall around Houston, trapping 200,000+ people in the flooded area with zombies. So it's 3 years later--there are still people in Houston trying to escape over the wall or by sea--the US Government shoots them. No one over the wall--which I find implausible. There's no way we'd leave 200,000 citizens behind like that. Especially when the bite kills between instantly - 2 hours in this book. It even states that a tiny scratch killed a test subject that didn't move whatsoever 16 hours. But that if you move at all, 2 hours. Why not, if you've built a zombie proof wall, start quickly putting those people in quarantine? Rescue them?
Or kill 'em all like dogs! Crazy pilot Barnes style! Except when he goes down over the wall, and then it's oops! Breaking out of the wall, screw everything I was saying before, with barely any commentary on it. And then he's willing to basically kill any baby that slows him down at all in his quest to survive, until he pulls another total reversal.
These zombies aren't fast. The fastest zombie it even pointedly states moves as fast as a grandma on a walker. How do they get overwhelmed so quickly? People know about zombies with the terrible example of Houston. If you saw a zombie in your area, wouldn't you just lay low inside away from windows? How are entire neighborhoods falling within what seems like minutes from slow "zombies". Perhaps the author gives too much information and in doing so I find the total collapse of society highly unlikely. For starters, these aren't traditional "zombies"--the people ARE alive. Jeff strangles a zombie with her own bra. (See point 1). Because they're zombies and reliant on catching raccoons, most starve or die in accidents within 2 weeks.
So what they are is just slow, infectious, brain dead cannibals. One that a whole country filled with gun enthusiasts had three years to study via the Houston disaster. The most unbelievable and saddest thing to me is that the few zombies that break free from Houston (and kind of an asshole move--why would you steer a boat with bitten ol' you & a ton of zombies towards land), the first group they encounter is prisoners on garbage detail. Prisoners armed with spiked poles and shanks, surrounded by prison guards. You think that would almost be the perfect welcoming committee to a bunch of zombies, but nope.
3) The Government’s Response to the Would Be Rapist Golden Child? So horrible. So dumb. It makes The Stand doctors behavior to Stu seem all Albert Schweitzerish.
4) The fat kid on the plane to LA had obviously been bitten. How? How the hell did it spread so fast? How did the kid not turn on the plane? The book states things like 2 hours if you don't move much, although most of the people who get bitten turn pretty fast it seems--and then immediately shows something totally opposite.
5) I just didn't buy so much. Not the characters, not what was happening basically on any level, except that maybe people in a world changing event like this would go to the lowest depths. Which is what I guess the theme of this book is. There's so many more things I could bitch about with this book, but I picked it up just to flip through it and find something egregious and here's this:
"This walking corpse is Marvin Reece's.
Have mercy on my soul, dear Jesus,
Just like I'd do if I was you, Jesus,
And you was this corpse of Reece's."
"This is the body of William Bunn
Who would like to be killed by a gun.
Really, his name was not Bunn, but Hood,
But Hood wouldn't rhyme with gun, and Bunn would."
The reporter on his way to the crazed evangelical preacher death-cult camp notices that it's a national trend apparently, that when you get bitten to write some crappy doggerel (see above) and tape it to your chest. "I guess I'm not the only one who does his best work with a deadline." If I had two hours or really any time after getting bitten, I'd be leaving a note for loved one and killing myself, (and in this universe, really have a myriad of options and not just the only the brain one) but NOT selecting a gem from a book on puns found at a Cracker Barrel and being a walking dead billboard. No one would do that.
Also the end. Compare the last few chapters with the Jonestown Transcripts. All I'm going to say about that, which seems exploitationist and a little lazy.
January 30, 2011
Apocalypse of the Dead is technically a sequel to Dead City, Joe McKinney's story about the initial night of outbreak as the dead take over San Antonio and one police officer must fight to survive his night in hell. This novel actually takes place two years after Dead City, and the main character in that book is only briefly mentioned as the author of a novel on how he survived that night. What AotD is all about is the bigger picture-the aftermath of the dead rising up due to a new virus coming into existence after several hurricanes hit the gulf coast of Texas. Much of that coastline is now walled in by the government and the infected, along with those who survived the initial outbreak, are hidden behind those walls. The government's long term response to the outbreak has been to set up the Coast Guard and a new organization (Homeland Security/Border Patrol) to man the walls and the water, and prevent anyone (living or dead) from escaping. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before some of the desperate scavengers and survivors who have been forced to live inside the wastelands behind the walls found a way to escape, and unfortunately, the boatload of refugees who end up washing ashore in Florida has infection running rampant amongst them. Thus begins the worldwide spread of the virus that had been contained in a vast swath of coastal Texas for two years prior, and so begins this story, which is told from the perspective of a wide assortment of survivors attempting to make their way up north, where sanctuary is promised by the leader of a church who has led his flock to the Grasslands of North Dakota.
This is a stand alone book for all intents and purposes. While I enjoyed Dead City and would recommend it, you don't have to feel the need to read that first, although it does provide a fine introduction as to what has brought us to this point. Dead City has all the makings of a zombie movie-one night, a police officer trying to survive, and non-stop action along the way. AotD is more of a long term saga, and it does a good job of explaining everything as needed for the reader who doesn't choose to pick up Dead City. The story follows the path of several different groups and individual survivors and of course, their stories all intersect as things progress. We have survivors all across the south lands: Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and California, all converging as their purposes and desire to find their way through the apocalyptic wasteland converge. There are plenty of characters that I enjoyed getting to know, gradually, as they revealed more and more about themselves and how they cope with the pressures of this impossible situation. There are plenty to like and dislike as I got to know them better, and the background environment-how the military, police, and civilians handle this madness, provides a believable atmosphere for the story. I was fond of more than one of the characters, and I felt that they developed and morphed along the way, often in ways that demonstrated their human vulnerability quite well. Ed, the retired Marshall, and Billy, the young convict he takes under his wing, were two particular favorites of mine. Their bond is a reluctant one at first, but grows with time and lends strength to each character's development. Of course, there is a sizable volume of characters here, so a few don't get as much attention as I would have liked to see-some of the female characters in particular didn't spend as much time in the spotlight as I would have liked: Robin and Kyra in particular were compelling characters with obvious flaws who stood out for me and I would have liked to gotten to know in more detail. I think that is the challenge of creating a cast of this size for a story-you can never delve deep enough into all of them and keep the story moving aggressively forward. The author did just that: he moved this 500 page story forward at every step, keeping me focused on it page after page.
