'Entombed' – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)


After a 'great' start back at work (five days of work doesn't go into a four day week, it just doesn't...), I thought I'd give myself a little break yesterday and have a little comfort reading time. And this always sounds a little weird when the next sentence runs along the lines of 'so of course I picked up something by Brian Keene' (who never fails to make my skin crawl and my stomach turn) but bear with me ;o) Basically, I'm a big fan and there aren't many of his books that I haven't read and enjoyed already so... For me, picking up one of Keene's books is like meeting up with an old friend again and hanging out for a bit. I know what I'm in for and I know I'll enjoy it so, here I am again.

It had been a long time since I last read 'Entombed' so I figured it was well overdue a re-read and my girls were out with their Mum so I settled down for a read and...

It has been several months since the disease known as Hamelin's Revenge decimated the world. Civilization has collapsed and the dead far outnumber the living. The survivors seek refuge from the roaming zombie hordes, but one-by-one, those shelters are falling.

Twenty-five survivors barricade themselves inside a former military bunker buried deep beneath a luxury hotel. They are safe from the zombies... but are they safe from one another? As supplies run low and despair sets in, each of them will find out just how far they're willing to go to survive.

When is a zombie book not a zombie book...? Okay, 'Entombed' is very much a zombie book, it's set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and said zombies are intent on entering the bunker where our hero is sheltering, but you'd be forgiven for wondering if this was the case as the zombies are very much on the periphery of the plot. And that's really the whole point of zombie fiction, at least from where I'm sat. The zombies are the danger but the real story lies in how the living deal with them as well as the new demands that come with living in a world of the undead. Keene clearly recognises this, keeping the zombies at arms length and the focus on how a group of the living fare, trapped inside a bunker with no food left.

How do they fare...? Not well at all, not when someone has just answered the really hard question about what to eat next and Pete finds himself voted as 'next course'... The good news is that us readers do very well out of the deal. With his mantra of 'Do whatever you have to do to survive', Phil won't shy away from hard choices of his own and that makes him a particularly engaging character to follow, especially when Keene doesn't shy away from focussing on Pete's actions as well as everyone's deteriorating mental states (you've got to be pretty fucked up to make decisions like Chuck's and it all goes downhill from there). The result here is a story is constantly on the move and full of people who could do anything, and do, a combination that never fails to keep me reading (even though I've read 'Entombed' more than a few times) and always entertains. It's uncomfortable reading (graphic violence and a little supernatural action at the same time, never fails to wrong foot me, in a good way though) but it's never anything less than eye-catching

The ending may be signposted a little too clearly but when you get there, it's no less powerful for that and leaves you in no doubt that not only do all decisions have consequences but there's no time to come back from those made in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Adapt or die? Sometimes it's more a case of adapt and die but it is what it is. And what 'Entombed' is, is a brilliant book for it's insistence on not shying away from the evil that we can do, even though we think we have a good reason for doing it. Highly recommended. .

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