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Tomes of The Dead #1
Double Dead
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.
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.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2011
About the author
Chuck Wendig
180 books6,282 followersChuck Wendig is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a freelance penmonkey.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
February 9, 2017
Serious fun stuff. I can't believe this is his first novel, and the first one I've read. It certainly isn't going to by my last. :) I love the concept. Vampire MC in a zombie wasteland. SO TOTALLY COOL.
And yes, there's a full-blown tribute to either the comic for The Walking Dead or the TV series. Soo many great scenes, all made with just enough difference to be all Wendig, but with a very classy evil humor that's all Wendig, too. :)
So I fell into this novel having a grand ole time and it never let up for me, being both light and evil and delightfully full of action and great characters and cool hints for massive solutions that May or May Not pan out as you hope, just like in TWD, only we've got some serious Resident Evil stuff going on, too, to up the stakes. *happy dance*
Why isn't everyone just jumping on this fun book and devouring it? IDK. Because they just don't know that something this fun could exist in literature? I mean, it's not like it's deep or anything, but it's so delightfully subversive and just plain FUN. *happy dance*
Go read! :)
And yes, there's a full-blown tribute to either the comic for The Walking Dead or the TV series. Soo many great scenes, all made with just enough difference to be all Wendig, but with a very classy evil humor that's all Wendig, too. :)
So I fell into this novel having a grand ole time and it never let up for me, being both light and evil and delightfully full of action and great characters and cool hints for massive solutions that May or May Not pan out as you hope, just like in TWD, only we've got some serious Resident Evil stuff going on, too, to up the stakes. *happy dance*
Why isn't everyone just jumping on this fun book and devouring it? IDK. Because they just don't know that something this fun could exist in literature? I mean, it's not like it's deep or anything, but it's so delightfully subversive and just plain FUN. *happy dance*
Go read! :)
June 4, 2016
3.5 stars
Coburn had seen lots of bad shit. He'd been the engineer of most of it. He'd seen blood and horror aplenty and it didn't mean squat. To him, the human population of the world comprised nothing but meat-puppets and blood-bags: people to manipulate and motherfuckers to eat. And that was that and never would it be different. Or so he thought.
Coburn is a vampire who arises from a long period of dry out due to lack of blood to find that while he was incapacitated, the zombie apocalypse has come to pass. The apex predator who formerly used to live the high life and treated the world as his personal buffet suddenly finds that his food source is in much shorter supply. Faced with the challenge of having to actually hunt, Coburn sets out in search of uninfected humans amongst the zombies in this new wasteland. He meets up with a group of people, including a girl named Kayla, who propose that instead of making them his next next meal, he join them. They offer him a place with their group in exchange for his protection against the most dangerous part of the zombie apocalypse: other people.
Double Dead is Wendig's first novel, but you wouldn't know it. There is an ease in the writing that shows he was definitely pursuing his craft well before his first book was published. Zombie books are hard in some ways because they are such standard fare that you need to do something really interesting to make the story stand out. The twist here is obviously introducing the vampire into the equation, but the idea of looking at relationships under stress, with lots running and biting, still remains the same as it does in any zombie book. Kayla unlocks some key to Coburn's previously buried conscience so that he actually has some feeling that at first he can't quite identify towards these people. At the same time, Kayla and the rest of the group also navigate through their own feelings about striking a deal with a being who eats other people in order to live, but has the ability to make choices.
There is the usual gore, violence, and vicious characters without which a book like this just would not be complete, including cannibals and religious zealots. I would almost say this book sufferers from too many tropes, but at the same time, it doesn't take itself too seriously, which is really refreshing. While the zombies and the vampire on their own aren't particularly original, the genre mash up is, and it does that quite well. My only complaint really is that I felt the story was a bit weak towards the end and I would have liked a stronger finish, and that is where the book lost a bit in the rating from me. But if you enjoy zombie apocalypse books, this is a decent one, and better written than many.
Coburn had seen lots of bad shit. He'd been the engineer of most of it. He'd seen blood and horror aplenty and it didn't mean squat. To him, the human population of the world comprised nothing but meat-puppets and blood-bags: people to manipulate and motherfuckers to eat. And that was that and never would it be different. Or so he thought.
Coburn is a vampire who arises from a long period of dry out due to lack of blood to find that while he was incapacitated, the zombie apocalypse has come to pass. The apex predator who formerly used to live the high life and treated the world as his personal buffet suddenly finds that his food source is in much shorter supply. Faced with the challenge of having to actually hunt, Coburn sets out in search of uninfected humans amongst the zombies in this new wasteland. He meets up with a group of people, including a girl named Kayla, who propose that instead of making them his next next meal, he join them. They offer him a place with their group in exchange for his protection against the most dangerous part of the zombie apocalypse: other people.
Double Dead is Wendig's first novel, but you wouldn't know it. There is an ease in the writing that shows he was definitely pursuing his craft well before his first book was published. Zombie books are hard in some ways because they are such standard fare that you need to do something really interesting to make the story stand out. The twist here is obviously introducing the vampire into the equation, but the idea of looking at relationships under stress, with lots running and biting, still remains the same as it does in any zombie book. Kayla unlocks some key to Coburn's previously buried conscience so that he actually has some feeling that at first he can't quite identify towards these people. At the same time, Kayla and the rest of the group also navigate through their own feelings about striking a deal with a being who eats other people in order to live, but has the ability to make choices.
There is the usual gore, violence, and vicious characters without which a book like this just would not be complete, including cannibals and religious zealots. I would almost say this book sufferers from too many tropes, but at the same time, it doesn't take itself too seriously, which is really refreshing. While the zombies and the vampire on their own aren't particularly original, the genre mash up is, and it does that quite well. My only complaint really is that I felt the story was a bit weak towards the end and I would have liked a stronger finish, and that is where the book lost a bit in the rating from me. But if you enjoy zombie apocalypse books, this is a decent one, and better written than many.
July 2, 2016
4.5 stars. This was a fun read. This is a surprise to me as, although a fan of grimdark, there were some really gruesome description in here and there was so much swearing. But it worked. It more than worked...Wendig can write! Fast paced, exciting, an original take on the apocalypse.
December 3, 2011
Lately I’ve been on this zombie kick.
I’ve pulled out my old Romero flicks (if you even have to ask, leave now and go to the next blog), I got hooked on The Walking Dead series on AMC (an extremely smart move on their part, by the way) and have recently discovered zombie fiction.
Chuck Wendig has decided to take it a step further by putting a frigging Vampire in the mix.
Yeah.
I know.
The vampire’s name is Coburn. Our “hero” is an asshole and, to put it bluntly, he refuses to apologize for it. Can I tell you how much I liked him from the start? He’s just plain rude and will rip out your throat just for looking at him wrong. My kind of vampire, that’s for damn sure.
After waking up in the middle of a zombie wasteland, Coburn finds himself in a bit of pickle. New York City used to be a hotbed of action and now it was reduced to a moving graveyard, filled with dead blood. How the hell is he going to survive? No humans means no blood, and buddy’s got to eat, right?
Coburn comes in “contact” with a group of survivors who strike a deal with him: see them to The Promised Land (the West coast where there’s a safe zone for humans) and they will keep him fed along the way. What could possibly go wrong?
Double Dead rocked from page one all the way to end. There were times where I had to put down what I was eating in order to get through a paragraph, other times to re-read several paragraphs because it was just that damn good.
It had everything needed: a Cannibal Queen, howling zombies, ghetto clown pimps, gunfights, lots of blood and gore and a cute rat terrier named CreamPuff. Double Dead is a fast-paced, well-written novel filled with, dare I say it, biting humour. Anything can and will happen. The way this man describes things is sick beyond all reason. I was either laughing out loud or yelling what the ___?? Its a non-stop ride through a zombie-infested hell from cover to cover.
I highly recommend Double Dead, period. Oh and on a side note, after I finished reading it, I realized my own attempts at zombie fiction are pretty pathetic.
