'The Rising' - Brian Keene

I was rooting through my bookshelves last night, trying to find something for the commute in the morning, and came across my old copy of ‘The Rising’ which I’d read a few months ago, popped in a box for the big move, and then promptly forgotten about. To be fair, the last three months have been crazy but, I’m here now and ready to make up for lost time ;o)

I’ve been reading my old ‘Leisure Fiction’ edition, if I knew where my Kindle was (there are still boxes that I haven’t unpacked yet…) I’d have gone for the ‘Authors Preferred Edition’ which is what you should look for if you want to give ‘The Rising’ a go. And if you haven’t, you really should.

Nothing stays dead for long. The dead are returning to life, intelligent, determined… and very hungry. Escape seems impossible for Jim Thurmond, one of the few left alive in this nightmare world. But Jim’s young son is also alive and grave danger hundreds of miles away. Despite astronomical odds. Jim vows to find him – or die trying.

‘The Rising’ is one of the three pieces of zombie media credited with kicking off the latest iteration of our fascination with the undead (‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘28 Days Later’ were the other two) and honestly, you’ll see why when you read it. It’s not just about when the book was published; ‘The Rising’ delivers a swift punch to your gag reflex, stops for a curt ‘fuck you’ and then proceeds to drag you face first through all the rotting viscera that the zombies left behind. Honestly, whatever your most vile pictures of the zombie apocalypse, it’s like Keene took a look and confidently declared, ‘I can take it further’. And he does. Nothing is safe, nothing is sacred and that’s all the warning you’re getting.

And what really gets me is that there seems to be an unofficial competition between the zombies and the humans to see who can behave worst. All the best zombie fiction brings out the worst in humanity (sowing the seeds of its own downfall by refusing to co-operate in the face of the walking dead) and Keene definitely runs with that. Damn… The zombies win, just, as they have a fine line in one-liners that still make me laugh. Yep, these aren’t your regular zombies; Keene captures the humour of the ‘Evil Dead’ movies and couples this with an edge of terror that you experience as you realise that these zombies are far more capable than we are, even the animal ones…

If that was all we got from ‘The Rising’, that would be more than enough for me but Keene finds it in himself to take things one step further and show us that even while the world is collapsing around us, there are still people who will stop at nothing to do the right thing and take a stand. Jim Thurmond’s story is the kind of tale that makes you resolve to be that kind of Dad to your kids (or just be a better person if you don’t have kids). The kind of tale where you think that the world can’t be that bad if there are people like Jim out there, I’m sure there must be.

And good people find each other in this zombie filled world (I guess it would be hard not to, just look for the person who isn’t trying to kill you). Watching Jim and Martin continue to inspire each other, in the face of some truly dark times makes for some really heart warming moments that offset the darkness. ‘The Rising’ has it all from where I’m sat.

And that is where I’m going to leave it for now, other than to say that if you’re a fan of zombie books and you haven’t read ‘The Rising’… You have though, haven’t you? Of course you have ;o) (But if you haven’t, go and do something about that).