Among the Living

By: Timothy W. Long

Narrated by: David DeVries

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

The dead walk. Now the real battle for Seattle has begun. When a gas leak causes the National Guard to forcibly evacuate the neighborhood, Lester isn't going anywhere. The former dope pusher has a new clientele… the kind that require him to deal lead instead of drugs.

Mike, a newspaper reporter, suspects a conspiracy lies behind the chaos. He’s driven to find the truth, even if it means dragging his beautiful co-worker into danger. Kate has a dark secret: she’s a budding young serial killer. As society collapses, her skill in dealing death may be the one thing that can keep her alive. These survivors, along with others, are drawn together in their quest to find not only the truth behind the spreading apocalypse, but also to escape the madness they face at every turn.

©2009, 2011 Timothy W. Long (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Mr. Long is defiantly a writer to watch and Among the Living is definitely a zombie novel to check out." (HorrorNews.net)

lifeless in seattle - a solid zombie story

Any additional comments?

a solid zombie story that focuses on what happens the first couple of days. the story begins with a researcher giving his dying wife a shot, trying to heal her late stage cancer. the story then follows different characters as the outbreak begins.

lester is a drug dealer. he rents a house and hides with his girlfriend when the national guard come by to evacuate the neighborhood b/c of a supposed gas leak. instead of leaving, he and his girl hide b/c he has a lot of drugs. but his decision comes back to haunt him when the dead roam the neighborhood and the feds have cut all power and communication lines. lester and angela are soon surrounded by zombies after they make a dumb decision- use a gas generator. can they escape the hoard and ge by the checkpoint the national guard set up at the entrances of their neighborhood?

mike is a 37 year old newspaper man. he lost his job and now works for a small paper. as romance blossoms with his younger, colleague, the outbreak starts. naturally, a skeptic, he thinks the reports that trickle out are hoaxes. little does he know that the gov't is scrubbing web sites and pulling cutting the lines of communication.

kate was abused growing up by her father and is now a masochist and a sociopath. coming home after her 5th kill, she notices something's wrong in the air. is it the police or something worse? which personality will rule her as the zombies eat people? she needs other people, but will she be able to control her bloodlust in order to make allies with other survivors?

alice is your average mom who is attacked by her zombie husband. can she actually kill the man she loves who is the father of her child?

ken is alice's husband. how do you kill your own zombified son? what do you do after he bites you? what is it like to turn into a zombie? what thoughts go through your head? why does your wife make you hungry? the author lets you see and fell through a zombie's eyes.

grinder is the lead singer of a band. they think they're scary b/c of their satanic air- their lyrics, dress, and fans. during their concert, the infected attack their fans. what is at first thought of as part of the show quickly descends into chaos. so does grinder still think he's king of the dark after the dead start eating his fans and band mates? or does he cry for his mommy?

as these people try to escape to the football stadium, more and more people are infected and the virus only gets stronger as it evolves. at first there are only slow moving shamblers but as the virus evolves and spreads, the newly infected think more, hunt in groups, and sprint after their prey.

the story starts off slow but picks up as the virus spreads across the city until you are left breathless at the end. i've listened to a few zombie novels and have enjoyed this story and the author's other story, beyond the barriers. both books deserve a sequel.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Eagerly anticipated and did not disappoint

Where does Among the Living rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Just finished Among the Living on audio-book and I must say it's a fantastic book which has me eagerly anticipating more from Timothy W. Long.

Any additional comments?

A Fantastic story which flows brilliantly between the individual characters and leaves you wanting a follow up book asap. Massive respect to the author for a amazing book and for all you zombie genre fans out there this is one you do not want to miss.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Starts slow then in your face zombie action

‘Among the Living’ takes a bit to get going, but when it does it offers a fun ride as the Zombie apocalypse begins. I’ve always had a little bit of a problem with the zombie apocalypse just happening too fast, which is why this book was so likable. People go about their daily lives knowing something is happening but not sure what until finally the zombie population has really started to grow and is finally noticed for the problem it is. Not for the faint of heart this book takes you into the head of survivor and zombie providing a nice thrill ride.

Mr. DeVries does a great job bringing the characters to life!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Better than I expected, really.

What made the experience of listening to Among the Living the most enjoyable?

It wasn't boring like some wanna-be zombie books. This is fairly high quality zombie book with a good story.

