Living Dead

“A horror landmark and a work of gory genius.”―Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The FiremanNew York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death! George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete.Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times bestseller The Shape of Water (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and Trollhunters (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero's widow, to complete The Living Dead. Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.It begins with one body. A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. It spreads quickly.In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.

Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song

“The Living Dead is a sprawling, timely, scary epic that honors the zombie tradition but also goes in new directions and takes risks that pay off.”

Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual

“If Night of the Living Dead was the first word in the dead rising field, The Living Dead is the last word. A monumental achievement.”

Clive Barker

“Like a lost Romero classic, which will play out on the inside of your skull long after you've finished it.”

Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

“A work of gory genius marked by all of Romero's trademark wit, humanity, and merciless social observations. How lucky are we to have this final act of Grand Guignol from the man who made the dead walk?”

Grady Hendrix, author of My Best Friend’s Exorcism

“Every zombie movie lives in the shadow of Romero, but he never got the budget to work at the scale he deserved. Fortunately, Daniel Kraus delivers the epic book of the dead that Romero began. That shadow just got a whole lot bigger.”

Booklist on The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus

"[A] phenomenally enrapturing and reverberating work of art. Vividly illuminates the minds of the characters.”

About the Author

George A. Romero’s (1940-2017) classic zombie movie cycle begins with the groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, which are followed by four sequels. Romero directed two Stephen King projects, Creepshow and The Dark Half,andcreated the TV series Tales From the Darkside. Originally from New York City, Romero attended Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Suzanne, lived in Toronto for over 10 years. George A. Romero died in 2017.Daniel Kraus is the author of numerous novels, including Rotters, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch duology, Bent Heavens, and the Teddies Saga. With Guillermo del Toro, he wrote the New York Times-bestselling The Shape of Water and Trollhunters (the inspiration for the Netflix series). His novels have been Odyssey Award winners, Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks, Parent’s Choice Gold Award winners, Bram Stoker finalists, and more. He lives with his wife in Chicago.

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