'The Living Dead' – George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus (Bantam Press)

I can't believe this book has been sat on my shelf, unread, since August last year... Actually, yes I can.

As much as I wanted to read 'The Living Dead', there just wasn't the time to sit down with a big, thick book and get stuck in; you know, what with everything going on (but mostly juggling work and homeschooling). There was also the fact that this book is the last bit of George A. Romero zombie fiction that we are ever going to get. Once you read 'The Living Dead', that's it; there won't be anything else. So yeah, that blew my mind (just a bit) and the book sat there, unread.

And then, sometime last week, I realised I was being a bit daft about the whole thing. Books are there to be read, after all, and it struck me that Romero wouldn't have wanted his death to have stopped people from seeing how the story ended (and neither would Daniel Kraus, who put the book together while taking us into a future that Romero hinted at in notes).

That was all the 'talking to' I needed to give myself ;o) I've been reading 'The Living Dead' over the last few days and now I'm done. Let me tell you about it.

It begins with one body. A pair of medical examiners find themselves facing a dead man who won't stay dead.

It spreads quickly. In a Midwestern trailer park, an African American 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 preaches the gospel of a new religion of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting, not knowing if anyone is watching, 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.

I am a little bit in awe of 'The Living Dead'; in awe of Romero's vision and the masterful way that Kraus took that vision to a conclusion that I would say fits, themes raised in the films, perfectly. I'm also in awe of the way that this book does so many other little things that ties it not only to the films but also to other films that Romero made. This book, amongst other things, is like a little treasure trove for fans of pretty much anything that Romero did.

But we're all about the zombies (for now). While we will never find out exactly why the dead started walking (and that's beside the point really), we do get to watch it happen, from small beginnings to much larger uprisings. I love it that a throwaway line heard on the radio, in 'Night of the Living Dead', is the inspiration for how it all kicks off in the book. It's the first of many little links (I'm thinking of the roll call at the end in particular, another favourite of mine) back to the movies that make 'The Living Dead' more than just a book, it's a labour of love by both Romero and Kraus. The zombie presence is built up gradually until it is far too late and then we're treated to pretty much front row seats as we get to see society collapse and a cast of really memorable characters try to make their way through it all. Romero and Kraus pull no punches (because the films certainly didn't) and really stay true to the whole 'no-one is safe approach'. If you learn one lesson from the films, it's no matter how careful you are, be even more careful if you don't want to get bit. The book doesn't shy away from the consequences of this either. If you want to make it through this zombie apocalypse, don't get yourself a favourite character to follow, that's all I'm saying. My favourites were Charlie, Etta and Muse King (I know...)

It's also good to see the book use it's one advantage over film to really show us what the dead walking did to the USA. You can only film what's in front of you but you can write anything on a blank page. What we get as a result is a more all encompassing zombie apocalypse, one that leaves you in no doubt that nowhere escaped.

And then we jump far beyond where the movies ended, and I mean way beyond the bleak ending of 'Day of the Dead' , to see how humanity coped in a world where the dead far outnumber the living. What I loved here is that Romero and Kraus clearly didn't want the remains of humanity to have any kind of advantage over zombies that were nearing the end themselves. Nope, now it's the turn of certain dead animal species to walk again and attack the living. This adds a little spice to what is now becoming a slightly over familiar tale of people trying to survive. What really boosts the novel, at this point, is a pretty big revelation about the zombie virus. I won't tell you what it is, because I really want you to read it and see for yourself, but this particular moment (and moments leading up to it in previous chapters) makes for some of the most beautiful writing I've ever seen in a zombie book. Seriously, the people in the Dying Room weren't the only people who had to wipte their eyes.

So we were wrong about how the story ends and honestly, it will make you look at the films in an entirely different light. And the zombies too. 'Land of the Dead' may have already given us some clues here but the book does an amazing job of getting inside the zombie's heads and giving us their view of what is happening. Of course, there's only so much story you can tell, from the perspective of a zombie, but you end up feeling like you have the whole picture now, not just a tale told from the survivor's perspective.

If you were looking for a trademark 'slightly bleak Romero ending' though, you weren't entirely wrong about how this book had to end. There will always be someone who wants to build a wall and the baser instincts of humanity may well doom us all in the end. There is some hope, at the same time, though and that's typical of Romero as well. It's definitely a fitting way to round the book off.

There's a lot more that I could say about 'The Living Dead' but I'd need at least twice the wordcount and I do have work in the morning so... maybe I'll save all that for Twitter ;o)

What I'll say in the meantime is that I think 'The Living Dead' is instant 'Classic Zombie Fiction' and a more than fitting coda to Romero's zombie work. And if this is what Kraus is capable of then I need to check out more of his work as well.

You've probably already read 'The Living Dead' but if by any strange chance you haven't, do something about it right away. It's more than worth it, I promise.