Edit: When I first wrote this review, I was aghast at the terrible typos. I now know that this was not Keene's fault, and he is in fact a grammatically A-Okay writer. There is now a new author's preferred edition just published, I am sure that it has been polished up!So avoid this original paperback edition and be sure to get his latest.Every once in a while, I'll find myself caught up in a novel and, despite some flaws that would bug me, there's that certain something that sets the hook and pulls me along. I've only mentioned this in a few reviews, but it's one of those intangible gifts that some authors have and that I admire greatly, and it's this:Pacing.I was a little over 80 pages into this, when I flipped to the front cover to be sure I hadn't misread it. No, this wasn't a nominee, it actually won the Bram Stoker Award. This won the Bram Stoker? This? With such glaring spelling and gramatical errors as:choasLot's of themI'm got to find himHoly crap. So much for top horror being considered in any way as intelligent literature.But, seeing as I was already a third of the way through the story, and this did win, and it was a pretty good story, I pushed on.Well, I pushed on for about 20 or 30 pages. Then I was pulled.Man, this guy had a fairly large cast for such a short novel, but in no way did I find switching from one character set to another slow up the story at all. Quite the opposite.Looking back, I'm still amazed at how a writer can do this so smoothly.This was a good story. Typical in the zombies-are-outnumbering-us kind of formula, but very untypical in the nature of the zombies. A lot of purists didn't like this, but I thought it was great. I also loved the ending, which turned off a few reviewers as well. The Rising broke a few rules, but wait a second...in fiction the winners are those who acknowledge that there are no rules. Good on Brian Keene.Now, I shouldn't have to say this to horror aficionados, but there are some pretty intense things that happen in this book, violently and sexually. Just so you know.This was good stuff, and I'll read Keene again. But, for the love of God, Brian, invest in a spell/grammar checker. You almost lost me there.

So to be perfectly honest, Ive been going back and forth on whether on not I actually wanted to write this review. It basically came down to not burning bridges in a very small universe, or being honest with my readers. (I know, all three of you.)When I weighted it out, I decided a bad review treated fairly and note based on gut reaction might be better for the internet as a whole then a blank space. Plus, that way, as new readers show up, (Ill welcome you, reader number four,) they can feel secure that Im reviewing for honesty and not just for links and incest.So without further ado, my review of Brian Keenes first novel The Rising. Not his last book by far, God bless him, I never intended to review only new books, however, so bare with me.How I Found This Book: Do you know, Im not sure? I think its one of those convoluted social networking messes, like a guy who knows a guy invited me to Ning network and I followed him back on Twitter and then he mentioned Keene, and I was like, I want more writers I love, so I went out and picked up this book. (Internet ties always make me think in run-on sentences.)That said, let me tell you, I really really wanted to love this book. I wanted to pick it up and love every goddam page of it and eat if for breakfast and run out and buy everything Keene ever wrote and be a fangirl and run screaming through the rain to get to the front of the line at book signings.So, you know, the fact that I actually kind of hate this book A LOT makes the possibility of those other things happening pretty slim.Lemmie see, a book with a construction worker, a old priest, and a ex junkie ex hooker team up to save the construction workers son from the zombie hoard? Where the hell do I sign up? I usually hate the synopsis on the back of the books. In this case, I actually wish the book fit its back cover. Alas, not so much.The Good: Erm. Well. You know, um. Okay, thats not fair. To be fair, this book has a lot going for it. Keenes got a real gift with sensory detail, which is important in a zombie novel. There are things in the book that are really truly gross in an enjoyable way, and I think that was the writers intention. At one point he describes the smell of a mans infected leg not unlike a microwaved hotdog. I dont know if this is completely true, but it sure was vivid. Ill also note that this is a first novel, and maybe some of the problems I had with it had more to do with Keene exorcising some demons then any actual defect in his personality. Who knows, right? Also, there are some KILLER ideas in there. Sentient zombies? Check. The host of Hell? Check. The military going crazy and trying to take over? Check. A heartfelt search to save a mans estranged son? Well, most of a check.The Bad: The problem is, none of those good ideas got followed completely, while Keene instead chose to focus on a strange rape fixation and this weird all people are bad, or if not, theyre dead philosophy that seemed forced. Time and time again, the characters run into people who have gone from normal to people to mustache twirling evil