Dead City

By: Joe McKinney

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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 more 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.

©2006, 2010 Joe McKinney (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A merciless, fast-paced and genuinely scary read that will leave you absolutely breathless." (Brian Keene)

Its a sleeper

What would have made Dead City better?

Maybe a better voice performance. But the story just dragged.

What was most disappointing about Joe McKinney’s story?

The voice performance was monotonous making it hard to really engage. It became more of a white noise story to cure insomnia.

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Kramer’s performances?

No

Any additional comments?

This is my first book in the Zombie genre and I just found it to be highly repetitive. I have seen enough Zombie movies to feel like this pretty much was the same thing except told from the policeman's perspective. I am going to try a few other Zombie books, but if this is what the books are like, I will move to another genre.

Lacking!!

What could Joe McKinney have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Climax, story, plot, character development, story development.

What character would you cut from Dead City?

Eddie (the progtagonist)

Any additional comments?

I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking of how I want to describe, as well as define this book. This is the second book I’ve read by this author, the first being “Apocalypse of the Dead”, and I didn’t give that one a good review either. The book was plagued with irrationality and illogical performances. There was absolutely no character development so you don’t understand why Eddie is doing the things he is doing, they make no sense. Character development and a plot would really give context and meaning to this story. I always note the length of the book, this gives me an idea of what to expect. If it is broken into two downloads the book may be interesting, or at least have time to make up for its shortfalls. This book was only 7hrs 35mins 30 secs long, and there is a reason. I would not recommend this book to anyone. I wouldn’t recommend it if you were stuck in a tunnel covered by snow on both sides of your exit. I don’t think this book would justify wasting battery life on whatever you are reading it on. I wouldn’t even recommend this book on a long plane or train ride, save your money.

Good story-tellers paint the scene with words. This ability allows the reader to visit the story through imagination. Authors like Mary Higgins Clark, Dean Koontz, Steven King, or J. L. Bourne (just to name a few) are really good at this. This story lacked that. Also, I wasn’t scared at all. I’ve listened to Z. A. Recht’s “Morningstar Strain” series and J.L. Bourne’s “Day by Day Armageddon” series and they are very good. So good, that I’m reluctant to listen to these stories at night. There were climatic moments that had me on edge, wanting to yell out to the character to warn him. In this story I wanted it to be over with and for Eddie to just go on and become a zombie. I don’t like starting a book and not finishing it, which is terrible when I have a story this lacking.

I know how the zombies feel.

What would have made Dead City better?

Likable characters, bigger stakes.

Would you ever listen to anything by Joe McKinney again?

I'm not excited by the prospect, nor am I averse to it.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Micheal Kramer's performance was really straight forward and dry. A bit more than it ought to have been. His narration style would seem better suited to a detective sort of stories.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It wasn't awful. It picked up when Marcus was introduced. Before that I had already set it aside for a long time. Still, I never really got into it.

Any additional comments?

Most of the characters were unbearable. The main character, whose name escapes me, was plain and forgettable and his wife was awful. There was no reason to like her and it was hard to believe that one would, or should, go through anything to rescue (though obviously saving his son's life is something.) His wife, admittedly, does nothing but nag him irrationally and has really no redeeming qualities. The end just ends up making the entire thing meaningless.

Very shallow - feels like reading a video game

I was very disappointed, and about 2/3 of the way through decided it wasn't worth my time to finish it...better things out there to listen to. There is just no depth to the story. Also, I was expecting an interesting weather-disaster story up front, but there is barely a mention of the 5 hurricanes and none of the action even takes place in Houston. The story starts with some zombies fighting a cop in front of a house in San Antonio and goes downhill from there. This very much felt like reading a zombie video game.

Boring!

Who could ever imagine a boring book about zombies!? Waste of time and money. Don't buy it.