Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney

Last month I received an email from Mr. McKinney. He mentioned how much he enjoyed my previous reviews and asked if I would be available to read and review his upcoming book. I reviewed his book, Dead City, a few months back. I was fair and honest on the review and gave the book 3 Undead Heads. Apocalypse of the Dead is the sequel to Dead City, and I couldn’t wait to dive into this one. The copy I received was an advanced manuscript, but Mr. McKinney was generous enough to send me a few signed copies of his books for giveaways. Stay tuned for information on that.

Texas was struck by a devastating hurricane, much like the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans. Most parts of Huston are now completely underwater. Survivors of the tempest struggle to stay alive while they try to stay out of the water. There’s an immense danger lurking in the flood waters of Huston; the infected stalk patiently.

Michael Barnes is a helicopter pilot for the U. S. Coast Guard. During a routine sweep of the area, Barnes sees the survivor’s suffering. They can’t go anywhere; they are forced to stay inside the city. The survivors are not just trying to find a way out of the quarantine zone, but they are also trying to run away from the hoards of undead that are around every corner. It’s Barnes’ job to make sure no one comes out of the quarantine area.

Ben Richardson joins Michael Barnes for one of his routine sweeps of the quarantined city. The two men begin their journey from the comfort of the air. Barnes answers all of Ben’s questions when suddenly, their safe helicopter rid turns into a fight for survival. Barnes’ helicopter begins to hurl down into the quarantine zone. With no rescue team coming, the two men must fight their way through hoards of angry survivors and hoards of hungry zombies to escape.

I want to thank Joe for giving me the opportunity to review his book. He has been nothing but helpful and very positive. During our email conversations it was heavily stated that Apocalypse of the Dead is the sequel to Dead City. When I started reading, it didn’t really feel like a sequel. It felt more like a completely different story, yet in the same area as Dead City. The protagonist from the first book, Eddie Hudson, wasn’t mentioned until about chapter six, and that was a very brief mention. It was very subtle and didn’t add much to the story. If Joe never mentioned that this was a sequel, it would have taken me a few chapters to figure out this was book two. I really don’t want to give any too many details because this book is packed with many twists and turns that if I say anything more I’ll ruin it for everyone else.

I did notice many similarities to the writing style. My main problem with Dead City was that there was too much action and not enough back story. This book does a better job at explaining the plot, instead of just having the main characters fight zombies at every turn. Don’t get me wrong, there were a ton of action and gore scenes; there was one in almost every chapter. The difference between the two books is that Apocalypse felt like there was more to the story than just surviving a zombie apocalypse.

One of the best qualities about the book is the flow. Nothing feels rushed and nothing feels slow, the pace of the story is perfect. Yeah there were a few dull moments where I felt that section could have been left out but they were far and few between. The dialogue between the characters was very realistic. While I read the interaction between the characters it was easy to visualize the conversation as it was happening. McKinney does a fantastic job with that and I honestly feel this is one of his stronger traits as a writer.

Apocalypse of the Dead is a strong sequel to Dead City. The action was intense, the dialogue was very realistic and the story was extremely well told. I’m sad that the book is over, but I’m glad the story is not finished. Joe has informed me that there will be two more books in this series, and I can’t wait to get my hands on them. I will give Apocalypse of the Dead a well earned, 4 Undead Heads out of 5.

I reviewed an advanced .Doc file of the book that was sent to me by Mr. McKinney. I planned on having this review out before the release of the book but problems arose. The book is available at your local bookstore. If you’d like to support the site and the author, please use the link below and buy a copy from Amazon. If you haven’t read Dead City, pick that one up as well.