Brian Keene, The Rising

Synopsis: Brian Keene, The Rising

"Nothing stays dead for long. The dead are returning to life, intelligent, determined and very hungry. Escape seems impossible for Jim Thurmond, one of the few left alive in this nightmare world. But Jim's young son is also alive and in grave danger hundreds of miles away. Despite astronomical odds, Jim vows to find him - or die trying. Joined by an elderly preacher, a guilt-ridden scientist and an ex-prostitute, Jim sets out on a cross-country rescue mission. Together they must battle both the living and the living dead, and the even greater evil that awaits them at the end of their journey."

Brian Keene's zombie novel "The Rising" is a refreshingly original tale based within a post apocalyptic world where the undead have killed the majority of humanity. Keene's zombies are not just mindless, decaying corpses, slowly shuffling their way around, looking for victims to devour and to join their ranks. Far from it! Like in David Wellington's "Monster" trilogy, these zombies are fast, cunning and organised. With the original idea of the corpse bodies being taken over by evil spirits that have been banished from our world for billions of years, the novel sets out a whole new angle on the zombie sub genre.

From the very beginning, the reader is thrown into the claustrophobic survival of our lead character Jim Thurmond. Like in Bowie Ibarra's zombie tale "Down The Road", the main thrust of the story's plot is the survival of the main character as he takes on a massive journey, battling against the undead and any other foes along the way. With "The Rising", the reader follows Jim as he travels across America to rescue his son Danny who he is sure is still alive.

Keene uses not only human corpses for reanimation into zombies, but any animal that dies becomes another one of the living dead. This original take on the genre adds more horrific consequences for the characters, with zombie birds, rats and other wildlife all out to kill off humanity.

Throughout the novel the reader is introduced to other survivors along the way, each one described with a great amount of characterization. Death is everywhere within the story, leaving you guessing who will die next at the hands of the zombie army.

The novel races from start to end, delivering a fast paced, action-packed gore-fest, with a truly dark atmosphere that creeps through the pages. Ending on a massive cliff hanger that will lead you straight into the sequel "City Of The Dead", it's worth buying the novels as a pair as they really need to be read one after the other.

The novel runs for a total of 321 pages and was first published in January 2004 by Leisure Books.