The Dead

This past week I finished reading The Dead by Mark E Rogers.

Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

The story centers on Gary Holland who returns home to the Jersey Shore for his father's funeral and ends up facing the end of the world (somewhat) zombie-apocalypse style.

Initially, I enjoyed the book quite a bit.  The author writes very well and the horror really is there for the first few chapters.  I did read all the way through to the end, and it wasn't terrible — I did stay interested in just exactly how it would end, though it's not long before anyone who has some familiarity with the Bible can predict at least the general ending.

And that's really where the author left me behind and left me feeling duped.  I was set for a good and proper horror novel — and there is some horror there — but the horror dissipated once I realized what the story was he was telling.

There is a lot of dialogue in this book — and while that's not a bad thing, this dialogue means that the reader has to sit through a lot of entry-level theological debate which always ends up as god-fearing folk good, everyone else (and especially atheists) petty, childish, violent, perverse, and insanely selfish.

By the end I felt preached to rather than entertained, and as though someone had stolen my good apocalypse novel and given me an anti-abortion Chick Tract instead.  The book still might be worth it if you can deal with that kind of proselytizing.  For me, though, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

This book has lending enabled on the Kindle.  If you know me and you'd like a loan of it, just get in touch.