I’ve been a big Brian Keene fan ever since I read his first novel, The Rising, so picking up Dead Sea, his latest, was a no-brainer.
Dead Sea is Keene’s return to zombies, something he hasn’t written about, in at least novel form, since City of the Dead (the sequel to The Rising). I’m curious on how much of a new Keene zombie book was due to fan pressure, publisher pressure or both, as I’ve always gotten the impression from him (either through appearances or interviews) that he really wasn’t ready to write about zombies anymore. Fortunately, that doesn’t effect the enjoyment of Sea.
In Sea, the undead walk due to a sickness. Originally started in New York, where undead rats came out of the sewers and started chowing down on human flesh, the disease spread and spread and spread (as it does), and soon the Earth is one big walking cemetery. At first, some animals were effected by the disease, too, and some weren’t. But then the disease started crossing over, making for one hell of a problem.
Lamar, the book’s main character, is Sea’s reluctant hero, trying not only to save his own ass, but also the two children who he’s ‘adopted’ after finding them in building fending for themselves.
With each new book, Keene has been steadily improving his craft. In the technical sense, Sea is leagues above Rising (although I enjoyed Rising more). But while I enjoyed Sea a lot, I didn’t feel the passion Keene usually injects in his book, like the passion I felt when reading Terminal or Ghoul. There’s a lot of emotion in The Rutting Season (my favorite Keene book, by far, for personal reasons), but that’s more anger than anything else. Man, Season is an angry, angry book. A great one, but there is frustration in those pages that seeps into your fingers.
However, while there might not be as much passion, there is excitement. Keene is to zombies like Michael Bay is to explosions. While I wish there were a little more depth to some of the supporting characters, it was easily overlooked due to all of the chomping and chewing going on. Keene definitely keeps the blood flowing and the pages turning.
While it’s not Keene’s best work, it’s still a pretty damn good summer read. And a quick one, at that. Something you can eat up on the beach, or on your way to work.
Just keep one eye out for stray rats while you have your nose in the book.
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