Okay, so this book was better than the first one. It answers some questions about the zombies. It has a lot more action. At first, it was difficult for me to follow the constant change of characters. Each chapter was a new group, then he would swing back to the previous group. It got confusing. But, other than that, I really liked the book.

The one thing that this book showed was that the walking dead are not the main problem. The main problem can be the people who are still alive... ( )

Awesome! I don't why there were so many people saying they didn't like this book, because I certainly found it very, very good. There was a little bit in the middle there that I thought the relationship between Dev and Katya to be a little strained and forced, but I guess it was the situation they were thrown in. Cried my heart out in the end. ( )

It's been about a year and a half and a hundred plus books since I read the first book in the series. As such, initially I had a bit of difficultly keeping track of where things were and the initial rotating of characters in the narrative had me feeling a little lost.

Once the narratives started to merge together it was an enjoyable zombie survival novel with a couple of fresh ideas, not redefining, but fresh. Could have probably used a prologue to refresh the memory of readers like me. ( )

The 2nd book in a zombie trilogy, Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney is a non-stop thriller. The first book dealt with the early rise of the infection and took place over one night. This book picks up a couple of years later. America has built a wall isolating southern Texas and believes they have contained the infectious. Unfortunately with two thousand miles of coastline to patrol, one small boat of refugees easily evades the coast guard and would have made it safely to Florida, except one passenger was infected. By the time the boat drifted ashore, all on the boat had turned into zombie-like creatures. The virus spreads at lightning speed, and soon there is world-wide infection.

The story follows various groups of people as their day-to-day lives collapse and they try to find a place of safety. Eventually these refugees are drawn to the North Dakota Grasslands to find a new life under the banner of a self-appointed preacher. But are they safe or have they instead put their lives in the hands of a madman?

In true horror style, Apocalypse of the Dead is gory, gruesome and gritty. A fast paced story peopled with a variety of interesting characters. What I actually found the most chilling about this book, however, wasn’t the actual zombies, but the failure of authorities and governments in dealing with a massive epidemic. Now that is truly the stuff of nightmares. ( )

The sequel to Dead City and the 2nd installment of the Dead World city see's Joe McKinney taking huge steps forward in his zombie apocalypse series. Where the first novel was a fairly simplistic zombie thriller focusing more on action than plot as it followed a police officer fighting his way out of the initial zombie outbreak, Apocalypse of the Dead follows a much larger cast of characters and takes on a much broader scope as the United States finally buckles under the strain of the zombie horde pushing out of the quarantine zone of the gulf coast.

Unfortunately for every step forward the book takes there is often times another one in the opposite direction. The cast is almost too big, not just a large collection of characters but a large collection of groups of characters. Despite this, McKinney still writes like he's composing another thriller, which means cliffhanger endings. It's frustrating when the chapter ends right in the middle of a compelling scene and the reader is left hanging for 40+ pages. Finally, towards the end, many ideas seem not to be full fleshed out, like someone took an axe to it a bit too hastily, and some characters are nearly abandoned until right before the finale.

The book, however, is still a very readable zombie apocalypse novel. I can definitely see some influence from The Stand by Stephen King, one character in particular is definitely reminiscent of his Mother Abigail character. While I wouldn't begin to compare this to King's apocalyptic tale, I did enjoy it. I liked Dead City for what it was, a pleasant and fast-paced zombie thriller, and I feel similarly about this one. If you like this kind of thing and are in need of a fix, this series is certainly worth looking into. ( )