As I always try to do, I attempt to point out where I have concerns with a particular story, and I think here my complaints all revolve around Jasper, the head of The Family, which is the church that has set up a safe haven in North Dakota for his flock. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, so this might be a bit vague, but I just felt there were a few things that were "off" about this preacher. One of which is an amazing ability he displays early on in the story that is left unexplained to the reader there, or anywhere else in the story. Suffice it to say, it was startling enough to have me raise an eyebrow, and I really want to understand the "why" behind this remarkable ability. Another aspect of Jasper is more down to earth, and really has more to do with his ability to compel certain people than anything else. While I certainly can understand the power that someone with charisma and a ironclad belief system have in convincing others to join with them, a particular character who displays a strong sense of independence and unlimited conviction throughout the book seems to dismiss all of that and embraces Jasper's message without question after a very brief discussion with the preacher. It's as if everything about him before was turned upside down within a few minutes by a few well placed turns of phrase. None of this is outside the realm of possibility, but those two elements and a few other details about Jasper were perhaps the only significant concerns I had about this book.
Overall, this is an excellent read, with a real handle on a practical, functional infection that could cause such mayhem. These people are not dead, they are infected, and that infection progresses with the story. I would be interested to see some of the later stages of infection detailed out more in the next book in this series-the stage 3 zombies sound quite chilling with their possibilities and predatory instincts. AotD has a sense of realism to it (as much as can be expected from a zombie book, naturally) with Mr. McKinney's knowledge of both police procedure, armed and unarmed combat, and disaster recovery on full display here. I would rate this one up there with many of the most memorable zombie apocalypse tales I have read.
This is a stand alone book for all intents and purposes. While I enjoyed Dead City and would recommend it, you don't have to feel the need to read that first, although it does provide a fine introduction as to what has brought us to this point. Dead City has all the makings of a zombie movie-one night, a police officer trying to survive, and non-stop action along the way. AotD is more of a long term saga, and it does a good job of explaining everything as needed for the reader who doesn't choose to pick up Dead City. The story follows the path of several different groups and individual survivors and of course, their stories all intersect as things progress. We have survivors all across the south lands: Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and California, all converging as their purposes and desire to find their way through the apocalyptic wasteland converge. There are plenty of characters that I enjoyed getting to know, gradually, as they revealed more and more about themselves and how they cope with the pressures of this impossible situation. There are plenty to like and dislike as I got to know them better, and the background environment-how the military, police, and civilians handle this madness, provides a believable atmosphere for the story. I was fond of more than one of the characters, and I felt that they developed and morphed along the way, often in ways that demonstrated their human vulnerability quite well. Ed, the retired Marshall, and Billy, the young convict he takes under his wing, were two particular favorites of mine. Their bond is a reluctant one at first, but grows with time and lends strength to each character's development. Of course, there is a sizable volume of characters here, so a few don't get as much attention as I would have liked to see-some of the female characters in particular didn't spend as much time in the spotlight as I would have liked: Robin and Kyra in particular were compelling characters with obvious flaws who stood out for me and I would have liked to gotten to know in more detail. I think that is the challenge of creating a cast of this size for a story-you can never delve deep enough into all of them and keep the story moving aggressively forward. The author did just that: he moved this 500 page story forward at every step, keeping me focused on it page after page.
As I always try to do, I attempt to point out where I have concerns with a particular story, and I think here my complaints all revolve around Jasper, the head of The Family, which is the church that has set up a safe haven in North Dakota for his flock. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, so this might be a bit vague, but I just felt there were a few things that were "off" about this preacher. One of which is an amazing ability he displays early on in the story that is left unexplained to the reader there, or anywhere else in the story. Suffice it to say, it was startling enough to have me raise an eyebrow, and I really want to understand the "why" behind this remarkable ability. Another aspect of Jasper is more down to earth, and really has more to do with his ability to compel certain people than anything else. While I certainly can understand the power that someone with charisma and a ironclad belief system have in convincing others to join with them, a particular character who displays a strong sense of independence and unlimited conviction throughout the book seems to dismiss all of that and embraces Jasper's message without question after a very brief discussion with the preacher. It's as if everything about him before was turned upside down within a few minutes by a few well placed turns of phrase. None of this is outside the realm of possibility, but those two elements and a few other details about Jasper were perhaps the only significant concerns I had about this book.
Overall, this is an excellent read, with a real handle on a practical, functional infection that could cause such mayhem. These people are not dead, they are infected, and that infection progresses with the story. I would be interested to see some of the later stages of infection detailed out more in the next book in this series-the stage 3 zombies sound quite chilling with their possibilities and predatory instincts. AotD has a sense of realism to it (as much as can be expected from a zombie book, naturally) with Mr. McKinney's knowledge of both police procedure, armed and unarmed combat, and disaster recovery on full display here. I would rate this one up there with many of the most memorable zombie apocalypse tales I have read.
March 29, 2020
This is a fun zombie novel, nothing really great or too memorable, but a good pandemic page-turner. The first Dead World book had only one character whose viewpoint we stayed with quite strictly, but this one has lots and lots of them, a few too many at times, so that it's sometimes a little difficult to remember who's who when they pop in and out. Some of the tropes are a bit stale (never trust the fanatical religious leader, sometimes the living are more monstrous than the monsters, sometimes the loose lady has a heart of gold, etc.), but overall I thought it was a good entertainment.
January 19, 2011
In all honesty, I'd had enough of zombie books. The ones that did it right were awesome. The ones that didn't were dismal. I really didn't think I'd find another Z-book to up the ante at all. But then came Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney. All I can say is that McKinney has, once again, raised the bar by creating not only a solid story full of terror, but one that reaches the "epic" genre.
AotD is a simple premise. Set after the initial Z-outbreak, cities like Houston are cordoned off and full of the infected. Those who are healthy and trapped inside? Well, too bad for them. When a single fishing boat full of refugees manages to run the barricade, the reader thinks the story will be about them, until McKinney reveals that one of them is infected, and what we basically have is a plague ship waiting to start the whole zombie apocalypse over again. Amid the cast of survivors (including a retired Texas Marshal, an escaped convict, a few military types, and psychotic bikers) is a growing religious cult that lures survivors to a "promised land."
As with most good zombie fiction, the undead are used primarily as background noise, a constant threat that drives the main characters on. However, those characters are so vivid and well constructed that the story is less about zombies and more about people. The character of Ed Moore, the retired Marshal, is particularly well drawn in that he isn't the typical heroic badass. His knees hurt, he's old, and we feel every ache and pain as he steps back into a role he left behind long ago. Of course, every story needs a "bad guy," and in AotD, McKinney picked a doozy.
Those who are old enough to remember 1978 will recall a national outcry and tragedy over a little town called Jonestown, in which a crazed preacher named Jim Jones ordered the suicide of more than 900 of his followers. In AotD, McKinney brings Jones back to life in vivid and terrifying fashion. Named "Jasper" here, the preacher is a carbon copy of Jones, all the way down to his waxy skin and rose-tinted sunglasses. But then, that might be what makes the character so chilling. It might also be the guile he uses to get his followers to bow to his every whim.
Also important to the story is McKinney's deft hand at detail, even in the most gruesome times. Through his description (or, in the case of his blind heroine Kyra, lack thereof), the readers squirm and twist as every tough decision is made and every infected person is put down.
There is a great deal to love about this book and only a few things that don't work so well. While reaching for the epic scope, the book does tend to meander a bit in places, rambling off the beaten track while it tries to figure out how to get its characters back on the proverbial bus. There are also a few issues unsolved, which I assume will be taken care of in a follow-up.