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

He's a good reader.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this over at least four other well known zombie genre books. Its not Day by Day Armageddon or Thunder and Ashes, but I'd say its good tier two material. Overall 4 out of 5.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Zombies... Now With Sex!

Very well done. One of my favorites of the zombie genre. The fact that this novel takes place in Seattle makes it even better as that is MY town and listening to this while out walking in the Queen Anne neighborhood spices things up a bit. El Sid = El Corazon..... Been there often in it's many incarnations and can totally see a zombie outbreak happening between it's hallowed halls.

WARNING: THIS NOVEL CONTAINS SEX. POT SMOKING, AND THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL, ALONG WITH THE USUAL GRAPHIC VIOLENCE ONE WOULD EXPECT FROM A ZOMBIE NOVEL. If it were a movie it likely be rated R. If any of this bothers you, save your credit and spare the rest of us AND this fine piece of zombie fluff your negative reviews.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Among the Greats!

What made the experience of listening to Among the Living the most enjoyable?

The story is brilliant, fun, funny and awesome.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Among the Living?

The rock show!!!!

Have you listened to any of David DeVries’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not sure.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Some Among The Living are DEAD!

Any additional comments?

Check it out- its quite good!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Could have been a lot better

I didn't like the way this was put together. The way it keeps changing prose is something I do not like. I didn't connect with most of the characters and they spend a lot of time not realizing what danger they are in despite what they are seeing with their own eyes and hearing around them. I didn't really connect with the majority of the characters and overall, it was just unsatisfying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Enertaining

What made the experience of listening to Among the Living the most enjoyable?

Great character development and plausible Apocalypse scenario. The story moved from different perspectives of the same event very well and all of the characters were compelling.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Among the Living?

I really liked Lenard and his girl friends perspective.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sex obsessed characters mask the zombie story

Would you try another book from Timothy W. Long and/or David DeVries?

Not unless I could return it if this is indicative of his story lines.

What could Timothy W. Long have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This is a zombie story. Yet it spends most of the story on the unrelated, juvenile sex activities of the main characters. It jumps around to bring in characters for a chapter just to kill them. We do not need to spend a chapter learning the why and how the members of a soon to be dead rock band obtained theIr stage names. It read more like "fill up the space" text than a coherent story line.I tried to stay with it but gave up shortly after the halfway mark.

Have you listened to any of David DeVries’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The performance was fine. The problem is all content

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

It held potential but lack in execution. Keep the character development relative to the overall story. A substantial part of the writting was devoted to juvenile learing and sex acts that did nothing to add to the characters motivation, habits or abilities.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Both lousy and really good

The first half of this book was lousy, I'd give it a two. Then the second part, awesome, that's a four or even a five. Therefore the three stars for average.

First the first part; roughly half the length of the story is character introduction and background information. Hardly any zombies at all, but a ton of sex. Yeah, I was looking for zombies and I got sex. Without illustrations I'm not interested. Then there is the serial killer who reminded me of Dexter, but liked a lot of sex. So people who think zombie stories don't have enough character and interpersonal relationship depth in them, here you go, half the story is that. I just kept zoning out and had to rewind missed parts or fast forward to speed it up. Just wasn't interested in that much content on background information.

Action really picked up in the second half and if the story just blended these two parts together smoothly I think it would have worked out better, although it still didn't need that much vivid sex in it.

Gotta say it worked though because I did get attached to the characters and this being a zombie tale I'm not giving anything away when I say somebodies gotta die. So yeah, I don't appreciate having to through all that listening in the first half to have them die on me! So it upset me, didn't like it.

Narrator was pretty good, did excellent female voices but the style did feel a bit like a 1930's private detective novel. Kinda weird.

Gonna download the second book now, so yeah, this series is promising.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

An adult book

What would have made Among the Living better?

I love zombie books and this has the makings of a good read, but is heavily padded with explicit sex.

Has Among the Living put you off other books in this genre?

No

Any additional comments?

This should be noted adult content.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not my cup of tea .. though I love Zombie books!

What would have made Among the Living better?

A better story, more sophisticated. Adhering to Zombie- lore!

Has Among the Living put you off other books in this genre?

No, but I will read reviews more carefully ..

How could the performance have been better?

Reader didn;t sound as though he believed what he was reading ..

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

It was a nasty book, I thought. Made me angry.

Any additional comments?

See World War Z for how to write a Zombie book: it's not as easy as it looks, obviously!

1 of 2 people found this review helpful