Apocalypse of the Dead

By: Joe McKinney

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

And the dead shall rise... Two hellish years. That's how long it's been since the hurricanes flooded the Gulf Coast, and the dead rose up from the ruins. The cities were quarantined; the infected, contained. Any unlucky survivors were left to fend for themselves. A feast for the dead. And the living shall gather... One boatload of refugees manages to make it out alive - but one passenger carries the virus. Within weeks, the zombie epidemic spreads across the globe.

Now, retired U.S. Marshal Ed Moore must lead a group of strangers to safety, searching for sanctuary from the dead. A last chance for the living. Let the battle begin.

In the North Dakota grasslands, bands of survivors converge upon a single outpost. Run by a self-appointed preacher of fierce conviction - and frightening beliefs - it may be humanity's only hope. But Ed Moore and the others refuse to enter a suicide pact. They'd rather stand and fight in the final battle against the zombies. An apocalypse of the dead.

©2010 Joe McKinney (P)2011 Tantor

Great book and great story

Great book and great development of characters with and has a great narrator kept me in the illusion the entire time

Mildly better than Dead City

Is there anything you would change about this book?

More character development?

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not Joe McKinney

What does Todd McLaren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A much better read of the book than the voice actor for Dead City.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Good Book

Really enjoyed this book, very well narrated. The only thing that was off, but not bad, was the plot changed away from the main story line of a Zombie book.

A Jim Jones Type Cult in a Zombie Apocalypse?

This was a new take for me as a storm surge hits Houston, somehow mixes chemicals from the refineries with water and the dead reawaken. A Jackson, MS preacher named Jasper with the big old Jim Jones glasses miraculously saves members of his flock by walking into a swarm of zombies. Everyone seems to follow Jasper to Minot, South Dakota and things unravel from there. The narrator Todd McLaren does an excellent job voicing so many characters - a blind girl, a porn star, a homicidal stalker who does not turn after being bitten and even a former US Marshall (think Tommy Lee Jones or Sam Elliott) who comes out of retirement to be a hero.

Joe McKinney does his usual job of making the apocalypse seem as disjointed as it would be. Not too much different than his other work, but the death cult perspective breathes new life.

Loved it!

Apacolypse of the Dead

Great story. Well written and the characters well developed. My favorite character is Ed Moore the retired US Marshal. Loved how he takes control, protects and leads follow survivors to safety. I was disappointed with Barnes who was a soldier and former Houston police officer. He started out strong and determined to survive but ended weak of character and conviction. I liked that several main characters began from different locations across the US and ended up converging on the grasslands of North Dakota. Plenty of interesting characters from all walks of life. I'll be recommending this book to my friends and family.

Zombie 101 Aim for their heads people!

This is an great book and zombie fans will really enjoy it. Its scary and graphic with lots of action and killing. Great characters!

This is part of a series called Dead World. I've read 3 of them and highly recommend.

Hard to Follow

Any additional comments?

As one of the other people commented this story was very hard to follow. I didn't know who was where or who was doing what. Overall it wasn't bad but I think the abridged version would have been the way to go. It skipped around so much that I didn't care about many of the characters yet all of the sudden I'm learning about the past of these people that really didn't add to the story. Overall not bad but I had to skip a few chapters to get through it.

Too little and too much.

The narration is fine but the story is lacking. like most of his books it reads like a zombie lover's dream, blood, Gore, end of world setting, decline of civilization, all that. However the story is a little harder to like and the characters less so. Some of the choices these characters make almost seem so out of character for the way McKinney sets them up. Lastly, McKinney has so many sub stories going on I got lost among the various narratives. This could be my own fault, of course, but IMO he overstretched himself. I like McKinney, lot of his stuff is good, but this one didn't read right. Too many characters, he tried to stay too busy with this and it hurt the story.

Too many characters and story lines

Very confusing, too much crammed into the story, not enough zombies.
The reader was fine until vocalizing individual characters, ugh! Like chalk on the blackboard.

Good Zombie book

Would you listen to Apocalypse of the Dead again? Why?

I would. Ed Moore and Michael Barnes are two of the strongest characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The realism and adventure.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

At the end I was upset because of the Jonestown replication. It was a good book (excluding that).

Any additional comments?

Very good book, scary as well. Had some very strong characters. I liked how the different groups (five in all) adapted and survived through all the chaos. I listened to the story and could envision events unfolding like the story. Michael Barnes was my favorite character at first, but you'll find out why that changed (it's at the end). Ed Harris added another quality and dimension to the story. Strong leader.

The book was adventurous and gripping. I liked that it didn't take place in one location or state (like Texas, from other zombie books). The landscape is throughout America and you listen as different groups of people of very different backgrounds survive in this environment.