Taken as a whole, AotD is full of wonderful characters who step up when called upon as well as scathing statements about giving in to religious fervor. It asks important questions about in whom folks place their trust and why. But more to the point, the book is just damned entertaining.
AotD is a simple premise. Set after the initial Z-outbreak, cities like Houston are cordoned off and full of the infected. Those who are healthy and trapped inside? Well, too bad for them. When a single fishing boat full of refugees manages to run the barricade, the reader thinks the story will be about them, until McKinney reveals that one of them is infected, and what we basically have is a plague ship waiting to start the whole zombie apocalypse over again. Amid the cast of survivors (including a retired Texas Marshal, an escaped convict, a few military types, and psychotic bikers) is a growing religious cult that lures survivors to a "promised land."
As with most good zombie fiction, the undead are used primarily as background noise, a constant threat that drives the main characters on. However, those characters are so vivid and well constructed that the story is less about zombies and more about people. The character of Ed Moore, the retired Marshal, is particularly well drawn in that he isn't the typical heroic badass. His knees hurt, he's old, and we feel every ache and pain as he steps back into a role he left behind long ago. Of course, every story needs a "bad guy," and in AotD, McKinney picked a doozy.
Those who are old enough to remember 1978 will recall a national outcry and tragedy over a little town called Jonestown, in which a crazed preacher named Jim Jones ordered the suicide of more than 900 of his followers. In AotD, McKinney brings Jones back to life in vivid and terrifying fashion. Named "Jasper" here, the preacher is a carbon copy of Jones, all the way down to his waxy skin and rose-tinted sunglasses. But then, that might be what makes the character so chilling. It might also be the guile he uses to get his followers to bow to his every whim.
Also important to the story is McKinney's deft hand at detail, even in the most gruesome times. Through his description (or, in the case of his blind heroine Kyra, lack thereof), the readers squirm and twist as every tough decision is made and every infected person is put down.
There is a great deal to love about this book and only a few things that don't work so well. While reaching for the epic scope, the book does tend to meander a bit in places, rambling off the beaten track while it tries to figure out how to get its characters back on the proverbial bus. There are also a few issues unsolved, which I assume will be taken care of in a follow-up.
Taken as a whole, AotD is full of wonderful characters who step up when called upon as well as scathing statements about giving in to religious fervor. It asks important questions about in whom folks place their trust and why. But more to the point, the book is just damned entertaining.
October 4, 2011
Much, much better than the first novel...I wasnt even going to give this one a shot after the first one but Im glad I did. Its like Mckinney is a completely different author here and he is definitely channeling some Stephen King's The Stand here and in a good way. All the characters and their individual stories converging into one and done rather well. My only gripe would be the neglect the characters Jeff and Robin got towards the end of the book, would have liked to have seen more from them.
April 4, 2012
Two years after the outbreak of zombification chronicled in McKinney's first novel Dead City, things, as you might expect, are not turning out well. A containment wall around Houston and other intensely infected regions contains not only the infected but those survivors who have been trapped inside now for two years. And they are pissed and always trying to get out. They of course do get out, carrying the infection with them. And as if that is not bad enough, there are signs the virus has gone airborne.
Dead City took place during the first night of the outbreak in San Antonio and focused on one police officer's struggle to survive. McKinney's second novel follows groups from Texas, Florida, California and Mississippi who band together in shifting groups to move north towards The Grasslands, a compound in South Dakota rumored to be a zombie-free paradise overseen by the benevolent man of God, Jasper Sewell. I don't think this is a spoiler, since nothing comes as much of a surprise in this book: Sewell is a dangerous nutcase. The weakest aspect of McKinney's novel is that he creates Sewell by taking all his cues from the Rev. Jim Jones playbook.
But McKinney offers the reader a fun, gory ride. His characters range from brave to cowardly and from noble to craven. Several are genuinely evil, but others redeem themselves when put to the awful tests they encounter. McKinney must, however, have a soft spot for women. With one minor exception, each female character is good as gold, whether she is a blind virgin from West Texas or a famous porn star.
Apocalypse was nominated for a Bram Stoker award, and McKinney's most recent book, Flesh Eaters, just won that award for 2011. He knows how to deliver for his audience. There are many effective scenes here that have nothing to do with zombie attacks, and the characters are entertaining. Those moments when a someone quotes from Herman Hesse or Albert Camus stick out like a festering zombie-bitten thumb, but most of the dialog is quick and pointed.
I find myself looking forward to Flesh Eaters.
Dead City took place during the first night of the outbreak in San Antonio and focused on one police officer's struggle to survive. McKinney's second novel follows groups from Texas, Florida, California and Mississippi who band together in shifting groups to move north towards The Grasslands, a compound in South Dakota rumored to be a zombie-free paradise overseen by the benevolent man of God, Jasper Sewell. I don't think this is a spoiler, since nothing comes as much of a surprise in this book: Sewell is a dangerous nutcase. The weakest aspect of McKinney's novel is that he creates Sewell by taking all his cues from the Rev. Jim Jones playbook.
But McKinney offers the reader a fun, gory ride. His characters range from brave to cowardly and from noble to craven. Several are genuinely evil, but others redeem themselves when put to the awful tests they encounter. McKinney must, however, have a soft spot for women. With one minor exception, each female character is good as gold, whether she is a blind virgin from West Texas or a famous porn star.
Apocalypse was nominated for a Bram Stoker award, and McKinney's most recent book, Flesh Eaters, just won that award for 2011. He knows how to deliver for his audience. There are many effective scenes here that have nothing to do with zombie attacks, and the characters are entertaining. Those moments when a someone quotes from Herman Hesse or Albert Camus stick out like a festering zombie-bitten thumb, but most of the dialog is quick and pointed.
I find myself looking forward to Flesh Eaters.
May 25, 2011
Apocalypse of the Dead is the second book in the Dead World series by Joe McKinney and a novel of Fiction from Pinnacle.
Book Blurb:
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.
My thoughts:
For two years the infected have been quarantined in Texas - along with those survivors unlucky enough to have been left behind after the walls were erected.
But the survivors have grown tired of barely surviving on what they can scavenge - grown tired of the constant fear of discovery by the infected - grown tired of it all.
When a small boat escapes the quarantine of Texas and heads for Florida, the survivors are elated - until one of them turns. Then they all turn - and the boat makes it to Florida.
The infected are no longer contained. And this virus spreads like wild fire.
Now several groups of individuals are fighting for survival and they’ve all heard of one place - the Grasslands of North Dakota.
A place of safety - of sanctuary.
But some of the refugees aren’t pleased with the way things are run at the Grasslands. With the infected trying to get in - and a zealot who won’t let them leave - time is running out.
Apocalypse of the Dead is a great read and I loved it. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in this series, Flesh Eaters, available now.
I give Apocalypse of the Dead 5 out of 5 stars.
M
Book Blurb:
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.
