Book review: The Dead by Charlie Higson

Title: The Dead

Author: Charlie Higson

Length:

Published: 16^th September 2010

Publisher: Puffin

Warnings: Violence and strong language

Summary: A terrible disease is striking everyone over the age of fourteen. Death walks the streets. Nowhere is safe. Maxie, Blue and the rest of the Holloway crew aren't the only kids trying to escape the ferocious adults who prey on them. Jack and Ed are best friends, but their battle to stay alive tests their friendship to the limit as they go on the run with a mismatched group of other kids, nerds, fighters, misfits. And one adult. Greg, a butcher, who claims he's immune to the disease. They must work together if they want to make it in this terrifying new world. But as a fresh disaster threatens to overwhelm London, they realize they won’t all survive.

Review: It seems that Charlie Higson is back with his zombie wannabes. I thought I would read this for a laugh, expecting it to be in the same category as “The Enemy” (you read, you think “how nice”, you put it down, you make tea, you drink tea, you come back, you repeat steps until the end of the book, you forget). I was sort of wrong. It was more engaging and was set at a better time to join the apocalypse (near the beginning). The characters were better and I thought that most of them had some depth but I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Kwanele as he was a comical character but he was more background character than a supporting character – he just exists. Charlie Higson has definately improved since "The Enemy" and I would like to congratulate him.

Hey Mr. Higson. Congrats! Sort of...

Now that that's over and done with I would like to point out that the blurb is rubbish. Greg never said he was immune. He said that he didn’t know and he didn’t care.

Rating: 3 A bit like rooibos tea. An imposter but bought by many people.