Thank you, Mr. Wendig, for unintentionally pointing that out to me :)
I’ve pulled out my old Romero flicks (if you even have to ask, leave now and go to the next blog), I got hooked on The Walking Dead series on AMC (an extremely smart move on their part, by the way) and have recently discovered zombie fiction.
Chuck Wendig has decided to take it a step further by putting a frigging Vampire in the mix.
Yeah.
I know.
The vampire’s name is Coburn. Our “hero” is an asshole and, to put it bluntly, he refuses to apologize for it. Can I tell you how much I liked him from the start? He’s just plain rude and will rip out your throat just for looking at him wrong. My kind of vampire, that’s for damn sure.
After waking up in the middle of a zombie wasteland, Coburn finds himself in a bit of pickle. New York City used to be a hotbed of action and now it was reduced to a moving graveyard, filled with dead blood. How the hell is he going to survive? No humans means no blood, and buddy’s got to eat, right?
Coburn comes in “contact” with a group of survivors who strike a deal with him: see them to The Promised Land (the West coast where there’s a safe zone for humans) and they will keep him fed along the way. What could possibly go wrong?
Double Dead rocked from page one all the way to end. There were times where I had to put down what I was eating in order to get through a paragraph, other times to re-read several paragraphs because it was just that damn good.
It had everything needed: a Cannibal Queen, howling zombies, ghetto clown pimps, gunfights, lots of blood and gore and a cute rat terrier named CreamPuff. Double Dead is a fast-paced, well-written novel filled with, dare I say it, biting humour. Anything can and will happen. The way this man describes things is sick beyond all reason. I was either laughing out loud or yelling what the ___?? Its a non-stop ride through a zombie-infested hell from cover to cover.
I highly recommend Double Dead, period. Oh and on a side note, after I finished reading it, I realized my own attempts at zombie fiction are pretty pathetic.
Thank you, Mr. Wendig, for unintentionally pointing that out to me :)
November 7, 2012
This was my favorite book of the year. Starring a deliciously misanthropic vampire, a rat terrier, and a pack of zombie apocalypse survivors packed into a Winnebago, this tale sells itself as full-on pulp. It's replete with zombies, guns, cannibals, Walmart... A real freakshow-cross section of society. It brims with humor, explosions, guns, and a touch of the supernatural that really pulls it together.
However, the tale has a surprising sensitivity, which leaves you wondering about what it means to be human. I know this book will stay with me for a long, long time. There's not a damn thing I didn't like. 5 stars.
However, the tale has a surprising sensitivity, which leaves you wondering about what it means to be human. I know this book will stay with me for a long, long time. There's not a damn thing I didn't like. 5 stars.
October 8, 2014
I picked up Double Dead with great expectations. I was very impressed with the Miriam Black stories. The premise of this book was hard to beat. A vampire wakes up from a multi-year slumber only to find that the world he had known was consumed by the zombie apocalypse – and he can’t feed off of the shambling corpses. Now, he must go from hunter to shepherd in order to preserve his own food supply. Awesome, right?
The problem with Double Dead is not the premise. Just looking at this book in terms of premise, Double Dead is off the charts: 6 or 7 out of 5. But books are more than just premise. Books are story-line, character development, world building and much, much more. And Double Dead fails on just about every other aspect other than premise. In fact, the premise was so great it made every other failing seem somehow more tragic.
When you build a fantasy world it has to make sense. Pieces need to fall together neatly, cleanly. In the world of Double Dead there are pockets of survivors. Ok. That makes sense. In a zombie apocalypse it is likely that plucky bands of survivors would band together and create ‘clean’ zones. In Double Dead one of these pockets has been carved out by Juggalos. Yes. Juggalos. Fanatic fans of the Insane Clown Posse have somehow managed to scrape enough organization together to basically secure and maintain a ‘clean zone.’ I wasn’t buying it. (Full disclosure, I am not a Juggalo. I don’t know a Juggalo or that much about them. That being said, I don’t see them holding off the zombie hordes.)
The whole world building thing is shattered even further by the accidental creation of the ‘hunters’ – super vampire/zombie hybrids. These uber-rotters were created when ordinary zombies took a bite out of the vampire. When the zombie bug cross-pollinated with the vampire bug bad things happened. Sure. That makes sense. But why wasn’t Coburn affected? If exposure to his blood messed up ordinary rotters, why didn’t exposure to the zombie bug affect the vampire? I don’t know, but, fundamentally, the author was selling something that I was just not buying. (And this doesn’t even touch the cannibals hanging out in an Illinois Walmart!)
To wrap things up, I found the character development lacking. All of the characters felt cardboard to me – even Coburn. This was especially disappointing considering how awesome Miriam Black is in the author’s other books.
A disappointing two and a half stars. I’m going to round it up to three based on the potential and how good the Miriam Black books were.
The problem with Double Dead is not the premise. Just looking at this book in terms of premise, Double Dead is off the charts: 6 or 7 out of 5. But books are more than just premise. Books are story-line, character development, world building and much, much more. And Double Dead fails on just about every other aspect other than premise. In fact, the premise was so great it made every other failing seem somehow more tragic.
When you build a fantasy world it has to make sense. Pieces need to fall together neatly, cleanly. In the world of Double Dead there are pockets of survivors. Ok. That makes sense. In a zombie apocalypse it is likely that plucky bands of survivors would band together and create ‘clean’ zones. In Double Dead one of these pockets has been carved out by Juggalos. Yes. Juggalos. Fanatic fans of the Insane Clown Posse have somehow managed to scrape enough organization together to basically secure and maintain a ‘clean zone.’ I wasn’t buying it. (Full disclosure, I am not a Juggalo. I don’t know a Juggalo or that much about them. That being said, I don’t see them holding off the zombie hordes.)
The whole world building thing is shattered even further by the accidental creation of the ‘hunters’ – super vampire/zombie hybrids. These uber-rotters were created when ordinary zombies took a bite out of the vampire. When the zombie bug cross-pollinated with the vampire bug bad things happened. Sure. That makes sense. But why wasn’t Coburn affected? If exposure to his blood messed up ordinary rotters, why didn’t exposure to the zombie bug affect the vampire? I don’t know, but, fundamentally, the author was selling something that I was just not buying. (And this doesn’t even touch the cannibals hanging out in an Illinois Walmart!)
To wrap things up, I found the character development lacking. All of the characters felt cardboard to me – even Coburn. This was especially disappointing considering how awesome Miriam Black is in the author’s other books.
A disappointing two and a half stars. I’m going to round it up to three based on the potential and how good the Miriam Black books were.
November 21, 2023
Double Dead' was wonderful. It was great fun from the first page to the last. It was original, energetic, surprising and often funny.
I was hooked by the cover and by the idea of a vampire waking from a long sleep to find that the zombie apocalypse has happened while he was dormant- This has dramatically reduced his food supply, forcing him to turn from predator to shepherd, protecting the humans from the zombies.
I thought that that was a strong enough idea to sustain an entire novel but Chuck Wendig went much further and made the novel even better by delivering a plot that had lots of twists and some surprising and ingenious connections that kept placing our vampire at the centre of the action.
What really made the novel for me was the character of Coburn, the vampire. Most of the story is told from his robustly cynical point of view and is all the better for it. Coburn is not a glamorous vampire. He's not haunted by being undead. He doesn't sparkle in sunlight. In his own mind, he is THE apex predator and he'll kill anyone who thinks differently. I loved watching this grumpy, misanthropic, hedonistic killer adjust to the fact that, from his point of view, the world has turned overnight from an endless buffet of easy eating and decadent living in his Manhattan apartment to somewhere where food is scarce and some of the zombie hoard see HIM as prey. Coburn is irrepressible and probably irredeemable and yet I found myself cheering him on as he cut a swathe through the landscape.
I love the muscular snark of Chuck Wendig's prose. It speaks to Coburn's character but also gives a particular tint to the world-building. Yes, Coburn is an unsentimental pragmatist (at least, that's what he keeps telling himself) but he's also bright and curious and has a well-developed sense of the absurd.