My thoughts:
For two years the infected have been quarantined in Texas - along with those survivors unlucky enough to have been left behind after the walls were erected.
But the survivors have grown tired of barely surviving on what they can scavenge - grown tired of the constant fear of discovery by the infected - grown tired of it all.
When a small boat escapes the quarantine of Texas and heads for Florida, the survivors are elated - until one of them turns. Then they all turn - and the boat makes it to Florida.
The infected are no longer contained. And this virus spreads like wild fire.
Now several groups of individuals are fighting for survival and they’ve all heard of one place - the Grasslands of North Dakota.
A place of safety - of sanctuary.
But some of the refugees aren’t pleased with the way things are run at the Grasslands. With the infected trying to get in - and a zealot who won’t let them leave - time is running out.
Apocalypse of the Dead is a great read and I loved it. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in this series, Flesh Eaters, available now.
I give Apocalypse of the Dead 5 out of 5 stars.
M
March 30, 2014
I really enjoyed this book over all. The story was great, the characters interesting and the situations engaging. It is a sequel to Dead City not in the sense that it continues the earlier book's exact storyline, but instead it continues the evolution of the world setting as a whole. The new characters we are introduced to quickly form into the people you'd either root for or hope get killed on the next page; and in each new case McKinney does not fail to deliver.
My one problem with the book, other than the term "roundhouse punch" (lolwut?), is the primary antagonist. I'd feel bad describing him to you, as it would appear to be giving away some previously unknown info from the story...but that would require the character to be an original concept. The preacher Jasper is not some overused archetype, he is an exact copy of Jim Jones from the Jonestown incident in the 1970's. When the author described the way Jasper looked, I thought "That sounds like Jim Jones". When the author described Jasper's manipulative, yet grand-standing nature, I thought "That sounds like Jim Jones". When the author had Jasper manipulate his people in their private sessions, I thought "These sound like they are a play-by-play re-typing of actual victim accounts from the news in real life in the 1980's". And when the author gave Jasper something important/creepy to say, I thought "Wow, this is a completely plagiarized speech lifted WORD FOR WORD OUT OF AUDIO RECORDINGS OF A REAL PERSON".
I was terribly disappointed in the lazy, dishonest and perhaps somewhat illegal manner in which Joe McKinney wrote the main villain. If it was just an inspiration thing with a few quotes, it wouldn't be so bad, but there is literally no action taken by the character Jasper which was not done in real life by Jim Jones (except the zombie parts of the story, obviously).
Even after that, however, I'd still recommend this book to read. A great story that keeps you wanting more and doesn't let the pace down for too long. If you can get over the ripped off villain, you'll probably enjoy this story.
My one problem with the book, other than the term "roundhouse punch" (lolwut?), is the primary antagonist. I'd feel bad describing him to you, as it would appear to be giving away some previously unknown info from the story...but that would require the character to be an original concept. The preacher Jasper is not some overused archetype, he is an exact copy of Jim Jones from the Jonestown incident in the 1970's. When the author described the way Jasper looked, I thought "That sounds like Jim Jones". When the author described Jasper's manipulative, yet grand-standing nature, I thought "That sounds like Jim Jones". When the author had Jasper manipulate his people in their private sessions, I thought "These sound like they are a play-by-play re-typing of actual victim accounts from the news in real life in the 1980's". And when the author gave Jasper something important/creepy to say, I thought "Wow, this is a completely plagiarized speech lifted WORD FOR WORD OUT OF AUDIO RECORDINGS OF A REAL PERSON".
I was terribly disappointed in the lazy, dishonest and perhaps somewhat illegal manner in which Joe McKinney wrote the main villain. If it was just an inspiration thing with a few quotes, it wouldn't be so bad, but there is literally no action taken by the character Jasper which was not done in real life by Jim Jones (except the zombie parts of the story, obviously).
Even after that, however, I'd still recommend this book to read. A great story that keeps you wanting more and doesn't let the pace down for too long. If you can get over the ripped off villain, you'll probably enjoy this story.
August 3, 2017
This is book 2 (of 4) in the Dead World series and it is a completely different story from the first book Dead City which concentrated on one character fighting through the zombie hordes over the course of one night to get to his family.
This story is set 2 years later when a quarantine is in place and follows the journeys of numerous groups of characters after the quarantine is breached and the zombies pour out across the USA. It is not necessary to read Dead City first and the two books can stand alone but I HAVE to read series in order no matter what. I just have too! Reading them in order makes sense as this zombie world does follow on from the first book.
The pace does slow down about 300 pages in as the groups of people are still on their separate journeys, fighting the zombies in gory action sequences. They then start to converge on each other and all head for the sanctuary of Grasslands, a haven run by a religious figure. As we all know, a sanctuary is NEVER a sanctuary. Who is worse? Zombies or Zombie Survivors?
I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next instalment, Flesh Eaters.
This story is set 2 years later when a quarantine is in place and follows the journeys of numerous groups of characters after the quarantine is breached and the zombies pour out across the USA. It is not necessary to read Dead City first and the two books can stand alone but I HAVE to read series in order no matter what. I just have too! Reading them in order makes sense as this zombie world does follow on from the first book.
The pace does slow down about 300 pages in as the groups of people are still on their separate journeys, fighting the zombies in gory action sequences. They then start to converge on each other and all head for the sanctuary of Grasslands, a haven run by a religious figure. As we all know, a sanctuary is NEVER a sanctuary. Who is worse? Zombies or Zombie Survivors?
I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next instalment, Flesh Eaters.
June 22, 2011
I saw this book and was instantly excited because I had read Joe's first book, Dead City and thought it was awesome, but when I began reading this book I felt as though I had missed something. It is supposedly the 2nd book in the series, yet it has hardly anything to do with the Dead City other than the city in which it occurs. It felt like there was a book that I had missed reading or something so I did some web searching and found a book by Joe called "Quarantined", but it is not available anywhere. Looking for it on Amazon only yielded a few used copies starting at around $60.00! I'm not sure if that book takes place between Dead City and Apocalypse, but there is definitely a disconnect.
Even though I enjoyed Dead City so much, I just couldn't get into Apocalypse at all. I kept waiting for a familiar name or something, but it never came. By the time I had to force myself to finish reading it.
I would say to skip this one. It's not that good.
Even though I enjoyed Dead City so much, I just couldn't get into Apocalypse at all. I kept waiting for a familiar name or something, but it never came. By the time I had to force myself to finish reading it.
I would say to skip this one. It's not that good.
November 22, 2013
I enjoyed Dead City so much for its fast pace and non-stop zombie action. When i saw this book, I knew the good times would continue on from the first book - I was so wrong.
I read so many negative reviews of Dead City (even though I loved it) the main complaint was that it was too fast paced and never slowed down to build the characters or give you a breather. Maybe the author read that too and decided to write this book with the pace so slow that a zombie could outrun it.
