Library Classics... 'Dead City' – Joe McKinney

What makes a 'Library Classic' on this blog? Genre classics are one thing but here, a 'Library Classic' is something a little different. We're talking books and movies that are important to their sub-genre (in one way or another) but are also important to me personally. Those books and films that came along, at a particular time, and resonated with me. Books like 'Dead City'...

It was back in 2006 that I really started to get into zombie fiction, discovering through Brian Keene's work that there was more to it than just the 'Walking Dead' comic. I wanted more though and didn't have to look far my next read. Seriously, I didn't have to look far at all; the books in Forbidden Planet are arranged alphabetically (because of course they are) and 'M' isn't all that far away from 'K'... I'm a sucker for a good blurb so 'Dead City' came home with me and I was hooked from the first page. We'll go into it more, in a bit, but along with Keene's work, 'Dead City' swiftly became a standard against which I measure all other zombie books that I read (and I've read a few...) Let's have a chat about that, blurb first though...

Texas? Toast.

Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying--but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life--with an insatiable hunger for human flesh....

The Nightmare Begins

Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas. San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead. Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family...

Hell On Earth

There's no place to run. No place to hide. The zombie horde is growing as the virus runs rampant. Eddie knows he has to find a way to destroy these walking horrors. . .but he doesn't know the price he will have to pay...

All the best zombie films tend to shy away from what caused the dead to rise; the whole point being that's beside the point, what really matters now is trying to stay one step ahead of the undead. Zombie books though are happy to advance ideas about what kicked things off and 'Dead City' handles this very well with the 'something in the water' approach fuelled by hurricane damage. We all know that zombies aren't real... but if they were, you could see them arriving off the back of a disaster like this and so there's a little underlying tension in your reading already.

When the zombies arrive... they are relentless, just like all good zombies should be. The only thing that will stop them is massive head trauma and there are only so many bullets to go round.... Things go wrong very quickly in San Antonio as McKinney takes a leaf out of the George Romero rulebook and plays heavily on the theme that the living will waste seconds not being able to comprehend that the dead are walking, and that's all the time a zombie needs to get its teeth in you. All the time, McKinney is building the tension by taking a measured and realistic look at how the living will react. The San Antonio PD give a good account of themselves but even they are susceptible to that second of indecision and there are so many zombies. McKinney isn't afraid to throw loads of zombies at Eddie (and assorted travelling companions) to see what happens. My measure of good zombie fiction doesn't lie so much in the gore etc but in how the living adapt and make tough decisions in this new world. McKinney isn't afraid to ask those questions and Eddie reacts in such a way that you have to keep reading; he makes mistakes but is able to learn from them, that's what keeps him alive while others fall.

It's not just those questions that keep 'Dead City' fresh and interesting. McKinney gives us a lot to ponder as we (and Eddie) are faced with the question of whether these zombies have any humanity left as the disease may not have killed them first. If they're not actually dead, should they be killed... or should they somehow be helped? It's a really interesting point to ponder (and it may explain why Hudson keeps getting ambushed by large groups of zombies) and certainly makes you look at events, in the book, in a new light. And that's what you need in a zombie book, something that's prepared to go outside the 'tried and tested' approach and take a few risks. It pays off here.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if you're looking to read some zombie fiction for the first time, 'Dead City' is amongst a small number of books that I'd class as essential reading. Well worth a read if you come across a copy.