The Rising

Jim Thurmond thought of the dead coming back to life as something relegated only to horror novels and the movies. Until a week ago when his pregnant wife died, then woke up and tried to take a bite out of him. Hidden beneath the ground in a fallout shelter he'd convinced his wife to let him build, Jim surveys the zombies scrambling to get to him. But something's not right: these zombies run, use tools, even talk and taunt him.

All he can do is stay locked in the shelter while the re-animated dead take over above. Then his cell phone rings. And on the other end is his son Danny, hiding in the attic at his mother's house in New Jersey, pleading with his dad to come get him. Jim does the only thing he can do and finds a way to hopefully show more sneak out of the shelter unnoticed to find his son.

"The Rising" takes a novel approach to zombies, giving them a frightening intelligence thanks to a gaffe from a government lab hidden in the Pennsylvania woods, that fits within the framework of the book. Slow-moving zombies are terrifying enough; but give them a working brain, and they can talk, fire guns, even ambush their prey. Another difference from many other zombie novels comes when flocks of undead birds swarm and divebomb people or vehicles, or an undead fish devours its tank companions, breaks the glass and begins spouting words at its next targets. Unexpected and wonderfully satisfying.

I enjoyed the mix of storylines -- Jim trekking through a nightmare world to find his son with the help of an elderly priest, a scientist who feels guilty about the creating the zombies trying to get a deaf boy to safety, an ex-prostitute escaping from the zombies -- and the strong characters. I will say, though, that I found the soldiers turning into a heartless militia/gang seemed a bit clichéd, but not enough to keep me from finishing. In fact, I despised them so much that I almost cheered aloud when things didn't turn out as they planned, and it made for a fantastic climax to the tale.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick zombie/horror fix. And I can't wait to read the sequel, which is already in my pile of "To Be Read" books. show less

One of the best horror novels I have ever read. Visceral,haunting, filled with stick in your mind scary scenes that fill your dreams, this is a winner! Fast paced and action packed and funny as hell... The author takes his time with his characters, you get to know these survivors and really care about whether they live or die. You don't usually get that level of writing and character development in a horror novel. Keene delivers and then some..This ROCKS! ... would make a great film. Just started the sequel, CITY OF THE DEAD... Keene has just found a new fan!

This was pretty horrific. The characters were very stock - the hooker, the preacher, the father, and so on but the action more than made up for that. This book taught me a valuable lesson: if the zombie apocalypse ever comes, stay the hell away from the military.

There's some novel interesting stuff here with zombies being more possessed by demonic forces than brain impaired undead. Animal zombies as ravaging hordes is an interesting idea. Unfortunately it is undercut by the execution - bizarre actions by the surviving humans (in the usual humans are worse than the plague itself fashion), ill advised descriptions of black characters and prostitution among other things. The framework story itself ends on a cliffhanger - not necessarily bad, but felt cheap given the stumbling narrative preceding it and knowing there's a sequel.

I have to admit when it comes to zombies, I'm a bit of a Romero purest. I like them dumb and slow, and though I'm usually open to fresh new takes on old themes, I can't say I feel the same way about zombies specifically. Which is why I hesitate to even call this a zombie novel. I mean yes, they are walking corpses, but they can use tools, and drive cars...they can even talk! It's like calling a novel about a giant mutant killer bat a vampire novel because it's a blood-thirsty monster with fangs. Meh. Oh, and did I mention the zombie fish? And how it attempts to talk? Yes, really.

The story itself isn't bad, really. It follows various characters from different walks of life: A man on a journey to rescue his son, a preacher, a show more prostitute/drug addict overcoming her past, a scientist who fears he may be responsible for starting the "zombie" apocalypse, and a soldier fighting against the undead in a small militia. Most importantly, I actually enjoyed the stories of each of these characters, and it would be hard for me to pick a favorite, so the author had a lot of success in that department.

The ending is such a cliffhanger, however, that I can only wish the most horrid and unpleasant death imaginable upon the author and everyone he loves and cherishes. How can you do this to me!? Argh!

I guess I'll be reading book 2 now, won't I? Dammit. show less

I am obviously way late to this party, having just read this book first published in 2003. So, how does this story hold up today? Pretty damn well. Reading The Rising is like watching a thrill-ride indie zombie flick or one of those crazy, low-budget Syfy Channel movies. It's pure entertainment, and it delivers. Other than the total cliffhanger ending, because this was the first in a series of what will soon be five books. The characters are not super developed, the dialogue is not always realistic, the prose is not exactly poetic. But it isn't supposed to be. Keene has said he considers himself a pulp writer. The Rising is a solid story of gross-out moments, cool death scenes, and ass-kicking survival.

I'm not exactly sure when zombies came back into vogue but I'm glad for it. Or at least I'm glad that all the zombie books that I've been picking up have been well written. And THE RISING falls into that same category.

The zombies appear because souls or beings from another dimension are making it through a hole or a dimensional weakening created by a scientist. And in a nice tie up, this becomes an issue near the end of the novel. While being zombies and still wanting to kill the living (mostly so that their brethren can come through and take over the body), these zombies are intelligent and can shoot guns and strategize. Their main limitation is the usual zombie slowness. The bulk of the story though is about Jim Thurmond who is trying show more to travel across states to get to his ex-wife's house and rescue his son. And in a nice pacing, the book does have sub-stories involving other characters that play an indirect part in Jim's journey. The climax puts everyone at the same place at the same time but not necessarily interacting with each other.

The book itself is very involving and enjoyable. I found that I didn't care positively for them as much as I should have but I did care negatively for everyone who delayed Jim's travels. In the end, I think those work out to be the same thing. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next novel by Keene. show less