REVIEW: When the Dead by Michelle Kilmer

Posted by Hayley Knighten on her blog on March 17th, 2014. Reprinted from archive.

SHORT SYNOPSIS: A gripping study of apartment tenants choosing to shut in and wait out the zombie apocalypse from the confines of their building.

WHEN THE DEAD
by Michelle Kilmer

PUBLISHED: September 3, 2012
GENRES: Horror, Survival
LENGTH: 386 pages

REVIEW: Kilmer is honest and unflinching in her exploration of ordinary people forced to rely on one another to survive.

The tenants of Willow Brook are not Brad Pitt with the flowing hair and the perfect family. They are desperate and at times ugly but then who wouldn’t be in this situation? For some the struggle to retain one’s humanity is greater than the struggle to survive.

Tom Vaughn, for one is a misogynistic drunk, but there were many points in the novel where I rooted for him, laughed at his dark humor, or found his sporadic and unexpected compassion endearing.

When the Dead delivers chilling horror and leaves readers asking themselves if they have what it takes to survive the apocalypse, and if so, at what cost?

One of the more realistic and gritty zombie survival stories I have read. A must-read for horror fans.

RATING: A