Double Dead (Tomes of the Dead) [Paperback]

Chuck Wendig (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 15, 2011 | Series: Tomes of the Dead (Book 1)

Coburn’s been dead now for close to a century, but seeing as how he’s a vampire and all, it doesn’t much bother him. Or at least it didn’t, not until he awoke from a forced five-year slumber to discover that most of human civilization was now dead—but not dead like him, oh no.

See, Coburn likes blood. The rest of the walking dead, they like brains. He’s smart. Them, not so much. But they outnumber him by about a million to one. And the clotted blood of the walking dead cannot sustain him. Now he’s starving. And nocturnal. And more pissed-off than a bee-stung rattlesnake. The vampire not only has to find human survivors (with their sweet, sweet blood), but now he has to transition from predator to protector—after all, a man has to look after his food supply.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter and self-described 'penmonkey.' He sold his first story when he was 18. After working in the computer and role-playing game industries he began scripting TV and film projects, including a horror film script which won him a place at the prestigous Sundance Screenwriter Lab 2010. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Abaddon; Original edition (November 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1907992413
• ISBN-13: 978-1907992414
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He's the author of BLACKBIRDS, DOUBLE DEAD and DINOCALYPSE NOW, and is co-writer of the short film PANDEMIC, the feature film HiM, and the Emmy-nominated digital narrative COLLAPSUS. He lives in Pennsylvania with wife, taco terrier, and tiny human.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Vampire vs Zombies November 15, 2011

By Dave Versace

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A vampire called Coburn wakes up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and realises he needs to save the human survivors or he'll starve.

That's the premise. You'll know going in whether a story like this is going to work for you. If it does - and boy howdy it did for me - then Double Dead delivers on its promises. It's a brutal post-apocalyptic road movie featuring the usual ragtag band of survivors - the overbearing dad, the manipulative bitch, the psychic teenager (and a couple of other characters vying for the opportunity to be the first one to be killed off). Think of The Walking Dead, but with slightly less ghastly humans.

Then there's Coburn. He's selfish, he's cruel, he's completely unrepentant about his decades of debauched self-indulgence and murder. He's only using his vampiric superpowers to protect the others so he can feed from them. Or so he tells himself, until he realises that there are many far more awful horrors - people and otherwise - out there in what remains of the world. As he and his `sheeple' lurch from one over-the-top, action-packed crisis to the next, Coburn realises he has more at stake than his next meal.

Violent, hilarious and horrific by turns, this book does just what it says on the box. There's dismemberment, bad language and misuse of firearms. There are cannibals, monster hunters, ultrazombies and juggalos. The action is fast-paced, the explosions are frequent and the bloodletting is plentiful. Yet for all the mayhem, Double Dead is a book with heart and brains. The characters are all touched by tragedy, even its monster protagonist, and it never lets you forget that all this horror and insanity is happening to ordinary people.

This is a grotesque, ballsy and confident first novel from rockstar penmonkey Chuck Wendig.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific zombie book with fantastic premise November 14, 2011

By David Kazzie

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I first became familiar with Chuck Wendig's work through his popular blog, on which he dispenses a lot of writing advice. He was obviously an excellent writer, and when I heard he had a post-apocalyptic zombie book coming out, I was excited to read it, and I just hoped he was as good a storyteller as he was a blogger.

He is a fantastic storyteller. I read Double Dead over the course of the weekend, the first time in ages I've read a book that fast.

Double Dead is unlike any zombie novel you've ever read -- the premise of a vampire waking up from a long coma to discover the human race has been decimated by a zombie apocalypse is ingenious. I won't reveal any more about the story here -- to do so, even a little, will cheat you out of a fantastic reading experience.

It's scary, funny and full of action. Wendig's style is clear and cinematic, and he knows to handle a large cast of characters. One of my peeves in reading fiction is being unable to distinguish one character from another -- Wendig never lets that happen.

He's built a very convincing world here, and I look forward to his future books.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A few flaws, but an entertaining horror adventure. November 28, 2011

By Daniel Swensen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A fun yarn with a great premise, but an ending that feels rushed. Double Dead reminds me of Stephen King crossed with Sam Raimi: lots of garish, gruesome imagery, lots of inventive, non-stop profanity. The latter is probably my biggest complaint with the book -- I don't have a problem with copious profanity, but Wendig's characters have a tendency to become quip machines, slinging endless permutations of the F-bomb at one another. In sufficient volume, it robs the characters of individual voice, and they all start sounding like Wendig's blog.

I wasn't sold on Coburn (the vampire protagonist) at first, because early on he's a very one-note guy, telling everyone within earshot how awesome he is and how he's seconds from killing them at any moment. But Coburn grows over time and manages a satisfying arc by the end. It was nice to see a vampire who is neither maudlin nor sensitive; Coburn is pure macho id who loves him some murder.

Overall, a few flaws, but an entertaining horror adventure.