Recent Reviews
Book Review: DEAD SEA by Brian Keene
By Dave Dreher

Jun 22, 2007, 22:56

Just got finished reading Brian Keene's latest a hot little number titled DEAD SEA. Ok, I'm going to say it, Keene writes the best zombie fiction ever. There, it's out.

With DEAD SEA Keene returns to the world of the living dead but he takes things in a bit of a different direction this time around. With THE RISING and CITY OF THE DEAD he led us through a world gone mad with the dead returning to life after being possessed by beings from another dimension but this time around the dead awaken after being exposed to a blood based virus that kills you then re-animates you. Although the dead rise in a different fashion the end result is the same, complete utter terror. I can't think of another writer who can transport you so vividly into his nightmare world.

As the title suggests, a good portion of this novel takes place at sea after a handful of characters find themselves aboard a museum boat that is moored in the city harbor. We quickly meet our principal characters and travel with them through a city alive with the living dead and are quickly whisked into their life and death situations. The main character is LAMAR, a gay black man who reluctantly finds himself a hero after meeting up with a brother and sister whom have holed up in their apartment after their mother had died. The city around them is on fire and the living dead are beating at the door. They escape and find themselves at the harbor with the living dead closing the gap quickly. They are rescued by a group of folks who are aboard a large coast guard ship that has been moored and used as a museum but is still in working order.

They narrowly escape the living dead and end up off shore on this large boat with about 20 other people and begin to ponder what to do next.

What follows is some of the most intense chapters of writing that I have ever read. Keene take the zombie lore and turns it on its ear. Anything goes in the world of Keene and he just loves to pull the rug from beneath you.

If you have not yet picked up a Keene novel, do so now. This guy is the next big thing and he is writing some of the best horror to hit the page in years.

I eagerly await each new work from him. He can't write them fast enough for me.

DEAD SEA will hit the bookstores on July 31^st from Dorchester Publishing and will be in all the major book sellers. Find it, read it, love it.