I always give a book 100 pages to prove itself, this one failed miserably. Dead City set a standard and this book put me to sleep and I couldn't even give it 100 pages. I mean come on its the zombie apocalypse. Anyone reading a zombies novel wants to see people running for their lives, fighting to survive and people being eaten by the undead, not the dramatic relationships and psychological struggles of the survivors.
I read so many negative reviews of Dead City (even though I loved it) the main complaint was that it was too fast paced and never slowed down to build the characters or give you a breather. Maybe the author read that too and decided to write this book with the pace so slow that a zombie could outrun it.
I always give a book 100 pages to prove itself, this one failed miserably. Dead City set a standard and this book put me to sleep and I couldn't even give it 100 pages. I mean come on its the zombie apocalypse. Anyone reading a zombies novel wants to see people running for their lives, fighting to survive and people being eaten by the undead, not the dramatic relationships and psychological struggles of the survivors.
January 4, 2014
I'm a bit disturbed by this book....
First- as I'm starting to read this every single chapter ends with a group in the mists of something and a new chapter begins with a new group of people. This kept up for most of the book and it drove me absolutely insane trying to keep track of 10 different groups of people " slight exaggeration"
Second- the sexual encounters with Jasper could have and should have been left out. Towards the end of the book when he took Thomas in his bed a young boy my stomach turned and I almost put the book down.
Third- Barnes through out the whole book was a bad ass battle machine hard core non stop warrior and in the end he cowered down to some religious nut job and forgot all his morals and did as he was told even though he stated several times in the book he was out for him and his survival he was all on board for group suicide in the end.
Last- the way grasslands was wrote was a joke I mean seriously!!!! Seriously!!!!
First- as I'm starting to read this every single chapter ends with a group in the mists of something and a new chapter begins with a new group of people. This kept up for most of the book and it drove me absolutely insane trying to keep track of 10 different groups of people " slight exaggeration"
Second- the sexual encounters with Jasper could have and should have been left out. Towards the end of the book when he took Thomas in his bed a young boy my stomach turned and I almost put the book down.
Third- Barnes through out the whole book was a bad ass battle machine hard core non stop warrior and in the end he cowered down to some religious nut job and forgot all his morals and did as he was told even though he stated several times in the book he was out for him and his survival he was all on board for group suicide in the end.
Last- the way grasslands was wrote was a joke I mean seriously!!!! Seriously!!!!
September 9, 2011
This was a great read. The only gripe I had was in the early parts of the book, where there were a lot of separate stories focusing on different groups of people. The book bounced hap-hazardously between each group in a really confusing way. I can only think that this happened because each group's story was written in full, then split up into pieces to form each chapter. However, as the story built and each separate story intertwined, it turned from a good book into a great book. Not everyone survives (as is expected in a zombie book) but you actually get to know each character and really care about those who are in peril or those who die. Often in zombie books, the characters are really only cardboard cutouts of real people, but the author tells you a lot about the characters to the point where you feel you know them, without ever getting in the way of the story.
January 11, 2015
I'm calling this one "Redemption of the Dead" instead of Apocalypse of the Dead. The first book in this series I felt was horrid and very badly written. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go on with the rest of the series, but I'm so glad I did. What a complete turnaround!! I loved it. Everything I complained about in book 1 was done pretty much perfectly in Book # 2. You had all the action, but it seemed more thought out and placed where it should be. The characters were even more rounded with a couple of twists thrown in. Very well done!!
April 10, 2011
Definitely got into this one more than the 1st. Nothing bad about the 1st just that I felt this had a more grown up feel about it and the characters very believable.
Looking forward to April 2011 for the next one !
Looking forward to April 2011 for the next one !
November 26, 2025
5 out of 5. Wow!
Firstly, why is nobody talking about Joe McKinney? Now, I've only read two of his books but both have been amazing. He is as good as the greats, like King, Barker, Ketchum, Ajvide Lindqvist, Hill and so on, and this book is proof of it!
Apocalypse of the Dead is a pretty big book for McKinney, a little over 500 pages and the only book I can really compare it to is Stephen King's The Stand, but with zombies, and throw in a bit of Jonestown while you're at it! So if I'm gonna only use books to explain it. The Stand + Dead City + Little Heaven.
Most of these 500+ pages are filled with nonstop action. McKinney never slows down too much and you never feel safe reading his books. The high speed tempo really makes the pages turn on their own and when I read it, I couldn't put it down!
Now, the characters aren't that special in the beginning. A lot of it have been seen before. Some similarities here and hopefully without spoiling anything.
Ed Moore - Rick Grimes
Billy Kline - Jake Chambers
Nate Royal - Stu Redman
Randall Gaines - Wayyyy too many action villains
Kyra Talbot - A couple Stephen King characters too many
Sandra Tellez - Michonne
And, of course, Jasper Sewell - Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite and so on.
My favorite character however was easily Jeff Stavers. He had such a unique situation and grew a lot. And his relationship with Robin, I was cheering for 'em damnit! But he began as a whatever douche I thought I was gonna hate and then he started to turn more and more into something else, and I loved to see that growth, and once again, him and Robin. Perfection! I wouldn't mind seeing a story about just the two of them. I love them so much!
Speaking of a character combo I loved, Ed and Billy. They had something like a father-son relationship and I really love how they grew together and got through thick and thin. Also, the part about how Billy stops swearing, haha, amazing.
Lastly, on character duos, Mark Kellogg and Nate Royal really grew on me in the last part of the book.
Something else that really made me love this book was to see a macro perspective of a zombie apocalypse, and dare I say it, it was done better here than in World War Z. I loved how McKinney went from a small, almost claustrophobic first person POV in Dead City to this almost epic scope of zombies.
So, lastly, do I have some problems with this novel?
Well, I think the last part of the book, in the grasslands, is a tiny bit too high tempo for it's own good. I think the book could have had an extra 50 pages or so for it. But besides that, there's nothing I can complain about. This is a true successor to The Stand and one of the best books I've read in a long time. I will read Flesh Eaters & Mutated rather sooner than later!
Firstly, why is nobody talking about Joe McKinney? Now, I've only read two of his books but both have been amazing. He is as good as the greats, like King, Barker, Ketchum, Ajvide Lindqvist, Hill and so on, and this book is proof of it!
Apocalypse of the Dead is a pretty big book for McKinney, a little over 500 pages and the only book I can really compare it to is Stephen King's The Stand, but with zombies, and throw in a bit of Jonestown while you're at it! So if I'm gonna only use books to explain it. The Stand + Dead City + Little Heaven.
Most of these 500+ pages are filled with nonstop action. McKinney never slows down too much and you never feel safe reading his books. The high speed tempo really makes the pages turn on their own and when I read it, I couldn't put it down!
Now, the characters aren't that special in the beginning. A lot of it have been seen before. Some similarities here and hopefully without spoiling anything.
Ed Moore - Rick Grimes
Billy Kline - Jake Chambers
Nate Royal - Stu Redman
Randall Gaines - Wayyyy too many action villains
Kyra Talbot - A couple Stephen King characters too many
Sandra Tellez - Michonne
And, of course, Jasper Sewell - Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite and so on.