in the few months since the dead started to walk. I understand that without civilization, people are likely to get WAY more selfish and blah blah, but Keenes focus seems to all but ignore the zombies and focus on the evil that men do in such cartoonish fashion that I imagined the demonic zombies sitting on the side lines going hey, were over here yanno. Well rape, pillage and eat you too if youd just give us a little attention.When I was talking to my husband about this book I had a long, feminist rant about how disgusted I was by much of the stories fascination with taking sexual advantage of the main heroine, but I think Ill spare you. Suffice to say, when Keene decided to describe in detail a gang-bang followed by urination on the woman I assume Im supposed to identify with, I threw the book across the room. And dont even ask me about the Meat Wagon, a brothel on wheels that the National Guardsman build to turn every woman they run across into a sex slave. Im sure a busy man like Brian Keene isnt going to read this, and if he is, Im sure hell dismiss it because its a bad review, but really, Brain, man, lighten up on the women, huh? We want to be your audience too. If you really think this is the way men would behave when society falls, I weep for your outlook on life.So why did I finish reading it? I guess I kept hoping the last few pages would be some kind of pay off. That Id get some reward for the disgusting cartoon I had read that far, but alas, I was never satisfied. The book brings you right up to the point where you find out if the construction workers son is alive or not, (you know, the reason Im reading the book in the first place? The story?) And thats it. To the door, no further.The damn thing didnt end.I dont know if I was expected to make up my own ending, or if I was expected to read the sequel as a result, but I can tell you one thing, I LIKE open endings and cliff hangers. I did not feel like this was either a cliff hanger or open ended. To be perfectly honest, I feel like the ending was a cop-out. Like Keene had lost his real story some where along the sadistic-rape-happy way and couldnt bring himself back to it in time to end the book. But what the fuck do I know, right? This guy has had a dozen novels published, and Im still 0 for 0.Who Will Like This Book: I want to say something snide like, not anyone I want to be alone in a room with, but thats probably unfair. I know hes got a hell of a following, Ive checked out his fan community, but wasnt terribly surprised to see a lot of military or ex military men in the forums. Im sure they saw things in this and other books by Keene Im just not seeing, or maybe they just didnt see the degradation and humiliation I found so appalling. Thats not really for me to say, so Ill just say this; true to the back cover, this book is not for the squeamish.Who Wont Like This Book: Other than me? Again, hard to say. I read some unnecessarily scathing comments on Amazon, but that wasnt a big surprise. I know my husband would hate it. I figure if you want a deep psychological look at humanity and their responses to chaos and damnation, this probably isnt the book for you.

The shit has hit the fan and the dead walk the earth! Survivors wander around, staying one step ahead of the undead hordes and struggling to survive. Rogue military units are on patrol, rounding up survivors. Meanwhile, Jim Thurmond is on a trek from West Virginia to New Jersey to find his son...I'm a zombie fan from way back. My favorite movie as a teenager was the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake. I have the Return of the Living Dead soundtrack on vinyl (I can smell your brains!) and Zombies!!! the board game. About fifteen years ago, I kind of fell out of zombie fandom since it felt like it had all been done many, many times. However, in recent weeks we've dusted off the Zombies!!! board game and I had the hunger for some zombie fiction. This hit the spot like some nice warm brains.The cause of the zombie plague this time was the government mucking with the barriers between dimensions. Now, everything with a brain gets reanimated upon death AND retains some of its own knowledge. The zombies in The Rising can use guns and drive as well as munch human flesh. I'm old school: I like my zombies slow, dumb, and numerous. However, these zombies wound up being very scary.The gore and violence level is pretty high. People get chomped quite a bit and there are headshots galore. The zombie animals are no picnic either. Swarms of zombie birds are nothing to scoff at, not even in a helicopter.The different viewpoint characters are what set this apart from being a typical zombie killfest. I felt for Jim's plight, even though I was pretty sure he'd get Cujo-ed at the end. Frankie was a born survivor. I was pretty sure she'd live through it. Baker's relationship with Worm was touching so I knew the emotional wringer was coming my way. While I was disgusted by the national guard unit led by Schow, I had no trouble believing in it.There were a lot of memorable, inventive scenes in this book. The Rising was harder to put down than a shotgun during a zombie apocalypse. I've read a couple Brian Keene books before but now I'm a Brian Keene fan. Five out of five stars.