Parts of this story are gory, very gory, but not in a repulsive, look-at-that-cool-blood-splatter sort of way. The gore comes from a mix of human cruelty and from the bloody consequences of an almost indestructible vampire fighting through an almost overwhelming zombie hoard that seems to be getting smarter with each encounter. I think I accepted the gore rather than being repulsed by it because everything Coburn does, no matter how unpleasant, feels natural. He's just a predator being a predator (except when his nature surprises him and he does something selfless that he immediately regrets) so his actions seem OK. He doesn't glory in the gore and doesn't go looking for it. He just refuses to lose and he'll rip anyone apart who tries to make him into a loser.
Coburn isn't the only strong character in the book. There are some truly scary baddies and a couple of nice people that you hope will survive but you know that they probably won't because that's what happens to nice people in a zombie apocalypse.
I bought 'Double Dead' as part of an audiobook bundle that includes 'Bad Blood' a sequel that Chuck Wendig wrote five years later. Both books are narrated by T. Ryder Smith who does a wonderful job of bringing the book alive.
After I've read 'Bad Blood', I'll be looking for more books by Chuck Wendig. I'll probably start with his lastest book, 'Black River Orchard'
I was hooked by the cover and by the idea of a vampire waking from a long sleep to find that the zombie apocalypse has happened while he was dormant- This has dramatically reduced his food supply, forcing him to turn from predator to shepherd, protecting the humans from the zombies.
I thought that that was a strong enough idea to sustain an entire novel but Chuck Wendig went much further and made the novel even better by delivering a plot that had lots of twists and some surprising and ingenious connections that kept placing our vampire at the centre of the action.
What really made the novel for me was the character of Coburn, the vampire. Most of the story is told from his robustly cynical point of view and is all the better for it. Coburn is not a glamorous vampire. He's not haunted by being undead. He doesn't sparkle in sunlight. In his own mind, he is THE apex predator and he'll kill anyone who thinks differently. I loved watching this grumpy, misanthropic, hedonistic killer adjust to the fact that, from his point of view, the world has turned overnight from an endless buffet of easy eating and decadent living in his Manhattan apartment to somewhere where food is scarce and some of the zombie hoard see HIM as prey. Coburn is irrepressible and probably irredeemable and yet I found myself cheering him on as he cut a swathe through the landscape.
I love the muscular snark of Chuck Wendig's prose. It speaks to Coburn's character but also gives a particular tint to the world-building. Yes, Coburn is an unsentimental pragmatist (at least, that's what he keeps telling himself) but he's also bright and curious and has a well-developed sense of the absurd.
Parts of this story are gory, very gory, but not in a repulsive, look-at-that-cool-blood-splatter sort of way. The gore comes from a mix of human cruelty and from the bloody consequences of an almost indestructible vampire fighting through an almost overwhelming zombie hoard that seems to be getting smarter with each encounter. I think I accepted the gore rather than being repulsed by it because everything Coburn does, no matter how unpleasant, feels natural. He's just a predator being a predator (except when his nature surprises him and he does something selfless that he immediately regrets) so his actions seem OK. He doesn't glory in the gore and doesn't go looking for it. He just refuses to lose and he'll rip anyone apart who tries to make him into a loser.
Coburn isn't the only strong character in the book. There are some truly scary baddies and a couple of nice people that you hope will survive but you know that they probably won't because that's what happens to nice people in a zombie apocalypse.
I bought 'Double Dead' as part of an audiobook bundle that includes 'Bad Blood' a sequel that Chuck Wendig wrote five years later. Both books are narrated by T. Ryder Smith who does a wonderful job of bringing the book alive.
After I've read 'Bad Blood', I'll be looking for more books by Chuck Wendig. I'll probably start with his lastest book, 'Black River Orchard'
January 27, 2012
You may also read my review here:http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/01/...
So, you’re a dessicated vampire (that’s gone without blood for years, and has been in a kind of stasis) that comes to in the middle of an abandoned theatre with zombies nomming on, well, everything living. What do you do? You need to get blood, right? Our vamp, Coburn, attempts to do just that, but when he bites into one of the zombies, he quickly realizes that zombie blood is bad for his health. Well then, it’s time to find some of the living, yes?
After heading outside and realizing that the world has pretty much gone to hell, and tangling with some of the living dead, he comes across a group of survivors. Food! Not so fast. Key among this group is a 15 year old girl named Kayla, who’s not about to have Coburn feeding off her father and her friends, so she strikes an unlikely deal with the vampire. Coburn protects the group from cannibals (we’ll get to that), and other baddies, and they’ll make sure he gets to feed. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Yeah, not so much…
Coburn the vampire is a foul mouthed, hedonistic, arrogant, self-centered son of a bitch, and he knows this, so how the hell he let this kid talk him into this deal, he’s not sure, but he is hungry, and he could use a place to crash, so he hops on board the RV that our little ragtag group has commandeered. What follows is a pretty wild ride through a destroyed American landscape populated with things much, much worse than the walking dead.
Double Dead is a terrifying, violent, American road trip through zombie hell. Wendig throws in a cannibalistic group that brings to mind something right out of Rob Zombie’s worst nightmares, zombies out the wazoo (of course), a military compound taken over by trigger happy yahoos dressed like clowns (I kept picturing Killer Clowns From Outer Space), and some hybrid creatures that will make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The author spares no gruesome detail, but lest the word “gratuitous” start floating around in your mind, it’s really…not. The gore is necessary to the story and it’s tempered with a fair amount of black humor. Aside from the flying body parts and decapitations, it has probably one of the grossest (yet creative) vampire feeding scenes that I think I’ve ever read (seriously, *shudder*.) Double Dead made me laugh and cringe in equal measure, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it does have heart. Yep, this gritty, gross, blood drenched vamp/zombie fest has a heart. I certainly didn’t expect to develop a certain amount of grudging affection for Coburn (and his little dog Creampuff), but I did! There’s also something special about our Kayla, but I’m not going to give away that secret. It’s just part of the awesome that is this book.
The author credits Robert McCammon (one of my all-time fave authors) at the end of the book as inspiration, and I can certainly see shades of Swan Song in Double Dead. Amongst the horror, there are themes of loyalty, redemption, and even love that the author manages to weave in with an expert hand. Chuck Wendig has one sick, twisted imagination, but in his case, it’s a talent, and he poured that talent into this kick ass vampire/zombie apocalypse tale. Crisp writing, bullet fast pacing, and twists that I didn’t see coming make this one a can’t-miss for horror/zombie fans. The damn thing even made me cry. Seriously. If you’re in the mood for something a little different, a little sick (ok, maybe more than a little), a little funny, and a lot awesome, pick up Double Dead, and get your freak on, yeah?
So, you’re a dessicated vampire (that’s gone without blood for years, and has been in a kind of stasis) that comes to in the middle of an abandoned theatre with zombies nomming on, well, everything living. What do you do? You need to get blood, right? Our vamp, Coburn, attempts to do just that, but when he bites into one of the zombies, he quickly realizes that zombie blood is bad for his health. Well then, it’s time to find some of the living, yes?
After heading outside and realizing that the world has pretty much gone to hell, and tangling with some of the living dead, he comes across a group of survivors. Food! Not so fast. Key among this group is a 15 year old girl named Kayla, who’s not about to have Coburn feeding off her father and her friends, so she strikes an unlikely deal with the vampire. Coburn protects the group from cannibals (we’ll get to that), and other baddies, and they’ll make sure he gets to feed. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Yeah, not so much…
Coburn the vampire is a foul mouthed, hedonistic, arrogant, self-centered son of a bitch, and he knows this, so how the hell he let this kid talk him into this deal, he’s not sure, but he is hungry, and he could use a place to crash, so he hops on board the RV that our little ragtag group has commandeered. What follows is a pretty wild ride through a destroyed American landscape populated with things much, much worse than the walking dead.
