The Living Dead

by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus

Book Overview

"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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250305128
• ISBN13: 9781250305121
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 656 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Love it!

love it!

The Living Dead!

When I first heard out there was an unfinished novel of zombies written by George Romero I knew it was a book made for me! This book starts off with an outbreak which has always been what fascinates me the most. How people handle the initial response. What do they do and how success and failure is defined very quickly. While there are a lot of characters, the purpose of them is there and their development is strong. While this book is about zombies, it's more so about people and humanity and what it stands for in the face of disaster. The overall storytelling of this book is incredible. While it was unfinished for George, Daniel Kraus clearly spent time researching Gerorge's information, notes, and anything he could get his hands on to better identify with this book. It really works. So while the book is a tad long for my taste it flows beautifully. I would highly recommend.

Don't read while eating

I like a good zombie book. My favorite one so far is World War Z. That one was able to get all the emotions and zombies and be a good length. The Living Dead was certainly interesting too but it is also really long and while I liked reading the different sections (how the book is split up) and ways people dealt with the uprising of the living dead (whether they rose to be better or became twisted, Like Father Bill or Richard), like the reporter Chuck Corso, the morticians Luis and Charlie with the first case, the girl, Greer, in the trailer park, the archivist, Etta or the navy officer, Karl Nishimura on the battleship, I think some of the details could have been cut and it would still work. I did like the sections from the viewpoint of a recently dead and risen again Scud and Annie Teller. I hadn't read that style before and it was fascinating with the hunger and the You that is all zombies. Certainly different. This is certainly not a zip through book, so be prepared to put a lot of hours getting through it. And definitely don't read it while eating if you have a sensitive stomach! There are many gory chewing entrails and eating your loved ones.