The Condemned [Paperback]

David Jack Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2008

The world is at war.the city is dying.and those left for dead within its walls have awakened. A terrorist attack on the water supply has left the city quarantined by the army and inhabited by the City People, the mindless living dead who rule the urban night. Plagued by nightmares and wracked with guilt for having left his best friend behind, Jett returns to work, hoping to provide for his family. But his new partner, a wounded veteran known only as The Kid, won't let Jett forget that his best friend might not be entirely dead. As their city raids grow bloodier, Jett finds himself increasingly under the mysterious influence of his new partner. And just as his murderous rage for the City People grows nearly out of control, he realizes things may not be exactly as they appear. The night, and those who control it-the City People-hold many secrets. Secrets that might just set Jett free.or destroy him and everything he holds dear.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Delirium Books (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929653905
• ISBN-13: 978-1929653904
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Jack Bell is the author of two novels, THE GIRL IN THE WOODS and THE CONDEMNED. His short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance, Western Humanities Review, Backwards City Review, and many others. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and he can be reached through his website at www.davidjackbell.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the rest of it?, December 24, 2008

By 

M. A. Davis (Fishers, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Condemned (Paperback)

The story line is a great idea, and I like that the author puts you right in the story and backfills you on history as you read. I've always found that method fun to read and often makes a book difficult to put down. In this case though, the "backfilling" is horribly incomplete. When you realize you're 50 pages from the end, you will already know you've been ripped off because at that point, you'd need 150 pages (or more!) to adequately develop the characters, explain the story line, and prepare the reader for the ending. There was so much liberty taken with the story line, that the ending made little sense. This story is just told - not explained. When a situation would take some time to develop and write, the author just makes it "so". At one point, a couple of characters must go through a military checkpoint. They have no reason to be there at that time and in those circumstances, but the man lets them through the checkpoint with very little explanation. In another contrived incident the characters find a conspiracy theorist type stranger with very little explanation of how, get convenient information from him, and return the following day to find he's been hushed by an unknown entity (presumably the government). BUT - surprise, he left them a secret hidden map. He just met them for crying out loud. We don't even know much about the main character other than he's very upset about losing his best friend, and even though he has nightmares about his beloved daughter being kidnapped, he chooses to leave her and his wife to accompany a just met, half-cocked, dingbat kid into certain death. Get this book when you've read all of the other "zombie" books. There are some VERY good one's out there.

I hope the author pulls the book and spends a couple more years making it a complete novel. It could be great.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully unsettling -- both chilling and heartwarming, May 23, 2008

By 

Kelcey Parker (South Bend, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Condemned (Paperback)

The Condemned is a richly imagined novel about doing what's right. But it's also about figuring out what's right when nothing at all is clear. Is it "right" to lay low and be safe for the sake of your wife and kids, or is it "right" to risk all to solve/avenge the death of your friend and job partner? Is it "right" to destroy the City People, or are they already being destroyed? The reader is glad to be with Jett, who seems to know intuitively what is right, and who is willing to do it even when doing so puts himself and others at risk.

I really enjoyed the masterful pacing of the novel. Each chapter goes deeper into the characters, the plot, and the familiarly unfamiliar City--without revealing too much or too little. Thus, much of the quiet suspense of the first half of the book is the delightful mystery of what this strange post-apocalyptic world is all about. The second half holds a different type of suspense, of the no-turning-back-now variety, and is full of unexpected twists and surprises that are both gratifying and terrifying.

I also loved some of the nostalgic references to major league baseball, especially in the context of creepy references to the abandoned (?) stadium.

A great read! Highly recommended!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid horror thriller. 4.5 stars, July 20, 2008

By 

Patrick S. Dorazio "Author of The Dark Trilogy" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Condemned (Paperback)

After seeing Will Smith's version of 'I am Legend' and having also read the original by Matheson, plus Chuck Heston's 'Omega Man', I can see strains of all three in this novel.

This story takes place in a nameless city that has pretty much perished under the onslaught of terrorism attacks, with much of its population poisoned via the waterstream years previous. They are light adverse night stalkers who everyone outside the city despises, thinking that they have become vicious animals. The country is at war overseas and essentially we are seeing a world that appears to be winding down, rusting into oblivion with people hanging on, trying to salvage what they can.

We are introduced to Jett, a man who works for the government, hauling scrap out of the city in the daytime hours. It is a risky job, with the City People hiding out and ready to kill those who they get a hold of. His partner died at hands of the city people, or was turned into one when they were making run that ran a little too close to dusk. Enter a new partner for Jett, who we only know as The Kid. He is a war veteran with some secrets and a desire to push Jett to find out what really happened to his partner, plus he has a lust for going after the city people. Together, they set out to find out not only what happened to Jett's first partner but what the real deal is with the City People, who have been condemned by society as outcasts and monsters but may be more than they appear.

Overall, I found this relatively short novel a brisk and easy read. David Jack Bell has a tight and crisp writing style that keeps the pace steady and consistent, revealing small bits and pieces of this tale in an efficient manner that keeps you interested throughout.

I enjoy apocalyptic fiction and besides the movies and books I mentioned above, I also could sense numerous other influences on this work. A world that is slowly dying, war, plagues, famine, potential government conspiracies. It all comes together nicely under the author's deft hand here, in a place where he does not give us much in the way of specific details about the city or about the enemy overseas. We can envision this being a part of our own world in the near future or some alternate reality that none of us would want to be a part of.

I enjoyed this story of this grim and dingy place that the author has created. I do wish there was more depth of understanding of the City People but I realize that our view of this world is through the eyes of the main character, which intentionally limits our perception of things. We do not know where things will lead when the story ends, leaving many things open for interpretation for the reader.