Double Dead is a terrifying, violent, American road trip through zombie hell. Wendig throws in a cannibalistic group that brings to mind something right out of Rob Zombie’s worst nightmares, zombies out the wazoo (of course), a military compound taken over by trigger happy yahoos dressed like clowns (I kept picturing Killer Clowns From Outer Space), and some hybrid creatures that will make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The author spares no gruesome detail, but lest the word “gratuitous” start floating around in your mind, it’s really…not. The gore is necessary to the story and it’s tempered with a fair amount of black humor. Aside from the flying body parts and decapitations, it has probably one of the grossest (yet creative) vampire feeding scenes that I think I’ve ever read (seriously, *shudder*.) Double Dead made me laugh and cringe in equal measure, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it does have heart. Yep, this gritty, gross, blood drenched vamp/zombie fest has a heart. I certainly didn’t expect to develop a certain amount of grudging affection for Coburn (and his little dog Creampuff), but I did! There’s also something special about our Kayla, but I’m not going to give away that secret. It’s just part of the awesome that is this book.
The author credits Robert McCammon (one of my all-time fave authors) at the end of the book as inspiration, and I can certainly see shades of Swan Song in Double Dead. Amongst the horror, there are themes of loyalty, redemption, and even love that the author manages to weave in with an expert hand. Chuck Wendig has one sick, twisted imagination, but in his case, it’s a talent, and he poured that talent into this kick ass vampire/zombie apocalypse tale. Crisp writing, bullet fast pacing, and twists that I didn’t see coming make this one a can’t-miss for horror/zombie fans. The damn thing even made me cry. Seriously. If you’re in the mood for something a little different, a little sick (ok, maybe more than a little), a little funny, and a lot awesome, pick up Double Dead, and get your freak on, yeah?
June 3, 2016
3.5 stars
February 15, 2017
A unique and refreshing take on the vampire vs zombie tale. The main character, Coburn, was as frustrating as he was endearing. Fast-paced, great writing and an entertaining story.
October 30, 2016
3,5 stars
"What are you?" "I'm Batman!"
Vampire Coburn wakes up from a five year slumber after vampire hunters blown a theatre on his head (going away with his middle finger) and finds out a world ravaged by the zombie apocalypse!
An original non stop action tale visceral and funny.
We have a well done great mash up of genres, a real fun one.
A badass vampire as main character.
A zombie apocalypse.
Zombies mutating after drinking vampire blood.
A fat cannibal queen and her brutal henchmen.
Clown bikers gangs.
Overzealous vampire killers.
Sadly the characters are not very well developed for my taste, and you almost not care if one of Coburn's herd lives or dies. And I not liked very much the ending too.
But of that, if you are a fan of all above this is a real funny book to read.
Not bad, but that's all.
"What are you?" "I'm Batman!"
Vampire Coburn wakes up from a five year slumber after vampire hunters blown a theatre on his head (going away with his middle finger) and finds out a world ravaged by the zombie apocalypse!
An original non stop action tale visceral and funny.
We have a well done great mash up of genres, a real fun one.
A badass vampire as main character.
A zombie apocalypse.
Zombies mutating after drinking vampire blood.
A fat cannibal queen and her brutal henchmen.
Clown bikers gangs.
Overzealous vampire killers.
Sadly the characters are not very well developed for my taste, and you almost not care if one of Coburn's herd lives or dies. And I not liked very much the ending too.
But of that, if you are a fan of all above this is a real funny book to read.
Not bad, but that's all.
December 17, 2019
I listened to the audio of this book and it was fantastic!!
January 3, 2016
I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. The premise alone set up such expectations in my mind. Let's think about this: A vampire wakes up from a long sleep and find the zombie apocalypse in full swing. He can't live on zombies - their blood does nothing for him. Animals help but not enough to sustain him. He needs humans - which are rare.
This could have been so right. Vampire having to win the trust of a band of humans and help them survive while convincing them to allow him to feed so that he could survive. I must say that plot bunnies are running rampant in my mind right now.
What I envisioned and what I got were two completely different things. I went from loving this book, to thinking it's okay, to getting to the end and wondering WTF I had just read.
*SPOILERS*
So stop reading now if you haven't read the book yet.
So our vampire wakes up. He quickly realizes he's in the zombie apocalypse cause he almost gets eaten. Then kills the first human he stumbles across. We can forgive him cause he was a hurt puppy and needed to heal. What I can't forgive him for is that the next band of humans he stumbles across, he seriously considers ripping apart. It's not even in his mindset to try and preserve them or make a deal. He gives no thought to the fact that just maybe it might be hard to find another meal.
It's a human who convinces him that there is a mutual benefit for them. Even so he hems and haws and repeatedly considers killing them. There is just no development in the relationships between the survivors and the vampire. They don't even try.
So what we get is a road trip cause the human that convinces him is a special snowflake. Her blood is super duper special and they have to get her to a lab clear across the country. But wait, they have to go around the territory controlled by monster hunter psychos who just happen to be behind our vampire being put to sleep in the first place.
Did I mention that vampire blood turns run of the mill zombies into super zombies that want to eat our vampire. They are stronger, faster, smarter. They can track our vampire better than the CIA with super satellites. It's amazing.
The book just devolves from there to end. There is a road trip. Cannibals and nut-jobs along the way for our vampire to feed on - no need for character development or relationships to develop from there. None of the characters are remotely likable - not even our snowflake or vampire. Explosions, guns, zombies, people killing people. A 600 lb cannibal cult. The special snowflake does some hoodoo, super zombies get dead, our vampire dies but comes back but he's merged with our special snowflake or maybe she was a Tok'ra - or both.
The book abruptly ends without major resolution. Everyone is dead. Except the vampire/not vampire special snowflake Tok'ra thingy - who can now walk in the sunlight or whatever I'm tired of thinking about it- and his/her/shim's father.
I guess there will be a second book in the future. I won't reading it.
I should have listened to my sister who read this first and said it wasn't great. I'm sorry, Sis.
This could have been so right. Vampire having to win the trust of a band of humans and help them survive while convincing them to allow him to feed so that he could survive. I must say that plot bunnies are running rampant in my mind right now.
What I envisioned and what I got were two completely different things. I went from loving this book, to thinking it's okay, to getting to the end and wondering WTF I had just read.
*SPOILERS*
So stop reading now if you haven't read the book yet.
So our vampire wakes up. He quickly realizes he's in the zombie apocalypse cause he almost gets eaten. Then kills the first human he stumbles across. We can forgive him cause he was a hurt puppy and needed to heal. What I can't forgive him for is that the next band of humans he stumbles across, he seriously considers ripping apart. It's not even in his mindset to try and preserve them or make a deal. He gives no thought to the fact that just maybe it might be hard to find another meal.
It's a human who convinces him that there is a mutual benefit for them. Even so he hems and haws and repeatedly considers killing them. There is just no development in the relationships between the survivors and the vampire. They don't even try.
So what we get is a road trip cause the human that convinces him is a special snowflake. Her blood is super duper special and they have to get her to a lab clear across the country. But wait, they have to go around the territory controlled by monster hunter psychos who just happen to be behind our vampire being put to sleep in the first place.
Did I mention that vampire blood turns run of the mill zombies into super zombies that want to eat our vampire. They are stronger, faster, smarter. They can track our vampire better than the CIA with super satellites. It's amazing.
The book just devolves from there to end. There is a road trip. Cannibals and nut-jobs along the way for our vampire to feed on - no need for character development or relationships to develop from there. None of the characters are remotely likable - not even our snowflake or vampire. Explosions, guns, zombies, people killing people. A 600 lb cannibal cult. The special snowflake does some hoodoo, super zombies get dead, our vampire dies but comes back but he's merged with our special snowflake or maybe she was a Tok'ra - or both.
The book abruptly ends without major resolution. Everyone is dead. Except the vampire/not vampire special snowflake Tok'ra thingy - who can now walk in the sunlight or whatever I'm tired of thinking about it- and his/her/shim's father.
