Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Apocalypse of the Dead (Dead City, Bk 2)

Apocalypse of the Dead (Dead City, Bk 2)
Barbllm avatar reviewed on + 241 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Joe McKinney skillfully balances several groups of characters as they trek across a ruined America to the North Dakota Grasslands where they hope to avoid the hordes of zombies that have resurrected since hurricanes destroyed a portion of the Gulf Coast. The government had hoped that quarantining the cities affected by the hurricanes would stop the outbreak, but a boatload of refugees makes it to the Florida coast and, unfortunately, all but two of them turned.

Its not absolutely necessary to read the authors prequel book Dead City but it wouldnt hurt; the events in Apocalypse are set two years after the events of that book. Most of the humans left are unprepared for the total collapse of society. A group of Florida retirees led by Ed Moore meet up with a blind woman and an escaped convict to form one group of characters; two buddies, Jeff and Colin, along with the porn stars they hired for Colins bachelor party, form another group; a devilish preacher and his Family form the third, and a vicious motorcycle gang form the fourth. Its impressive to see the characters develop throughout the story, some for the better (Jeff and Aaron) and some for the worse (Michael Barnes).

The question is whether or not humanity is capable of rebuilding society from the ruins, or if anarchy will continue until all the dead are gone. Its a good post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel that warrants comparisons to Stephen Kings The Stand.