by Fernando Mendez

Let’s face it. Most zombie stories and movies are the same. From Night of the Living Dead up to The Walking Dead, it’s a blueprint used over and over again: zombies take over the world, but humanity proves to be the real monster as they can’t help but fight each other. However, every so often someone comes along and puts a new creative twist and shows that even zombies can be given new life.

In the novel The Rising, Brian Keene constructs a new blueprint for the zombie story. Sure, many characteristics of the zombie story that zombie fans have grown accustomed to show remain, but Keene has managed to add a new supernatural and even biblical element to zombie lore.

The Rising, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003, is a must read for not only zombie fans, but readers looking for a good gory scare. In addition, it is a good introduction to the underlying mythology and characters found in many of Keene’s subsequent works.