I guess there will be a second book in the future. I won't reading it.
I should have listened to my sister who read this first and said it wasn't great. I'm sorry, Sis.
October 1, 2015
The premise of this book is so cool that after reading it any Fantasy Author will say “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Or maybe it’s just me.
Coburn the Vampire wakes up post apocalypse in a world overrun by zombies. To a hungry Vampire, humans have gone from a fast food level of availability to foraging in the desert in July levels. They are very hard to come by and when he does find them he has to fight the zombies for them. If that isn’t an awesome concept, I don’t know what is.
In order to survive he forges a fragile alliance with a group of people who promise to offer him some of their blood in exchange for his help in fighting the zombies while they try to find a safe place to stay. They, of course, run into a lot of undesirable characters and compromising situations during their journey but Coburn helps them through it all as his humanity slowly overcomes his baser side.
The story is one we’ve all seen before in the post apocalypse spectrum. The world is full of danger; good people turn bad due to circumstance and commit terrible atrocities in the name of survival, but it's done well and is convincing.
In many ways this book reminded me of Stephen King’s 'The Stand' in its harshness, imagination and emotion. I have said this before but I’ll say it again: Chuck Wending is this generation’s Stephen King. He writes with grit and doesn’t spare any punches, only his is a more millennial style. He is more concise in the creation of his universes, but no less rich, and the work never suffers. He just knows that readers today want to get there faster.
I don’t mind that. If I’m being perfectly honest I’ve yet to see anyone reach King’s levels of character development or world building and neither would I want to; King is King and Wendig is Wendig. I make the comparison simply as a way of highlighting his skill level.
Double Dead is part of a series of Coburn the Vampire books so I was left with a few questions about how he came to be and why some characters exhibited certain abilities. I was also slightly irked by the fact that he’s virtually indestructible, but his weaknesses fill that void. In all I would have like a little more background on Coburn but no doubt that’s to come later.
Great crossover of the Zombie and Vampire genres.
Coburn the Vampire wakes up post apocalypse in a world overrun by zombies. To a hungry Vampire, humans have gone from a fast food level of availability to foraging in the desert in July levels. They are very hard to come by and when he does find them he has to fight the zombies for them. If that isn’t an awesome concept, I don’t know what is.
In order to survive he forges a fragile alliance with a group of people who promise to offer him some of their blood in exchange for his help in fighting the zombies while they try to find a safe place to stay. They, of course, run into a lot of undesirable characters and compromising situations during their journey but Coburn helps them through it all as his humanity slowly overcomes his baser side.
The story is one we’ve all seen before in the post apocalypse spectrum. The world is full of danger; good people turn bad due to circumstance and commit terrible atrocities in the name of survival, but it's done well and is convincing.
In many ways this book reminded me of Stephen King’s 'The Stand' in its harshness, imagination and emotion. I have said this before but I’ll say it again: Chuck Wending is this generation’s Stephen King. He writes with grit and doesn’t spare any punches, only his is a more millennial style. He is more concise in the creation of his universes, but no less rich, and the work never suffers. He just knows that readers today want to get there faster.
I don’t mind that. If I’m being perfectly honest I’ve yet to see anyone reach King’s levels of character development or world building and neither would I want to; King is King and Wendig is Wendig. I make the comparison simply as a way of highlighting his skill level.
Double Dead is part of a series of Coburn the Vampire books so I was left with a few questions about how he came to be and why some characters exhibited certain abilities. I was also slightly irked by the fact that he’s virtually indestructible, but his weaknesses fill that void. In all I would have like a little more background on Coburn but no doubt that’s to come later.
Great crossover of the Zombie and Vampire genres.
February 13, 2012
I bought this book because I follow Chuck's blog, and find his humor on par with my own. Or is that my humor is on par with his? I think he's older, so let's go with that.
I found Double Dead to be interesting and different. Some parts were funny, some were gory and others had me cringing. I suspected a few things, but was also surprised at how the book ended.
Coburn, is a vampire who wakes up, buried, with no idea how he got that way. He rises up and finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He needs blood to survive, how they hell is he going to live now? The king has fallen. He must adapt, and survive, and, of course, kill those undead fucktards.
Along the way he meets his herd. Gil, Kayla, Ebbie and Cecilia. They have two things Coburn needs. Blood and transportation. They strike a deal. Then the journey begins.
Double Dead has a myriad of...fucked up shit. Picture the insane clown posse on crack, but have taken over an air force base. Weird undead fuctards turned demon-esc undead sharks.
I liked the plot twists. I would have liked a few more things with regards to Benjamin and the Arms of Man. (Order of Man? I don't remember exactly)
I'll read the next one, because I am curious where Chuck is taking the world.
3.5 Stars, there were a few inconsistencies and things that could have used more clarification, but its an entertaining book.
I found Double Dead to be interesting and different. Some parts were funny, some were gory and others had me cringing. I suspected a few things, but was also surprised at how the book ended.
Coburn, is a vampire who wakes up, buried, with no idea how he got that way. He rises up and finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He needs blood to survive, how they hell is he going to live now? The king has fallen. He must adapt, and survive, and, of course, kill those undead fucktards.
Along the way he meets his herd. Gil, Kayla, Ebbie and Cecilia. They have two things Coburn needs. Blood and transportation. They strike a deal. Then the journey begins.
Double Dead has a myriad of...fucked up shit. Picture the insane clown posse on crack, but have taken over an air force base. Weird undead fuctards turned demon-esc undead sharks.
I liked the plot twists. I would have liked a few more things with regards to Benjamin and the Arms of Man. (Order of Man? I don't remember exactly)
I'll read the next one, because I am curious where Chuck is taking the world.
3.5 Stars, there were a few inconsistencies and things that could have used more clarification, but its an entertaining book.
January 10, 2012
This book is pulp.
I mean, it has to be, right? It's a vampire fighting zombies. That's... about as pulpy as you can get.
I'm a big fan of Chuck Wendig, and his first novel didn't disappoint. It's not high literature, but it's entertaining as hell. I wasn't able to read as much as I'd like for the first half of the book or so, but once my schedule cleared up the pages flew by.
I do have one qualm, which is that the entire first paragraph goes by without the word "fuck." I've got certain expectations, Mr. Wendig.
The book's not perfect: I didn't really care for the villain who emerges at the end. They felt a little too action-movie one dimensional to me; the same goes with the plot twist they provide. But again: Zombies. Vampires. It was fun reading.
I believe I have Blackbirds preordered at Amazon, and I can't wait to see how that turns out. If you'd like to veg out with profanity and violence, Double Dead's a good choice.
I mean, it has to be, right? It's a vampire fighting zombies. That's... about as pulpy as you can get.
I'm a big fan of Chuck Wendig, and his first novel didn't disappoint. It's not high literature, but it's entertaining as hell. I wasn't able to read as much as I'd like for the first half of the book or so, but once my schedule cleared up the pages flew by.
I do have one qualm, which is that the entire first paragraph goes by without the word "fuck." I've got certain expectations, Mr. Wendig.
The book's not perfect: I didn't really care for the villain who emerges at the end. They felt a little too action-movie one dimensional to me; the same goes with the plot twist they provide. But again: Zombies. Vampires. It was fun reading.
I believe I have Blackbirds preordered at Amazon, and I can't wait to see how that turns out. If you'd like to veg out with profanity and violence, Double Dead's a good choice.
July 16, 2014
It's certainly a new spin on the Zombie Apocalypse. What would happen if you were a vampire, and you woke up to find most of your food source is walking around all pussy and rotten and, well, inedible? If you're Coburn, you turn shepherd, protecting your food source to ensure your survival.
Now, let's not think this is altruism. Coburn is a total asshole. Cocky, smug, cheerfully violent - this vampire does not sparkle, or swoon, he bites holes in you and drinks your blood. He's Spike, before spike got all chipped and swoony. He does have a soft side, though – his rat terrier, Creampuff. Do not mess with his dog, man.
