THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

After months of hype, an ancient tomb is opened, for the first time, on live TV - the archaeological equivalent of Shark Week. However, no one foresaw exactly how apt this reference was, as the horror that is unleashed from the tomb is predatory - although far more dangerous than any shark. As the infection found in the sealed off walls of the tomb ravages the Earth, a tight knit family of outcasts who will do anything for each other battles to stay alive. There were no plans for this. No help from the authorities. In this new world, every man or family group is left to fend for themselves; the only thing worse than running out of food and water, is running out of ammunition.

MY VERDICT:

This book - clearly heavily inspired by the movie adaption of World War Z with extremely fast-moving Zombies that plough, head-first into objects - is an extremely fun read which I highly recommend. Right from the opening prologue chapter, I was blown away - the action gets underway super-fast, pulling you into the story straight away. The narrative then shifts to North America and for the next few chapters, there is a wonderful build-up of tension; you know the Zombies are there, the prologue confirmed the outbreak started in Egypt and, later, Europe becomes overrun, so it is only a matter of time before they arrive in the US. But that leaves time to plan and the family we follow in the novel does just that - showing humanities staggeringly quick demise into a tragedy that has not even happened yet. The focus, at this early stage, is the threat posed by man - what lengths they are prepared to go to in order to try and ensure their own survival above any other's. When the Zombies actually show up in North America, the focus is entirely on them, they are the major threat, they are the danger and, right until the very end, they stay this way. I think this 'two-halves' approach is fantastic as it really keeps the Zombies as the lethal force that they are - instead of hiding them beneath a allegedly more scary threat of humanity on the edge. There are plenty more highlights to this gnarly tale; the writing is spot on, characterisation is top-notch meaning you will actually care when they die or get caught up in perilous situations and the description of the Zombies is fairly good. The only slight negative I have is that the ending is a bit underwhelming; it comes about quite quickly and is fairly abrupt.