I only really read books nowadays while on my lunch break at work, and so it has taken me around two years to make my way through the six hundred and fifty page zombie epic The Living Dead. The author for this book is Daniel Kraus (co-writer of The Shape of Water), and it was based upon notes and ideas that legendary film director George A. Romero (Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead) had made, himself having intended to write an epic story of the undead that would unite his many films together into one whole. Initially I was disappointed with this, for some reason I had came to believe this novel was literally all of Romero's films stitched together into a single novel, and so I was underwhelmed to see this is a completely stand alone story that takes place within the fictional universe. Some unavoidable spoilers for the change in direction that occurs at around the midpoint to follow.
This novel retcons the zombie outbreak to modern times, something that previous films in the Dead series have also done. It's first half becomes almost an anthology, having a whole bunch of stories that are taking place at the same time, but featuring characters who are separated by distance and so aren't aware of each others existence. Truthfully, this was my favourite part of the book, featuring plenty of classic zombie scenarios. With Charlene and Luis you have the two morticians who likely encounter patient zero, and then their attempt to survive in a rapidly changing world. Greer is a poor black lady living at a run-down trailer park who sees the unfolding chaos as a reason to head out and try to find her kid brother at his school. Meanwhile, out on an aircraft carrier, Nishimura starts to lose control of his subordinates after a zombie worshipping cult rapidly forms when the dead start to return to un-life. While all this is happening, the last broadcasting news station struggles to keep on air, with anchor 'The Face' determined to deliver the unfolding news as long as humanly possible. This is all wrapped up with an overarching story of an autistic lady who is chronicling the tales of the apocalypse at her secure government records building.
This first part was the most exciting, especially when it wasn't clear who would live and who would die. Some of these stories end in unexpected ways, and some work better than others. I thought the whole story set on the aircraft carrier was fantastic, it had great human antagonists, and worked best as a unique story. The TV station story was also a highlight, mainly due to the fact that characters from the other stories all seem to catch the broadcast at one point or another. One of the most memorable parts of Dawn of the Dead were the news station scenes, it was fun to imagine that the studio in the book was one and the same as the one in the film. Weakest of these was the storyline involving the two morticians, it told a generic story that had little surprises in it. For much of the story the Greer one was also a bit lacking, but it really comes into its own towards the end when Greer stumbles across a pacifist musician.
Zombies are very violent, and there are plenty of descriptive scenes of both their punishment, and the effects they have on their victims. This was of course all lovely stuff, but it is quite front loaded, with the second half of the novel being more calm, relatively speaking.
I was surprised to then see a huge time jump of eleven years. This is displayed in the novel by a short 'Part Two' that basically sums up what has been going on in the world over the decade that is skipped, and takes the form of the observations of the records building officer. This time period is zoomed over, but had some fun tiny easter eggs relating to the films. It also casually introduces the notion of zombie animals, rather than invented by the author, this was actually a genuine idea that Romero had had. The final part of the book is then based in the apocalyptic future where all the various characters of part one had randomly met up, and have to face a more traditional enemy. My most hated part of the entire series was in Land of the Dead when the characters decide to leave the zombies alone, stating they just wanted somewhere to live. This kind of runs with that idea, having the future sections have humans trying to live peacefully alongside the rapidly deteriorating walking dead. I might not agree with this, sharing some sympathies with the human antagonist character, but it was well explored here, with reasoning given by the likeable lead characters. This last part of the book had to do a lot of heavy lifting to bring readers up to speed on the what the characters had been up to, but it does a great job, with backstories taking place as a form of interviews with the protagonists of part one.
Romero's films always used zombies as a form of social commentary, and here is no different. There are scenes towards the books end that replaces a zombie horde with human rioters, the descriptions making the humans seem like undead as they batter down barricades and slaughter innocents.
The Living Dead was a decent novel, and I felt adding in a time skip was a brave idea. I admit that I thought the first half was a lot more exciting, but it was interesting to show both the beginning and the end of the zombie outbreak while giving a more non-judgmental view of the walking dead. As interesting as this was for me (and I did love the minor references to the films included!), the second half of the novel didn't have the same zip and excitement to me. Humans might make the more formidable foe, but zombie fighting action never fails to get old, and so I wished the second half featured more of this.
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