12 Days of Keene: Day 11

In 2003, Brian Keene's The Rising revived horror literature's dormant obsession with zombies. In 2007, Brian Keene's Dead Sea knocked that obsession on its ass... 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! Deadite Press is proud to present this Author's Preferred version of Keene's over-the-top cult classic, which includes never-before-published material!

DEAD SEA by horror author Brian Keene has always been one of my all-time favorite zombie novels. This book is the reason I became a fan of Keene in the first place. The author has quite a talent for taking a hopeless situation and twisting the waking nightmare into something much worse than hopeless. I thought I had become desensitized, until I read Dead Sea.

The main character is a young gay Black man named Lamar, and the story is centered on his POV. Throughout the book, he often wonders why anyone bothers to keep fighting when they are very likely to die a gruesome death...and then come back as the undead. I love the thought process of this character. Unlike many of the other characters, Lamar is always trying to think ahead, instead of just reacting to the danger around his group.

Dead Sea is one of the horror novels I recommend as a general go-to horror novel, but this is also the Keene story I recommend to introduce new readers to the author.

As always,
AstraDaemon