Review - Dawn Of the Dead by George A. Romero (and Susanna Sparrow)

Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - less than 1 day

Blurb From Amazon

When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

George A. Romero's iconic film and novel terrified generations. Now Dawn of the Dead is back to terrify once more. The world is being devastated by zombies. No one knows how far they have spread, or how to stop them. And as the living fight to save themselves, society collapses. Four people escape the chaos of downtown Philadelphia and find shelter in a shopping mall. As the survivors exhaust their greed and the undead scrape at the doors, the refuge becomes a prison. And soon there will be nowhere left to hide ...

The classic horror that inspired a genre: if you haven't read this yet, you need to. If you have, you'll want to again. Includes a brilliant and exclusive introduction from Simon Pegg.

My Review

How did I not know this book existed!! I found it by chance in The Works, on sale and had quite a moment to myself. If you have seen the movie you know the jist of the story but for those who haven't (where have you been!), the story is focused on 4 survivors of the zombie outbreak, trying to survive. As we go in, we start in the news broadcasting room as they try to cover the beginning of the outbreak and make sense of it. Soon people realize this isn't under control and make a break for it. What follows is the story of how they face the terrors and try to stay alive, and out there it isn't just the zombies you need to worry about.

I loved the film and to be honest it has been so many years since I seen it (the original) I am not sure how closely the book follows (but a lot of what I do remember seemed to be present. The story isn't just a gore fest, although there is enough to keep the horror fans happy. It also shows the bonds and strains between the relationships, Roger and Peter, both professional killers trying to keep their head during the chaos. Fran and Stephen, in a relationship and now doing what they can to stay alive and help with the two trained killers.

My only complaints would be the chapters seemed to morph from one scene to another without any indication it had changed, ie no page break or symbol to indicate where one scene ends it just goes straight to the other. With only 4 main characters (for the most part) it is still easy to follow but that can be a tad annoying. The other is how it ends, I am pretty sure the movie is fairly the same but I like to know every detail and not be left guessing or hanging so therefore it is a 4/5 for me. would love to get my hands on the other books so will have to search and see if they exist.

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