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The Living Dead cover art

The Living Dead

Written by: George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus
Narrated by: Bruce Davison, Lori Cardille, Daniel Kraus
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Publisher's Summary

“A horror landmark and a work of gory genius.” (Joe Hill, New York Times best-selling author of The Fireman)

New York Times best-selling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death!

George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete.

Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times best seller The Shape of Water (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and Trollhunters (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero's widow, to complete The Living Dead.  

Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.

It begins with one body.

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.

It spreads quickly.

In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.

Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.

We think we know how this story ends.

We. Are. Wrong.

©2020 George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about The Living Dead

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Not Impressed

I bought this title expecting much more from it. So far it has not held my interest and is off to a very slow start several hours into it. It also suffers from an excessive and blatant underlying political undertone. There seems to have been a concerted and deliberate effort to avoid having any white male main characters. The performer reading the book is doing a great job but the material itself is more about racial politics than zombies. Debating whether to finish listening to it or simply remove it from my collection and refund the purchase. If it was by just about anyone other than George A. Romero (at least in part) I would have deep-sixed it already. This does not hold a candle to the likes of Dawn of the Dead.

EDIT: With 8 hours to go and after a couple of weeks of trying to force myself to listen to this, I am giving up and refunding the purchase. If you are looking for a zombie story on par with Dawn of the Dead, avoid this book. Its far less about zombies than it is about trying to show how "woke" they can make the story.

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  • Overall
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good enough...

it is very long, but it does keep your interest. if you're a fan of Romero, it is worth checking out. you can't tell where his writing ended, and Kraus started.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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So far it's a giant yawn.

After eight hours of listening to The Living Dead, I am giving up. It is boring. I anticipated a romping good and scary zombie novel from Mr. Romero; instead. I've heard everything about everyone (not very interesting), but rarely does a zombie rear its ugly head. Then there is the endless social commentary which is inappropriate and annoying. I stupidly bought the damned thing so I may get back to it if I'm desperate for something to listen to. Yet, I wonder if that desperation will justify having to hear Lori Cardille's very bad narration (although the other two narrators are okay). Anyway, if the first eight hours are any indication, I cannot recommend The Living Dead to my Audible friends.

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