Of course, the humans that are left mostly range from asshole (the good guys) to murderous and unhinged (the bad guys). So Coburn's in good company. Still, even he struggles to deal with the side effects of the Apocalypse – .
I loved this book – it was super-fun, darkly funny, gory and violent, but entertainingly so.
Now, let's not think this is altruism. Coburn is a total asshole. Cocky, smug, cheerfully violent - this vampire does not sparkle, or swoon, he bites holes in you and drinks your blood. He's Spike, before spike got all chipped and swoony. He does have a soft side, though – his rat terrier, Creampuff. Do not mess with his dog, man.
Of course, the humans that are left mostly range from asshole (the good guys) to murderous and unhinged (the bad guys). So Coburn's in good company. Still, even he struggles to deal with the side effects of the Apocalypse – .
I loved this book – it was super-fun, darkly funny, gory and violent, but entertainingly so.
February 14, 2013
I love stories about redemption, forgiveness, and guilt. Double Dead delivers. This story has a vulgar, brutal, hard-candy coating. I found it difficult to like the protagonist in the beginning. Coburn the vampire is really quite despicable. He's crass. Violent. Selfish. Rude. But it wasn't long before I was in his corner cheering him on.
This is what makes the journey so enjoyable. His personal transformation from hunter to shepherd.
Immediately after finishing Double Dead, I fired-up Amazon and bought the sequel, Bad Blood.
This is what makes the journey so enjoyable. His personal transformation from hunter to shepherd.
Immediately after finishing Double Dead, I fired-up Amazon and bought the sequel, Bad Blood.
November 27, 2011
Predictable, repetitious, and ridiculous. The ICP Nation was a bit too silly. But, overall, it was a quick, fun read. It accomplished exactly what it set out to accomplish.
May 4, 2019
A fun take on vampires and zombies. More of a zombie story starring a vampire. Interesting interactions between the two genres. Good zombie action and some good twists.
May 31, 2019
Actual Rating 2.5 Stars
March 23, 2012
First off, I'm gonna tell you all that Double Dead is not for the faint of heart. If you suffer from a severely overactive gag reflex, heart murmurs, are a nun, or you're just straight up noodle-necked (not a real thing), stay well back. If you don't fall into those categories, pick up the dang book. I give Double Dead 5 solid stars, and it deserves it.
I've been a long time follower of everything Chuck Wendig. I guess I may even be considered a Wendigoth (a term for Wendig fans, coined by another blogger), and frequent Terribleminds.com on a daily basis. A while back I picked up Chuck's self-pubbed book Shotgun Gravy and tore through it in a day. I enjoyed it, is what I mean to say (review on that book sometime in the future). So, a few days ago I thought, what the hey, I'll pick up this vampire book of his too. It was only $5.99 on Apple's Bookstore after all. I believe I purchased it at perhaps 1pm, and finished it at 10pm the same day. Sure, I took breaks to eat, and breathe. It joined me in the john though. So there's that.
Double Dead is a book about a vampire who wakes to find himself a dried out husk in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. As you can imagine, he's suitably confused, and soon finds a host of inconveniences as a result of this new world order. First off, zombie blood does nothing for him, and the lack of living, breathing humans is a serious problem. Many more unfold as the story goes on, but I won't spoil it. The book details his search for a solution to all his problems, ending with pretty great climax, I have to say.
Double Dead is straight up intense in every way. There's hilarious cussing throughout, strange metaphors and similes (as is Chuck's style), and crazy scenes of zombie vs. vampire violence. It's really great. I was actually shocked by some of the things I read (which is hard to do). I found myself grinning at the inventive nature of the various gorefests Chuck came up with. There's something for everyone: cannibals; crazed ICP fans turned dictators; religious fanatics; not to mention lots of blood sucking, heads exploding, and bone-breaking; all that good stuff.
Chuck Wendig has an undeniable voice in everything he writes, and it shows through loud and clear in Double Dead. The main character is the vampire Coburn, a nearly nihilistic jerk who is used to the easy, blood-sucking life New York affords: drunk club girls, drug addled yuppies, and probably the odd homeless dude too. We get to see right inside his mind, which Chuck fills with very firm personality, and never shies from talking about what Coburn would truly be thinking, even if it seems horrible to us. The point of view shifts between characters (even if they are minor and destined to die) as the book goes on, giving us an almost cinematic sense of the events unfolding. The narrative voice is many times completely omniscient, referring to all the characters by their names, even if the current POV character has no way of knowing that information. It's an intriguing way of doing things, and not at all what I was used to.
I've read it described as "pulpy", but I don't really know what that truly means, so I'll sum it up in my own words: It's the book you've been waiting for, even if you didn't know it. Great horror, lots of gore, great characters, a solid plot, and believe it or not, heart. I don't want to spoil anything beyond that, so I won't highlight my favorite parts, or discuss the ending. I will say though, that the book is not all that it seems to be. Pick it up, and enjoy a great read, courtesy Chuck Wendig.
I've been a long time follower of everything Chuck Wendig. I guess I may even be considered a Wendigoth (a term for Wendig fans, coined by another blogger), and frequent Terribleminds.com on a daily basis. A while back I picked up Chuck's self-pubbed book Shotgun Gravy and tore through it in a day. I enjoyed it, is what I mean to say (review on that book sometime in the future). So, a few days ago I thought, what the hey, I'll pick up this vampire book of his too. It was only $5.99 on Apple's Bookstore after all. I believe I purchased it at perhaps 1pm, and finished it at 10pm the same day. Sure, I took breaks to eat, and breathe. It joined me in the john though. So there's that.
Double Dead is a book about a vampire who wakes to find himself a dried out husk in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. As you can imagine, he's suitably confused, and soon finds a host of inconveniences as a result of this new world order. First off, zombie blood does nothing for him, and the lack of living, breathing humans is a serious problem. Many more unfold as the story goes on, but I won't spoil it. The book details his search for a solution to all his problems, ending with pretty great climax, I have to say.
Double Dead is straight up intense in every way. There's hilarious cussing throughout, strange metaphors and similes (as is Chuck's style), and crazy scenes of zombie vs. vampire violence. It's really great. I was actually shocked by some of the things I read (which is hard to do). I found myself grinning at the inventive nature of the various gorefests Chuck came up with. There's something for everyone: cannibals; crazed ICP fans turned dictators; religious fanatics; not to mention lots of blood sucking, heads exploding, and bone-breaking; all that good stuff.
Chuck Wendig has an undeniable voice in everything he writes, and it shows through loud and clear in Double Dead. The main character is the vampire Coburn, a nearly nihilistic jerk who is used to the easy, blood-sucking life New York affords: drunk club girls, drug addled yuppies, and probably the odd homeless dude too. We get to see right inside his mind, which Chuck fills with very firm personality, and never shies from talking about what Coburn would truly be thinking, even if it seems horrible to us. The point of view shifts between characters (even if they are minor and destined to die) as the book goes on, giving us an almost cinematic sense of the events unfolding. The narrative voice is many times completely omniscient, referring to all the characters by their names, even if the current POV character has no way of knowing that information. It's an intriguing way of doing things, and not at all what I was used to.
I've read it described as "pulpy", but I don't really know what that truly means, so I'll sum it up in my own words: It's the book you've been waiting for, even if you didn't know it. Great horror, lots of gore, great characters, a solid plot, and believe it or not, heart. I don't want to spoil anything beyond that, so I won't highlight my favorite parts, or discuss the ending. I will say though, that the book is not all that it seems to be. Pick it up, and enjoy a great read, courtesy Chuck Wendig.
January 11, 2013
Originally posted here.
Remember when I said last year that @KateSherrod had needed multiple showers after reading Chuck Wendig's Miriam Black books? That was NOTHING compared to the showers, brain bleach and other necessary mental hygiene adjustments one will need after reading Wendig's zombie+vampire+zombie vampire novel Double Dead.
