Dead Sea by Brian Keene

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Title: Dead Sea

Author: Brian Keene

Genre: Horror

Length: 318 pages

Published: 2007

Publisher: Leisure Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) With zombies taking over the cities, a group of humans escapes the carnage by taking a small Coast Guard ship out to sea, but there's no getting away-even in the wide ocean.


My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

The zombie is probably my favorite monster. So naturally I really loved this book. It has all of the best elements: zombie humans, zombie animals, reluctant hero, and no escape.

It started with rats. Dead ones, specifically. They came out of the sewers in New York City and started attacking. And that was only the beginning. They called it Hamelin's Revenge, since it started with rats. 

The lead character is a gay, black man named Lamar. He is the narrator. When his companion is killed and the fires begin, he's forced to flee his home. He ends up being saved from zombies by a couple of kids, and he ends up saving them in turn. The plan is flee the zombies and the fires, and they end up heading towards the harbor after picking up another survivor. 

So far, they know that the disease is inter-species and it hasn't spread to the birds and, as far as they know, the marine animals. They end up teaming up with a bunch of other survivors and getting on board a former Coast Guard ship which was turned into a museum. The ship is functional, in that it can still sail, but there are no armaments on board, and little in the way of supplies. The group heads out to sea. 

Eventually they learn that Hamelin's Revenge has spread to yet another species: basically all marine life. I loved the characters that he built. Little is known about some of them, as it really is a group of strangers thrown together. I really enjoyed the way he had the disease go from species to species. There was a good amount of gore, but it wouldn't be a zombie novel without gore. I definitely recommend this for the zombie lovers out there!

You can purchase Dead Sea through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Dead Sea? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.