The Living Dead
Witty
Heartbreaking
Intense

The Living Dead

“A horror landmark and a work of gory genius.”—Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death! George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete. Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times bestseller The Shape of Water (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and Trollhunters (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero's widow, to complete The Living Dead. Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it. It begins with one body. A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. It spreads quickly. In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.
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Reviews

Photo of Heather Wassing
Heather Wassing@heatherwassing
5 stars
Mar 8, 2022

Long. So long. But well written, exciting and, at its heart, beautiful. I don't know that the epilogue sticks the landing, but the last 100 pages or so were an absolute sprint. Worth the read, even if your reading pace is as slow as a Romero zombie.

+3
Photo of Kelli Lynn
Kelli Lynn@kellilynn087
5 stars
Feb 26, 2022

George A. Ramero does it again! Honestly, we are not surprised. If you are a lover of Zombies this read is going to be at the top of your reading list! Plenty of action, horror, and gore to appease any Zombie lover! The characters are all interesting in their own ways. I found most of them to be well rounded. The authors provide a lot of backstory worked in so that everything flows nicely. I only found myself confused once with who in the book was referring to as to be alive/dead and who it was.I truthfully am not a huge fan of Zombies and they really do not normally hold my attention. This book however really pulled me in. It is a little different from the typical " Zombie" storyline. Definitely a good read.

Photo of Megan White
Megan White@chapterswithmeg
3 stars
Nov 16, 2021

** spoiler alert ** 3.5 I may change my mind. There were beautiful and heart wrenching stories, stories that made me cry, stories that would keep me awake. The book managed to pull off jump scares, trigger the deepest revulsion, and keep me awake at night listening for zombies. The social commentary, our heroes and all they suffer through and find joy in - not flawless but you can sink into it if you try. The Lindolf story line hits way too close to home after the last five years. I skimmed the “debate” because it threatened to make me DNF at 85-95%. Bad, but maybe in twenty years it won’t make me absolutely nauseous.

Photo of Casie Blevins
Casie Blevins@casiepaws
5 stars
Oct 18, 2021

With prose that sings and a social commentary that cuts deep, Romero's novel is perfect.

Photo of Effie W
Effie W@carnography
5 stars
Feb 23, 2023
+16
Photo of Tanya Sutton
Tanya Sutton@mrsreads
4 stars
Mar 14, 2022
Photo of Joey Baker
Joey Baker@brianjacquesoff
3 stars
Jun 4, 2022
Photo of Taylor
Taylor@timidbabe
5 stars
Mar 3, 2022