If you follow me on Goodreads.com, I've been reading this book the entire year of 2013. And for the most part, that is the case. Something has always come up or some other book or movie distracted me from finishing this book. Well I finally finished it, and I am glad I had.
Brian Keene is described as the next Stephen King. Quite the bold statement, but Keene has quite the resume. He isn't known in the huge circles of the writing community but is well respected in the horror community. He has won two Bram Stoker Awards, which is the highest award you can receive as a horror writer. Keene has over 100 original works including novels, comics and short story collections.
City of the Dead is the sequel to The Rising. In The Rising, Jim Thurmond starts his journey in a bomb shelter, built for the Y2K scare. Zombies are inhabiting the Earth. These zombies aren't the typical zombies, they are creatures from another dimension, that take over any formerly living organism with a brain. They can take over humans, birds, lions, etc. They are extremely intelligent as well. They are only limited by the decaying bodies they inhibit. Jim's mission is to find his son who is at his ex-wife's house in New Jersey. Along the way he befriends a minister named Martin and a former stripper named Frankie. After some crazy roadblocks and insane enemies, they meet throughout their adventure, they find Danny. Keene left a major cliffhanger at the end of The Rising, so you have to read the City of the Dead to really find out what happens. A genius move by Keene.
City of the Dead picks up at Jim's ex-wife's house with them trying to escape with Danny. They hear rumors that there are a safe haven in a skyscraper in downtown New York, so they set theirs sets to the Big Apple. The building that is supposedly indestructible is Ramsey Towers. Ramsey has holed himself up in the tower and has "saved" the rest of humanity. The tower contains a community of survivors and is heavily armored. In the wake of 9/11, Ramsey didn't spare any expense to make his building impenetrable. Jim and his group eventually make it to the tower and blend in with everyone pretty well. Eventually people start losing their minds, and find the end inevitable. Ramsey himself watches Ob and the army of the dead start to amass a gigantic army.
The Rising was a great start for this two book series, setting the tone and developing the characters perfectly. The massiveness of City of the Dead was unexpected but highly favorable. Keene knows what scares people, and what scared people would do in these extraordinary circumstances. I own 5 other books by Keene and I am excited to see what he can do outside the zombie genre. He has the potential to be the "next" Stephen King, but he has some stiff competition from Joe Hill.
I give City of the Dead 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats.
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