THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

One day in America, two medical examiners make a grave discovery; the dead don't stay dead. After that, the plague, disease or whatever this living Hell is that re-animates dead souls, spreads quickly, consuming the entire North-American continent - even an aircraft carrier moored off the coast is not free from the bizarre undeath. A news anchor keeps broadcasting, keeping live coverage for as long as possible. A federal worker documents the downfall of humanity and the rise of the dead; a written history for a future that may never come. The outcome is clear; civilisation as it once was is over but that is not the whole story as people struggle to realise that a loss is just a chance to start anew.

MY VERDICT:

I really wanted to love this book; coming from the master of Zombie horror, George A. Romero, I expected great things but, after reading cover-to-cover, those 'great things' never materialise leaving what I'm sad to say, is just another average Zombie book that I can neither recommend nor caution away from. It starts out excellent; after the first few chapters, involving some truly riveting descriptions of the first Zombie to rise - the aptly named "John Doe" -, I was hooked, determined to give the massive tome a five-star review. You see, in true Romero style, the beginnings of the Zombie outbreak are never explained and neither, as you'll find out, is its end; one day people rise from the dead and one day they stop rising. This lack of explanation could be seen as a negative but I really like it - giving the apocalypse a mysterious Night of the Living Dead feel. Indeed, the whole book reads like Romero's greatest hits with clear references pulled from all his best work including Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead and The Crazies - even Monkey Shines is alluded to at one point. The Romero influence is also keenly felt in the story's concluding act where, not to give too much away, the Zombies are seen by many as, ultimately, a force for good, not the evil monsters they appeared. With all the problems in the world today; climate change, overpopulation, the downfall of truth, to name but a few, it is easy to sympathise with this view and see how Zombies, wiping away the problematic civilisation, giving humanity a fresh start, a second try, could be considered a very necessary evil - it is a truly unique angle that does the authors of the book credit. However, even this very special, refreshingly different ending and the amazing 'old-school', Zombie-purist style cannot save The Living Dead from what it truly, frustratingly is; mediocre. For a start, the whole novel, apparently produced over ten years, is way too long. It is divided into three parts, each part dealing with a different stage of the apocalypse. All parts out stay their welcome to some degree but part three is the main offender; most of it seems needless filler to increase the length of an already long book. Secondly, to provide a sense of continuity, the authors take all the apocalypse survivors from the first two parts of the book and effectively drop them into the new world colony together - all living happily, in a reasonably safe environment despite previously having been in dire straits and all being situated in different parts of North America. It feels so forced and unrealistic, a quick way to bypass any latter-stage character development. And, actually, I've raised another good criticism there; all the survivors come from North America and the whole tale takes place there, never once is any other geographic location mentioned - how is China handling the threat? Are there even Zombies there? What about the UK? I want to know these things and it is disappointing that the book is so America-focused. The greatest grievance I have though, is the lack of truly amazing Zombie descriptions; I mean, come on, this is the book from the 'Godfather of the Dead' himself, it should be filled with incomparably vivid descriptions of Zombies with their swollen, bloodied bodies and atrocious gaits. After that initial ground-breaking picture of "John Doe", re-animating on his autopsy slab after several vital organs have been removed, the word-usage withers away to dreadfully boring simplicity.