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badseedgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Finally, I got the book [b:The Rising|216213|The Rising (The Rising #1)|Brian Keene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436332881l/216213._SY75_.jpg|209323] claimed to be. This was a different take on the zombie genre because the virus was able to jump species. It made the horror of the book so much more. I will say I found it hard to imagine any survivors able to outrun a zombie dog, let alone two children, but I will forgive Mr. Keene this little thing.
He sure does love to end the world in the bloody and messiest ways possible.
He sure does love to end the world in the bloody and messiest ways possible.
billymac1962's review against another edition
3.0
Brian Keene breathed new life into the zombie genre with [b:The Rising|216213|The Rising|Brian Keene|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402345248s/216213.jpg|209323] and [b:City of the Dead|90577|City of the Dead|Brian Keene|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348120199s/90577.jpg|87417] with an excellent slant on zombie lore.
Dead Sea is apart from that world. Here we have the standard zombie we all know and love: slow, stupid, disgusting, and ravenous. There are also a few non-standards up his sleeve, but I'll leave that up to discovery.
As always, Keene's pace is relentless, the story moves along like gangbusters. It's not my favorite of his (Ghoul takes that one, I think), but it's still very much worth reading if you're not sick of zombies by now.
A good, quick vacation read. 3.5 stars.
Dead Sea is apart from that world. Here we have the standard zombie we all know and love: slow, stupid, disgusting, and ravenous. There are also a few non-standards up his sleeve, but I'll leave that up to discovery.
As always, Keene's pace is relentless, the story moves along like gangbusters. It's not my favorite of his (Ghoul takes that one, I think), but it's still very much worth reading if you're not sick of zombies by now.
A good, quick vacation read. 3.5 stars.
anomieus's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
callidice's review against another edition
4.0
Holy crap. I just finished this one, so excuse me if I'm still trying to process it. I've only read a handful of zombie novels, but I can easily say that this was one of the freakiest. It starts out with this guy named Lamar, a gay African-American who is hiding out with his neighbor, Alan, during the zombie apocalypse. Alan unfortunately gets bitten at some point, and Lamar goes off on his own until he runs into a couple of kids that he takes under his wing. They receive help from another man, Mitch, and the group of four runs toward the harbor and joins more survivors on board a ship that's heading out to sea.
What makes this book stand out from the plethora of zombie novels out there is that not only can humans become infected and turn into zombies, but animal species can, as well. According to Lamar's character, this disease, dubbed 'Hamelin's Revenge,' first appeared in rats, and then spread to humans as the rats began attacking people. The disease would periodically jump from species to species, until even fish weren't safe from catching it.
I think the reason I found this book to be creepy was because of how the disease began infecting animals. It's scary enough trying to imagine surviving and fighting off hordes of human zombies, but what about zombie sharks? Or zombie birds? What the heck do you do then?!
This novel was a quick read, with lots of suspense, but I admit that I soon found myself visibly cringing while reading certain scenes - after all that Lamar had witnessed, he still seemed to let his guard down at the worst possible moments. For one, he shrugged off a gaping wound on a fish they had caught, which is not something you should do when you know that with a wound in any other species your first thought would be "zombie!" It's the middle of the apocalypse, for Pete's sake! Then, while knowing that zombie fish actually were roaming the seas, Lamar put his freakin' hand into the ocean, just to feel the water on his skin! C'mon! How could you possibly forget about the fish?!
At any rate, despite the fact that Lamar was clearly very lucky to make it past the first day, let alone the first chapter, I still enjoyed reading this book. It was unique, and really made zombie apocalypses sound even scarier than they normally do. I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the genre!
What makes this book stand out from the plethora of zombie novels out there is that not only can humans become infected and turn into zombies, but animal species can, as well. According to Lamar's character, this disease, dubbed 'Hamelin's Revenge,' first appeared in rats, and then spread to humans as the rats began attacking people. The disease would periodically jump from species to species, until even fish weren't safe from catching it.
I think the reason I found this book to be creepy was because of how the disease began infecting animals. It's scary enough trying to imagine surviving and fighting off hordes of human zombies, but what about zombie sharks? Or zombie birds? What the heck do you do then?!
This novel was a quick read, with lots of suspense, but I admit that I soon found myself visibly cringing while reading certain scenes - after all that Lamar had witnessed, he still seemed to let his guard down at the worst possible moments. For one, he shrugged off a gaping wound on a fish they had caught, which is not something you should do when you know that with a wound in any other species your first thought would be "zombie!" It's the middle of the apocalypse, for Pete's sake! Then, while knowing that zombie fish actually were roaming the seas, Lamar put his freakin' hand into the ocean, just to feel the water on his skin! C'mon! How could you possibly forget about the fish?!
At any rate, despite the fact that Lamar was clearly very lucky to make it past the first day, let alone the first chapter, I still enjoyed reading this book. It was unique, and really made zombie apocalypses sound even scarier than they normally do. I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the genre!
notyourdad's review against another edition
5.0
Hands down the best zombie novel I have read. Perfection, no notes.
brianmcdonald42's review against another edition
2.0
"Dead Sea" is a horror novel. It's not going to be a feel-good kind of experience. But when you can see the end telegraphed a couple hundred pages in advance, it makes the journey a rough slog.
This is a zombie book. You pretty much know what you're going to get from zombie fiction: blood, guts, gore, violence, some shambling, and a lot of head shots if the human characters have guns. You have tight spaces, overwhelming crowds of zombies, dwindling supplies, and dwindling characters. Maybe there's a "man is the real menace" subplot thrown into the mix. This book has all of those things, done with a minimum amount of craft and skill, with nothing particularly new to say. The zombie animals are a nice touch, but again, telegraphed from a mile off.
"Dead Sea" is competently written, for the most part. I may pick up another one of Keene's books when I'm looking for a basic gory horror book. But maybe zombie stories just aren't suited to be novels. I can't imagine how padded the zombie trilogies and series must be.
This is a zombie book. You pretty much know what you're going to get from zombie fiction: blood, guts, gore, violence, some shambling, and a lot of head shots if the human characters have guns. You have tight spaces, overwhelming crowds of zombies, dwindling supplies, and dwindling characters. Maybe there's a "man is the real menace" subplot thrown into the mix. This book has all of those things, done with a minimum amount of craft and skill, with nothing particularly new to say. The zombie animals are a nice touch, but again, telegraphed from a mile off.
"Dead Sea" is competently written, for the most part. I may pick up another one of Keene's books when I'm looking for a basic gory horror book. But maybe zombie stories just aren't suited to be novels. I can't imagine how padded the zombie trilogies and series must be.
tunacullen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
linbee83's review against another edition
4.0
The third of his Zombie novels, but nothing like the first 2. These are your typical brainless, slow moving zombies. He adds to twist that animals can become infected. Tells the story of a young man who meets ups with some young children and together they flee a burning city onto a ship. Very engaging and interesting novel.
anubis9's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty interesting. I really liked the plague and it's slow spread to all of the animal kingdom. The part with the crazy priest will haunt me for quite some time.