My favorite character however was easily Jeff Stavers. He had such a unique situation and grew a lot. And his relationship with Robin, I was cheering for 'em damnit! But he began as a whatever douche I thought I was gonna hate and then he started to turn more and more into something else, and I loved to see that growth, and once again, him and Robin. Perfection! I wouldn't mind seeing a story about just the two of them. I love them so much!
Speaking of a character combo I loved, Ed and Billy. They had something like a father-son relationship and I really love how they grew together and got through thick and thin. Also, the part about how Billy stops swearing, haha, amazing.
Lastly, on character duos, Mark Kellogg and Nate Royal really grew on me in the last part of the book.
Something else that really made me love this book was to see a macro perspective of a zombie apocalypse, and dare I say it, it was done better here than in World War Z. I loved how McKinney went from a small, almost claustrophobic first person POV in Dead City to this almost epic scope of zombies.
So, lastly, do I have some problems with this novel?
Well, I think the last part of the book, in the grasslands, is a tiny bit too high tempo for it's own good. I think the book could have had an extra 50 pages or so for it. But besides that, there's nothing I can complain about. This is a true successor to The Stand and one of the best books I've read in a long time. I will read Flesh Eaters & Mutated rather sooner than later!
June 3, 2024
This wasn't my favorite... too many characters and abrupt changes of scene kept it pretty confusing. Also, the plot seemed to derail a bit from zombie survival to crazy cult survival - this might have been ok if some of the characters didn't have personality derailments as well.
There's a few characters I'm invested in, so I'm not giving up yet!
There's a few characters I'm invested in, so I'm not giving up yet!
August 21, 2019
The book of terror is very fantastic.
June 14, 2016
This was an RV trip from HELL and back.
As my professor in Horror said, "you want to be respectful and sit through work."
Exhausting!!
Again irritating sub-plots that you are forced to power through to find the one thing in a book that helps you. Though, where is it, I can't find it, it's not there.
I say to emoticon:
"Hey bud, what did you think?"
"zZz ZzZ zzz."
My sentiment exactly.
The folks in this story are described as the infected surviving viruses. They have been infected by the "necromis filovirus" I think that's what it was. If you're stronger you'll last longer.
SO...
The zombies have green blood, I guess the virus does that to them?
-Yeah, it turns their blood green.
Glad to see Lucio Fulci's work is gaining some recognition because the author must of been influenced by him. There is a scene that tries to mimic the coolness of the underwater shark attack in the film Zombi2 (Lucio Fulci, 1979).
This books spins off in a lot of directions and never stabilizes. When they are in the camp, you might remember the film The 5th Wave (J Blakeson, 2016).
The idea of a wall.
H'm, let's see here.
1. Escape From New York (John Carpenter, 1981).
2. Donald Trump
You may feel ripped-off after reading this, or you may get hungry for mac-n-cheese. As I did.
There are a lot of things that leave you wondering why the author mentions it at all. Like Barbie has alzheimers. How is this relevant?
This isn't a book about some old lady left alone in a nursing home staring out at the prairie all day.
And, on page 444 we just learn that Nick is an atheist. Why tell us this now when the story is almost over.
To me the book was more like an Apocalypse of the Soap Opera.
(A twisted soap opera if that)
Towards the end Jasper is a Jim Jones copycat.
I found it hard to gain respect for any of these characters. Richardson was the hero for wanting to go back help those others that were being attacked by zombies.
But, ...
Yeah,,
Strike out!
As my professor in Horror said, "you want to be respectful and sit through work."
Exhausting!!
Again irritating sub-plots that you are forced to power through to find the one thing in a book that helps you. Though, where is it, I can't find it, it's not there.
I say to emoticon:
"Hey bud, what did you think?"
"zZz ZzZ zzz."
My sentiment exactly.
The folks in this story are described as the infected surviving viruses. They have been infected by the "necromis filovirus" I think that's what it was. If you're stronger you'll last longer.
SO...
The zombies have green blood, I guess the virus does that to them?
-Yeah, it turns their blood green.
Glad to see Lucio Fulci's work is gaining some recognition because the author must of been influenced by him. There is a scene that tries to mimic the coolness of the underwater shark attack in the film Zombi2 (Lucio Fulci, 1979).
This books spins off in a lot of directions and never stabilizes. When they are in the camp, you might remember the film The 5th Wave (J Blakeson, 2016).
The idea of a wall.
H'm, let's see here.
1. Escape From New York (John Carpenter, 1981).
2. Donald Trump
You may feel ripped-off after reading this, or you may get hungry for mac-n-cheese. As I did.
There are a lot of things that leave you wondering why the author mentions it at all. Like Barbie has alzheimers. How is this relevant?
This isn't a book about some old lady left alone in a nursing home staring out at the prairie all day.
And, on page 444 we just learn that Nick is an atheist. Why tell us this now when the story is almost over.
To me the book was more like an Apocalypse of the Soap Opera.
(A twisted soap opera if that)
Towards the end Jasper is a Jim Jones copycat.
I found it hard to gain respect for any of these characters. Richardson was the hero for wanting to go back help those others that were being attacked by zombies.
But, ...
Yeah,,
Strike out!
October 15, 2013
really fun read. felt.. huge. lots of areas covered, character types and all sorts of scenarios. often predictable, but scattered enough to deflect any boredom aha.
i didn't like the way i read Nate. i found it bad writing and pulling teeth to read. i understand he's supposed to be slow, but it came out really phony to me until the lastt interaction he has.
there were a lot of cliches, but there were so many angles things were coming from that it managed to not be monotonous in it, though i am not sure i was ever surprised by a turn of events. this was a hugely storyline based book, and less about the heebie-jeebies. and i was kind of expecting the scare factor, especially when a blind girl is forced to walk through a desert for help. i feel like the author dropped the ball there. that could have been really freaky and was a situation i'd never encountered in the genre before, surprisingly, and it was just... skipped over. and it happened a few times. it strayed a bit from the zombie genre for me.
it was more of a season two Walking Dead than a season one, if you feel me*.
and i wanted creepy in this. but i feel like zombies weren't the topic at all. hell, there was a point where they go into how advanced zombies have become and then nothing happens from that. what was the point of the details of zombies being able to open doors if there was never a smart zombie situation to confront?
so it wasn't brilliant. and it had it's gaps. but i really ate it up. i think it was the fact there were so many people from so many situations that all tied together that i couldn't get bored along the way. the ending was boring, though. i like how Aaron played out, but i found the ending kind of monotonous and really missing that element of 'creepy zombie' factor.
