I won't say Brian Keene's novel "The Rising" is a perfect horror novel; it has its flaws, to be sure. However, rivetting until the end, it is definitely one of the best horror novels (and possibly the best zombie novel) I have read in a long time.
The plot:
It's an accident, really. A device designed to create black holes opens up a portal to another reality--Hell, if you will. When we die, and our life forces depart our bodies, spirits from this other reality come back and inhabit them...intent on making corpses for more of their brethren to come through.
"The Rising" follows four primary people: Jim Thurmond, who's searching for his son; the Reverend Martin, who hears of Jim's plight and dedicates himself to helping the man; Baker, a scientist who had a lot to do with the catastrophe that has happened, and who now wishes to survive long enough to make ammends; and Frankie, a former prostitute running not only from the zombies, but from her drug addiction as well...
As their journeys intersect each other, these four individuals will have to face the bitter truth: though many people have survived the zombies so far, sometimes the walking dead aren't half as evil as the living...
"The Rising" by Brian Keene is spectacular. Maybe it's ripping off "Day of the Dead;" personally, I don't care. All I care about is that these zombies are like none you've seen before, and Keene is one hell of a writer. Though he may not be the next Stephen King (he lacks King's commercial appeal), Keene is, like many authors published by Leisure Horror, a rare and dignified talent.
Buy "The Rising," but on two conditions: 1, you have to be a true horror fan; and 2, you have to be willing to have your socks scared right off your feet!