I am not kidding at all, this book is GROSS. But still somehow charming? Seriously, this was how I read this book - "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ew. Seriously, ew. But still. HAHAHAHAHA!"
Our hero (?) is Coburn, a "Noo Yawk" vampire that wakes up from a loooooong forced sleep to find that the world has been primarily taken over by zombies. There are few humans left, which kind of means REAL death for Coburn, since the "blood" of the walking dead isn't sufficient to power him.
What's a hungry vampire to do? Well, make friends with a fluffy little dog and somehow find himself as shepherd to a road trippin' flock of blood donors, of course!
Double Dead would have made my best of list for last year, if I'd read it before all those posts were written. As it stands, though, I'll have to make sure to include it for 2013.
Definitely not for everyone, but if you don't mind some stomach churning gore and intensely disgusting situations that will make you laugh at the same time as you're trying not to puke - give this one a try.
If this book were a movie, it'd rate about 9/10 on the Faces of Death gore scale. I've learned that Wendig has a knack for making his readers uncomfortable, yet still keeps us coming back for more.
4.3/5 on my own personal book scale. Maybe higher since I'll never look at WalMart the same way again.
Remember when I said last year that @KateSherrod had needed multiple showers after reading Chuck Wendig's Miriam Black books? That was NOTHING compared to the showers, brain bleach and other necessary mental hygiene adjustments one will need after reading Wendig's zombie+vampire+zombie vampire novel Double Dead.
I am not kidding at all, this book is GROSS. But still somehow charming? Seriously, this was how I read this book - "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ew. Seriously, ew. But still. HAHAHAHAHA!"
Our hero (?) is Coburn, a "Noo Yawk" vampire that wakes up from a loooooong forced sleep to find that the world has been primarily taken over by zombies. There are few humans left, which kind of means REAL death for Coburn, since the "blood" of the walking dead isn't sufficient to power him.
What's a hungry vampire to do? Well, make friends with a fluffy little dog and somehow find himself as shepherd to a road trippin' flock of blood donors, of course!
“Shhh,” he said. “Chill the fuck out, pup. Last thing I need is for you to call a gaggle of undead assholes my way. Is it a gaggle? What is it? It’s a school of fish. A murder of crows. A parliament of owls. What’s a bunch of fucking zombies? A cluster? A cadre? You know what? I’m going to go with a fuckbucket of zombies. Sound good to you, pup?”
Double Dead would have made my best of list for last year, if I'd read it before all those posts were written. As it stands, though, I'll have to make sure to include it for 2013.
Definitely not for everyone, but if you don't mind some stomach churning gore and intensely disgusting situations that will make you laugh at the same time as you're trying not to puke - give this one a try.
If this book were a movie, it'd rate about 9/10 on the Faces of Death gore scale. I've learned that Wendig has a knack for making his readers uncomfortable, yet still keeps us coming back for more.
4.3/5 on my own personal book scale. Maybe higher since I'll never look at WalMart the same way again.
May 21, 2015
I read this book because (a) I adore Chuck Wendig's irreverent yet thoughtful blog Terrible Minds and (b) vampire/zombie pulp horror, yes please.
Wow. Just...wow. This book is disgusting. And hilarious. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie in book form with a vital difference: I like Wendig's characters. Though I admire Tarantino's skill, creativity, and vision, I don't enjoy his movies because his characters are pretty much soulless. (Yes, I've seen Kill Bill. No, it didn't change my mind.) Chuck Wendig takes that same gonzo, pulpy, gory, sardonic tone--with the same hilarious voice he has on his blog--and makes even the a**hole of a hero somebody I can like and cheer on.
Double Dead is a fast read, and it is bloody disgusting, like pus and gore and ewwwwwww, so I'm glad it's fast because my bile limit, which is pretty high, was starting to push max by the end. (Mercifully, while the action never lets up, Wendig does seem to ease up on that holy-crap-that's-vile descriptions as the book goes along; either that or I got inured!) So this is definitely not for anyone who can't find the grim humor in descriptive, over-the-top carnage. It's also a don't-get-too-attached-to-anyone book because characters die like leaves on the wind (watch how I soar). I think Wendig makes that pretty clear from the beginning, but just in case you need the warning.
Despite all that, despite the blood and the death and the grisly zompocalypse setting, I finished the book feeling hopeful. Wendig takes a story and a setting that should be an exercise in nihilism and turns it into a tale of not just physical survival, but the survival of human compassion against epic odds. Much like his blog, this book is profane, angry, sarcastic, jaded, and full of love for people and the human condition. It's the most interesting book I've read in a long time...and now I'm going to go find a romance novel to clean the puss and severed limbs from my brain. Possibly something with a billionaire and a series of five-star hotels, shopping sprees, and no zombies in sight.
A brilliant read. If you're up for the gore, I highly recommend it.
Wow. Just...wow. This book is disgusting. And hilarious. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie in book form with a vital difference: I like Wendig's characters. Though I admire Tarantino's skill, creativity, and vision, I don't enjoy his movies because his characters are pretty much soulless. (Yes, I've seen Kill Bill. No, it didn't change my mind.) Chuck Wendig takes that same gonzo, pulpy, gory, sardonic tone--with the same hilarious voice he has on his blog--and makes even the a**hole of a hero somebody I can like and cheer on.
Double Dead is a fast read, and it is bloody disgusting, like pus and gore and ewwwwwww, so I'm glad it's fast because my bile limit, which is pretty high, was starting to push max by the end. (Mercifully, while the action never lets up, Wendig does seem to ease up on that holy-crap-that's-vile descriptions as the book goes along; either that or I got inured!) So this is definitely not for anyone who can't find the grim humor in descriptive, over-the-top carnage. It's also a don't-get-too-attached-to-anyone book because characters die like leaves on the wind (watch how I soar). I think Wendig makes that pretty clear from the beginning, but just in case you need the warning.
Despite all that, despite the blood and the death and the grisly zompocalypse setting, I finished the book feeling hopeful. Wendig takes a story and a setting that should be an exercise in nihilism and turns it into a tale of not just physical survival, but the survival of human compassion against epic odds. Much like his blog, this book is profane, angry, sarcastic, jaded, and full of love for people and the human condition. It's the most interesting book I've read in a long time...and now I'm going to go find a romance novel to clean the puss and severed limbs from my brain. Possibly something with a billionaire and a series of five-star hotels, shopping sprees, and no zombies in sight.
A brilliant read. If you're up for the gore, I highly recommend it.
April 24, 2014
Chuck Wendig really hit the ground running. As far as skill goes, it really doesn't feel too much farther than his Miriam Black books (the two I've read anyway). I do have a couple issues with his writing, particular to this story. One is that he definitely depends on character archetypes to outline his characters, and it gets a little boring seeing everyone perfectly live up to the expectations of that stereotype. The other is that he tends to make narrative choices that feel really unsatisfying, at least in this book specifically. Aside from that, though, Double Dead is a really fun read. The dialogue in particular is excellent -- you could tell people's accent's just by the rhythm of their sentences. The science is wonderfully soft and plush and laid out over a nice springy bed of mayhem. PErfect comfort reading, for me.
I think my favorite thing about Chuck Wendig is that he takes characters that are generally looked down on, and doesn't necessarily devalue them as a person. He writes them honestly -- yeah they're low class, and that naturally has a few pitfalls in terms of the traits a person might end up cultivating, but just because someone's being a little shit, doesn't actually make them a piece of shit. Bad guys, amusingly, are pretty obviously bad guys in his stories. Good guys are usually somewhere in what the average person would call "morally grey" but I think that ultimately, Chuck Wendig likes to write people that, on some level, want to be good, and he frames stories around them that encourage that in them. It's really charming, in the messiest way possible, and I love it.