*the fact i love the second season more and will FIGHT YOU if you disagree is irrelevant
i didn't like the way i read Nate. i found it bad writing and pulling teeth to read. i understand he's supposed to be slow, but it came out really phony to me until the lastt interaction he has.
there were a lot of cliches, but there were so many angles things were coming from that it managed to not be monotonous in it, though i am not sure i was ever surprised by a turn of events. this was a hugely storyline based book, and less about the heebie-jeebies. and i was kind of expecting the scare factor, especially when a blind girl is forced to walk through a desert for help. i feel like the author dropped the ball there. that could have been really freaky and was a situation i'd never encountered in the genre before, surprisingly, and it was just... skipped over. and it happened a few times. it strayed a bit from the zombie genre for me.
it was more of a season two Walking Dead than a season one, if you feel me*.
and i wanted creepy in this. but i feel like zombies weren't the topic at all. hell, there was a point where they go into how advanced zombies have become and then nothing happens from that. what was the point of the details of zombies being able to open doors if there was never a smart zombie situation to confront?
so it wasn't brilliant. and it had it's gaps. but i really ate it up. i think it was the fact there were so many people from so many situations that all tied together that i couldn't get bored along the way. the ending was boring, though. i like how Aaron played out, but i found the ending kind of monotonous and really missing that element of 'creepy zombie' factor.
*the fact i love the second season more and will FIGHT YOU if you disagree is irrelevant
April 3, 2012
I was about to put the book down. I'm so glad I didn't.
At first I thought that the author was all over the place and I was having trouble trying to keep up with all of the characters, where they were at, and how he was switching between them. As I guessed, all of the characters would eventually make it to one place and their stories combine making it easier but I was afraid I was going to be lost. No such thing happened.
Like his last book in the series I ate this one up like candy. I normally as a rule don't read series books one after the other, a lesson I learned from trying to all of the Dark Tower series by King. Another reason is that the same style from the author needs to be refreshed with another author in-between. But this book was taken from several characters and not from the first person like the last one, which made it ok to read one after the other.
In this book of the series the outbreak of the zombie virus (also interesting to see how each writer/director's take on what causes zombizm) has spread beyond the containment walls erected around the affected area of Texas, thus infecting the rest of the United States and the world beyond. This is how we meet all of our characters, who eventually find their way to the Grasslands National Park in North Dakota. The person who set up the community there is a crazy preacher from Mississippi who takes his "family" there and along the way picks up others, all of who end up melding into his "family." You could already tell something was up because of the way that he referred to his congregation, but when the author started describing some of his exploits, it really made me sick. Don't let that stop you from reading the book though. It is all worth your time.
At first I thought that the author was all over the place and I was having trouble trying to keep up with all of the characters, where they were at, and how he was switching between them. As I guessed, all of the characters would eventually make it to one place and their stories combine making it easier but I was afraid I was going to be lost. No such thing happened.
Like his last book in the series I ate this one up like candy. I normally as a rule don't read series books one after the other, a lesson I learned from trying to all of the Dark Tower series by King. Another reason is that the same style from the author needs to be refreshed with another author in-between. But this book was taken from several characters and not from the first person like the last one, which made it ok to read one after the other.
In this book of the series the outbreak of the zombie virus (also interesting to see how each writer/director's take on what causes zombizm) has spread beyond the containment walls erected around the affected area of Texas, thus infecting the rest of the United States and the world beyond. This is how we meet all of our characters, who eventually find their way to the Grasslands National Park in North Dakota. The person who set up the community there is a crazy preacher from Mississippi who takes his "family" there and along the way picks up others, all of who end up melding into his "family." You could already tell something was up because of the way that he referred to his congregation, but when the author started describing some of his exploits, it really made me sick. Don't let that stop you from reading the book though. It is all worth your time.
November 12, 2012
Overall, very confused jump around storytelling. But the theme of multiple survivors being lead to a single point shows that McKinney had more in store than the initial 2 stories.
I really hate that writers use the unimaginative "Christian-Sinner" as the cult leader. We all know people are not perfect, and Joe tried initially to set up that character with some good points - only a minor amount though. Then he took on the roll of true evil and even more so, he took on a perverted nature that would seem to be the calling card of Christians in the Dead World. Basically if you have a belief in Christ, you also have a belief that you are his vessel to enact physical depravity on women, children, men and all other (ie Zombies) in order to be "faithful". That is a load of crap.
The Zombie Apocalypse doesn't mean that people of faith are bad and denying all forms of a higher power is the only way to go. Truthfully, the ZA is just another imagined version of the real Apocalypse. Hell come to Earth.
Now, I am not defending a particular religion, but religion as a whole. This book showed us "good" and EVIL. But rarely would you say the characters were completely good or completely evil (except for the cult leader). McKinney needs to take a page from Stephen King and admit that even sinners can be redeemed and the world is going to hell-in-a-handbasket, but there is hope.
I will read the third volume, but not right away. I need to cleanse my pallet before going on.
I really hate that writers use the unimaginative "Christian-Sinner" as the cult leader. We all know people are not perfect, and Joe tried initially to set up that character with some good points - only a minor amount though. Then he took on the roll of true evil and even more so, he took on a perverted nature that would seem to be the calling card of Christians in the Dead World. Basically if you have a belief in Christ, you also have a belief that you are his vessel to enact physical depravity on women, children, men and all other (ie Zombies) in order to be "faithful". That is a load of crap.
The Zombie Apocalypse doesn't mean that people of faith are bad and denying all forms of a higher power is the only way to go. Truthfully, the ZA is just another imagined version of the real Apocalypse. Hell come to Earth.
Now, I am not defending a particular religion, but religion as a whole. This book showed us "good" and EVIL. But rarely would you say the characters were completely good or completely evil (except for the cult leader). McKinney needs to take a page from Stephen King and admit that even sinners can be redeemed and the world is going to hell-in-a-handbasket, but there is hope.
I will read the third volume, but not right away. I need to cleanse my pallet before going on.
May 2, 2013
Joe McKinney skillfully balances several groups of characters as they trek across a ruined America to the North Dakota Grasslands where they hope to avoid the hordes of zombies that have resurrected since hurricanes destroyed a portion of the Gulf Coast. The government had hoped that quarantining the cities affected by the hurricanes would stop the outbreak, but a boatload of refugees makes it to the Florida coast and, unfortunately, all but two of them turned.
It’s not absolutely necessary to read the author’s prequel book “Dead City” but it wouldn’t hurt; the events in “Apocalypse” are set two years after the events of that book. Most of the humans left are unprepared for the total collapse of society. A group of Florida retirees led by Ed Moore meet up with a blind woman and an escaped convict to form one group of characters; two buddies, Jeff and Colin, along with the porn stars they hired for Colin’s bachelor party, form another group; a devilish preacher and his Family form the third, and a vicious motorcycle gang form the fourth. It’s impressive to see the characters develop throughout the story, some for the better (Jeff and Aaron) and some for the worse (Michael Barnes).
The question is whether or not humanity is capable of rebuilding society from the ruins, or if anarchy will continue until all the dead are gone. It’s a good post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel that warrants comparisons to Stephen King’s “The Stand”.
