'Dead Sea' – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

I'm still not quite ready to tackle another Brian Keene series of books but give it time, there's one series that I haven't tried yet and one that's an old favourite of mine. They're both on the table (and by table, I actually mean the ladder that goes up to my little library) but for now, there are still a few stand-alone books left to read and today, we're talking 'Dead Sea'. No talking zombies, not this time anyway, but the question these shambling husks help to pose is still a bastard to answer. A book that makes you think a little then, at the same time as you're wincing to yourself and begging your favourite character to summon up a little more strength and not get bit... Three guesses what I thought of this book then and the first two guesses don't count ;o)

The city streets are no longer safe. They are filled instead with the living dead, rotting predators driven only by a need to kill and eat. Some of the living still struggle to survive, but with each passing day, their odds grow worse. Some survivors have fled, frantically searching for a place to escape, even briefly, the slaughter around them. For Lamar Reed and a handful of others, that safe haven is an old Coast Guard ship out at sea, with plenty of water between them and the zombies. These desperate survivors are completely isolated from the dangers of the mainland. But their haven will soon become a deathtrap, and they'll learn that isolation can also mean no escape!

I was reading Brian Keene's latest newsletter the other day, in particular the piece where he was talking about 'The Rising' and how the 'angry books' he wrote as a younger man slowly became more thoughtful affairs as he got older. 'Dead Sea' offers compelling evidence that this transition started within it's pages... ;o) Well, it does if you don't count 'Entombed', which came along a while afterwards and is one nasty bastard of a book. Anyway. Stick with me on this one...

'Dead Sea' starts off as 'in your face' and 'heavy metal' as any of Keene's early works. Maybe even more so. At least Ob cracked a few jokes here and there, the zombies in 'Dead Sea' are relentless and they don't care what they eat, just as long as it's alive. This makes for a hell of a bleak read, both in what you see go down on the streets of Baltimore (and beyond, the bit where they stop off for supplies is a neat little reminder that human madness is just as dangerous as any zombie) and in the question that the book is already getting you to think about. When you're outnumbered by the walking dead (in their many forms) by thousands to one, why keep trying to make it? Why aren't you using that gun on yourself instead of using that last bullet to buy you a few more minutes? Lamar fights for Tasha and Malik but while that's an answer, that's not the answer. He was already fighting from the first page. It's a question that gets drawn out over the rest of the book but Keene knows what needs to go into a zombie book and he makes sure that his reader has enough to keep them going. It doesn't make for easy ready but then, who ever said that the zombie apocalypse would be easy...? Getting out of Baltimore... Man, I still read certain bits with my eyes half shut and I count myself lucky that I'm able to do that. It's a luxury that Lamar, Mitch and the children don't have, not if they want to live.

As Baltimore recedes into the distance, we see Keene use the lull in the action to really bring out that underlying discussion, that I mentioned earlier, which ends up being a really good way to keep the flow of the book engaging. I'm not sure I agree with the professor's underlying view but it's delivered in an engaging way so that we're no danger of just being stuck on a boat with nothing going on. And I did like the way that the debate was left open ended, it really encourages you to make your own mind up. Is Lamar a hero? He is to the kids and that's probably all that matters.

And then, Keene smacks us round the head again with a little more 'heavy metal' zombie action. He knows when it's needed and the survivors haven't learned just how unfair a zombie apocalypse can be. The question around why no-one in this book gave up until they actually died is asked one final time and the fact that the question is left hanging without an answer just serves to underline how bleak this book can be. What's the point of answering that question, do you think anyone will be left to hear it?

I think I love 'Dead Sea' even more than I do 'The Rising' and 'City of the Dead'; it's bleak, it's relentless and it is crammed full of zombies doing what they do best without needing to crack a few jokes here and there (nothing wrong with that but, you know what I mean). It's everything that a good zombie story needs to be and with a few nasty surprises to catch the unwary who really thought that the zombies were the only thing to look out for. Required reading for zombie fans.