I think my favorite thing about Chuck Wendig is that he takes characters that are generally looked down on, and doesn't necessarily devalue them as a person. He writes them honestly -- yeah they're low class, and that naturally has a few pitfalls in terms of the traits a person might end up cultivating, but just because someone's being a little shit, doesn't actually make them a piece of shit. Bad guys, amusingly, are pretty obviously bad guys in his stories. Good guys are usually somewhere in what the average person would call "morally grey" but I think that ultimately, Chuck Wendig likes to write people that, on some level, want to be good, and he frames stories around them that encourage that in them. It's really charming, in the messiest way possible, and I love it.
January 24, 2013
A terribly fun book, if you like your fun bloody. With a basic premise that a Vampire wakes up sometime after the Zombie Apocalypse has occurred and realizes that he has to protect his food source from the shambling undead, things go off in a bizarre tangent from there. The hysterical word-play by Wendig is countered perfectly with his scenes of high-level gore.
Our main protagonist, Coburn, is the very definition of "misanthropic," prone to inappropriate comments and bursts of ultra-violence for fun. He is an anti-hero in every sense of the word, to the point he's named the dog he's carrying about "Creampuff" because it might prove a distracting snack later. His herd of humans are a mis-matched bunch, different from the usual band you'd expect in this type of book. Part of that is due to the plot, but mostly I assume it's because Wendig is insane.
Perhaps the only thing keeping this book from getting a 5 star rating was the portrayal of the teenage girl Kayla. As the secondary main protagonist, I found her characterization conflicting between child and adult - and not in the way a teen would be. She'd rebel with her cigarettes and swearing one minute, but be grossed out by the hint of a sexual act the next? While I found her endearing, I also found her personality just didn't sit right with me.
Regardless, this book is a dark treat. Never to the point of cartoonish, it's more like a psychotic amusement park ride full of hysterical twists that leave everybody maimed. I'd easily recommend this for fans of Tim Dorsey, Christopher Moore, and/or Charles Stross.
Our main protagonist, Coburn, is the very definition of "misanthropic," prone to inappropriate comments and bursts of ultra-violence for fun. He is an anti-hero in every sense of the word, to the point he's named the dog he's carrying about "Creampuff" because it might prove a distracting snack later. His herd of humans are a mis-matched bunch, different from the usual band you'd expect in this type of book. Part of that is due to the plot, but mostly I assume it's because Wendig is insane.
Perhaps the only thing keeping this book from getting a 5 star rating was the portrayal of the teenage girl Kayla. As the secondary main protagonist, I found her characterization conflicting between child and adult - and not in the way a teen would be. She'd rebel with her cigarettes and swearing one minute, but be grossed out by the hint of a sexual act the next? While I found her endearing, I also found her personality just didn't sit right with me.
Regardless, this book is a dark treat. Never to the point of cartoonish, it's more like a psychotic amusement park ride full of hysterical twists that leave everybody maimed. I'd easily recommend this for fans of Tim Dorsey, Christopher Moore, and/or Charles Stross.
October 25, 2016
I loved this book. It's the usual unwilling guardian shtick--the sarcastic rather scruple free vampire, Coburn, finally free after 5 years trapped...to discover a zombie ravaged NYC, years after the outbreak wiped out most of humanity. With the drinkable blood supply a fading commodity, he agrees to shepherd a group of people (the idiot father, sick daughter with a plan, the usual tough-pretty troublemaker, vet, and computer tech) across country to a lab still working on a cure, in exchange for feeding off of them on the way and protecting them from zombies. Besides, his new "friends," Coulson is more attached to his dog, rescued from a cannibal to snack on himself later but then couldn't bring himself to do it, Creampuff.
I liked how most of the action in this book involved somehow Coburn trying to rescue Creampuff, and oh yeah, those people too. To give them credit, for the hapless survivors in a country now entirely populated with cannibals and religious nuts, the appearance of a vampire who can punt kick a zombie a football field away is mostly good news. And I give the book applause--I found it hilarious--the encounter of the Cannibal Queen of Walmart, even as over the top as that got--to coming across the area controlled by meth crazed clowns--Wendig managed to be both hilarious, wring out pathos for the young lovers and all the blood disease drama, have credible action, and even with all the above nonsense, I think this is the ONLY zombie book I've read that went full circle with the origin story.
For a book that refreshingly didn't take itself very seriously, but never got annoying about it, I thought had depth too.
I liked how most of the action in this book involved somehow Coburn trying to rescue Creampuff, and oh yeah, those people too. To give them credit, for the hapless survivors in a country now entirely populated with cannibals and religious nuts, the appearance of a vampire who can punt kick a zombie a football field away is mostly good news. And I give the book applause--I found it hilarious--the encounter of the Cannibal Queen of Walmart, even as over the top as that got--to coming across the area controlled by meth crazed clowns--Wendig managed to be both hilarious, wring out pathos for the young lovers and all the blood disease drama, have credible action, and even with all the above nonsense, I think this is the ONLY zombie book I've read that went full circle with the origin story.
For a book that refreshingly didn't take itself very seriously, but never got annoying about it, I thought had depth too.
February 17, 2013
Probably between 3 and 4, but I'm rounding up because why not be generous?
I was taken by the concept here immediately. What does a vampire do in the zombie apocalypse? It's such an easy concept, and a good genre mash-up, but it was fresh enough that I hadn't seen it before and Wendig shows from the outset that he's going to have some fun with it, without making fun of it.
The first half to two-thirds of the book it all seems to be tracking along fairly well, a straight-line narrative but well told and with moments of narrative flair. Sometimes the similes pile up, like traffic on a choked free-way, and sometimes they miss their mark, like a trainee sniper who isn't accurate.
In the final act Wendig really throws a few spanners in the work, and though the bravest of these is undone mere pages later the finale is not at all like what I would have predicted with 100 pages to go.
It's unashamed pulp: a vampire fights zombies and cannibal people and Juggalos and super-zombies and the religious right, but Wendig embraces it with a wry smile and invites us to come along and enjoy the ride. I accepted that invitation, and now I'm keen to see what Coburn does next in the novella 'Bad Blood'.
I was taken by the concept here immediately. What does a vampire do in the zombie apocalypse? It's such an easy concept, and a good genre mash-up, but it was fresh enough that I hadn't seen it before and Wendig shows from the outset that he's going to have some fun with it, without making fun of it.
The first half to two-thirds of the book it all seems to be tracking along fairly well, a straight-line narrative but well told and with moments of narrative flair. Sometimes the similes pile up, like traffic on a choked free-way, and sometimes they miss their mark, like a trainee sniper who isn't accurate.
In the final act Wendig really throws a few spanners in the work, and though the bravest of these is undone mere pages later the finale is not at all like what I would have predicted with 100 pages to go.
It's unashamed pulp: a vampire fights zombies and cannibal people and Juggalos and super-zombies and the religious right, but Wendig embraces it with a wry smile and invites us to come along and enjoy the ride. I accepted that invitation, and now I'm keen to see what Coburn does next in the novella 'Bad Blood'.
July 12, 2012
If you want to read a book with pretty sparkling vampires, well don't read this. But if you want some good horror badassary with a vampire who is not a nice guy, then this is the book for you. Throw in a bunch of varied and interesting characters, a rat terrior, tons of action, and a world filled with zombies and you've got one heck of a good story.
Another bonus... the author's writing style is so sarcastic, clever and fun. He had me rooting for the "monster" vampire. You could catch little glimpses of good and just wanted more.
Loved it and highly recommend it!
Another bonus... the author's writing style is so sarcastic, clever and fun. He had me rooting for the "monster" vampire. You could catch little glimpses of good and just wanted more.
Loved it and highly recommend it!
November 30, 2011
Riveting action, rock and roll violence, churning terror and protagonists that you actually care about, despite their character flaws. Coburn is an asshole. He makes that clear himself. But you can't help but like him, even if just a little. I happened to like him a lot. He's hilarious. What sets this work apart, though, is the unexpected emotional impact at the end. Maybe I'm a softie, but I found it authentic and quite touching. It threw me for a loop, and that's good thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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