It’s not absolutely necessary to read the author’s prequel book “Dead City” but it wouldn’t hurt; the events in “Apocalypse” are set two years after the events of that book. Most of the humans left are unprepared for the total collapse of society. A group of Florida retirees led by Ed Moore meet up with a blind woman and an escaped convict to form one group of characters; two buddies, Jeff and Colin, along with the porn stars they hired for Colin’s bachelor party, form another group; a devilish preacher and his Family form the third, and a vicious motorcycle gang form the fourth. It’s impressive to see the characters develop throughout the story, some for the better (Jeff and Aaron) and some for the worse (Michael Barnes).
The question is whether or not humanity is capable of rebuilding society from the ruins, or if anarchy will continue until all the dead are gone. It’s a good post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel that warrants comparisons to Stephen King’s “The Stand”.
April 11, 2015
The book was OK. Barely. It exists in the same world as the first one, but none of the characters are carried over -- it's a whole new cast. That's nice in that it gives you a fresh take on the world apocalypse, but it also is a bit of a downer since it requires you to re-familiarize yourself with a whole slew of new characters.
And there are a LOT of new characters. Many more than in the first book. This makes it more difficult to keep track of all the different sub-plots and I found the overall experience distracting. In my opinion, he could have easily cut out one of the sub-plots and made the book better overall. As it stands, everything feels cramped and rushed. I felt he wasn't able to fully develop any of the plots or characters because he had too much different threads he had to muscle along and tie up before the end of the book.
My other complaint is that nearly every character is very archetypical, which makes the book feel very formulaic overall.
It wasn't a bad book. But it also wasn't a good book. I'm stopping here and not continuing on with the series.
And there are a LOT of new characters. Many more than in the first book. This makes it more difficult to keep track of all the different sub-plots and I found the overall experience distracting. In my opinion, he could have easily cut out one of the sub-plots and made the book better overall. As it stands, everything feels cramped and rushed. I felt he wasn't able to fully develop any of the plots or characters because he had too much different threads he had to muscle along and tie up before the end of the book.
My other complaint is that nearly every character is very archetypical, which makes the book feel very formulaic overall.
It wasn't a bad book. But it also wasn't a good book. I'm stopping here and not continuing on with the series.
June 27, 2013
Okay! So here's my review!
I am an avid book reader! I love books about zombies and mostly anything young adult, even though I'm getting older in my year.I read Dead City and I had been wanting to read it for a while now, and well guess what? I liked it. The main guys name is Eddie Hudson. I thought this book was going to be a take-off from that, but no it's not. It has different people who all get together in the end. I really wished this author would of continued with eddie's story. But the people in this second volume were great. I found myself anxious for the ending. And I really cared for these people. Eddie More was great, so was Kyra and Sandra. Although 500 pages...it began to get tiresome. I began to be all like omg when is this gonna be over with. I did find the part where Barnes was kicking the severed head extremely funny. I also found Colin extremely sexy, but wish he wasn't a pussy and didn't go crazy, and treated Kyra better. But things happen lol.I will def read the next book on my Kindle, but it's going to be a while. 500 pages wears you out after awhile.
I am an avid book reader! I love books about zombies and mostly anything young adult, even though I'm getting older in my year.I read Dead City and I had been wanting to read it for a while now, and well guess what? I liked it. The main guys name is Eddie Hudson. I thought this book was going to be a take-off from that, but no it's not. It has different people who all get together in the end. I really wished this author would of continued with eddie's story. But the people in this second volume were great. I found myself anxious for the ending. And I really cared for these people. Eddie More was great, so was Kyra and Sandra. Although 500 pages...it began to get tiresome. I began to be all like omg when is this gonna be over with. I did find the part where Barnes was kicking the severed head extremely funny. I also found Colin extremely sexy, but wish he wasn't a pussy and didn't go crazy, and treated Kyra better. But things happen lol.I will def read the next book on my Kindle, but it's going to be a while. 500 pages wears you out after awhile.
January 15, 2016
This book is deeply sexist. I think the author noticed the complaints of sexism in response to the first book and tried to fix it in this one. There is a female leader in this book! Who is described by another character as attractive, because latinas keep their looks into their 40s and 50s. (wut) Also she ran a daycare pre-apocalypse and her primary action in the book is taking care of an orphan.
One female character is a porn star with an extended seduction scene who immediately morphs into a preschool teacher when needed.
One female character is literally blind and thus completely dependent on the big strong men to defend her from zombies.
Aaaand that's it. All the rest of the characters are brave manly men. Including the most ridiculous 70yo who is super badA in all fights and an expert marksman and can roll under trucks and tips his hat to ladies. Gag me with an f-ing spoon.
The story was interesting enough, thus 2 stars. But seriously McKinney have maybe, oh I don't know, a WOMAN read your draft next time? It's the 20th century.
One female character is a porn star with an extended seduction scene who immediately morphs into a preschool teacher when needed.
One female character is literally blind and thus completely dependent on the big strong men to defend her from zombies.
Aaaand that's it. All the rest of the characters are brave manly men. Including the most ridiculous 70yo who is super badA in all fights and an expert marksman and can roll under trucks and tips his hat to ladies. Gag me with an f-ing spoon.
The story was interesting enough, thus 2 stars. But seriously McKinney have maybe, oh I don't know, a WOMAN read your draft next time? It's the 20th century.
August 23, 2014
Fantastic use of multiple viewpoints, great characters, and solid action story. McKinney has a talent for making outrageous characters work well together.
This novel is a standalone sequel to Dead City that follows several bands of survivors as they journey across the country in search of safe haven from hordes of infected. Some of the best moments of this novel come from the sheer unlikelihood of the events - a band of geriatric survivors led by a retired U.S Marshal, a party bus on the run from a gang of homicidal bikers, and a half-cocked supercop on the brink of insanity, and a cult following grown from a southern church!
Given the scattered POVs and the wide range of characters, readers will find it difficult to relate, especially given the actions of our cast. Despite this, it was a fun read with an ending that reminded me of a Chuck Palahnuik novel. I looking forward to the next in the series.
This novel is a standalone sequel to Dead City that follows several bands of survivors as they journey across the country in search of safe haven from hordes of infected. Some of the best moments of this novel come from the sheer unlikelihood of the events - a band of geriatric survivors led by a retired U.S Marshal, a party bus on the run from a gang of homicidal bikers, and a half-cocked supercop on the brink of insanity, and a cult following grown from a southern church!
Given the scattered POVs and the wide range of characters, readers will find it difficult to relate, especially given the actions of our cast. Despite this, it was a fun read with an ending that reminded me of a Chuck Palahnuik novel. I looking forward to the next in the series.
August 31, 2014
Honestly, I was really excited to read this book as I am a big fan of the horror genre. However, I was incredibly disappointed with almost every aspect of this book. With the author constantly repeating himself and character development that didn't seem to make sense at all, this book was very difficult for me not to stop reading and throw away. Halfway through, it's almost as if McKinney forgot he was writing about Zombies and began writing about a mass religious suicide (Jim Jones much?). This book isn't worth reading, and I have no intention of reading any of his other works. With something this bad, it's hard to believe anything he wrote could be any better.
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