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Summary: Oh man where to begin...
Review: I first read the book The Dead, in the early 90's.
I was still in high school and this kid beside me in study hall says to me.
"Hey man, you want to read something freaky?"
He knew I read Clive Barker, King and anything else I could get my hands on.
He let me borrow it and that night. I finished it.
Let me just say that it scared the hell out of me. Legion was a very intimidating character and left an impression on my young mind. I stumbled upon this on Amazon.com...I was reading a review of the Max Brooks book about Zombie survival and they had this book as type of "if you like this book then try this one." My mind rewinded to day I read this book. So I ordered it for the library that I work for. I can't wait to read it again. Mark Rogers was a major influence on me as writer.
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Summary: "The Dead"--Action, Terror, and Theology
Review: The Dead, by Mark E. Rogers, is an impressive end-of-the-world novel that manages to combine action and a thrilling narrative with complex character development and even some finely honed theology. The main story concerns a small group of people who have gathered for a relative's funeral. After they share a dream about the end of the world, they learn that numerous people are missing; something like the Rapture has apparently occurred. But this is no simple Left Behind-type story. A chapter or two later the novel takes an unexpected turn when, at the funeral, their relative smashes out of his coffin. Then in a frightening scene, the corpses of the dead rise from their graves and begin slaughtering the living in particularly gruesome ways. These are not George Romero Living Dead-style liches, either. They don't devour their victims, but save them for slow, painful deaths and take a gruesome glee in the infliction of pain. During the rest of the book the main characters flee the zombies and try to stay alive as the earth slowly dies around them and the sun rots in the sky.
Mark Rogers is a superb storyteller, with a real gift for gripping narrative that makes the story move very quickly; there's not a dull moment anywhere. His fine eye for both action and suspense adds tension to several key scenes: a tense flight through storm drains; an episode where the main characters are trapped on a boat run aground on a sandbar; a climactic battle where one character single-handedly holds off the zombies to give his companions a chance to escape
But action is not Rogers' only forte. This book is not a simple zombie thriller. Rogers fills the book with moments of insight and character development that give this book depth. A raving fundamentalist, dismissed by the other characters-and by us-as a nut, is the first one to figure out what is really going on. The most devoutly religious character in the book must face the realization that his faith is sadly lacking. And the head demon, Legion (yes, the Legion from the Gospels, the one Jesus drives into the Gadarene swine), engages in grim theological discussions with some of the characters as he plays with their minds and souls like a cat would play with a mouse. Speaking as someone with a Master of Divinity degree, I found the theological depth of this book remarkable.
Even this is not enough, though. Rogers has a remarkable skill with imagery, and reinforces the action and suspense with verbal pictures that stick in your mind: a detached face tied to a zombie's head with a shoestring; engines being devoured by metal-eating maggots; the sun rotting in the sky. And near the end of the book, we see a terrifying glimpse of Legion as he really is, one of the most frightening descriptions of a devil I have ever encountered-a creature of pure malice, and not at all human.
Be warned that this book is very gruesome. Not only is it violent, but also Rogers, as I said before, describes the action in a way that will stick with you. This is a book that will enthrall you, frighten you, maybe even get you thinking. One thing it will not do is bore you.
Rating: 
Summary: High schoolish tripe
Review: Poorly written, with far too much religious pontification, this book ultimately is disappointing survival horror. Although it's better than its competitors--The Book of the Dead, Still Dead, The Rising--it's still amateurish shlock whose characters far too often launch into pedantic multi-page theological discussions when they're not dying a page or two after they've been introduced. If you want something scary, read Noel Hynd's Ghosts. Or for a thriller, read almost anything by Childs/Preston. For survival horror, better just to watch the various zombie pictures again.
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Summary: "The Dead" Rocks!
Review: This is one of Mark Rogers's best novels, and one of the best horror novels I've read. Rogers is a terrific writer, and the book (like other Rogers novels) is a masterful blend of hard-hitting action and genuinely insightful philosophical and religious reflection. Rogers has a real gift!
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Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: The Book of Revelations meets Lucio Fulci and George Romero in The Dead. This book conjures up some pretty gruesome imagery without being excessive, and also some thought-provoking theological questions without being preachy. Between narrow escapes, ghastly murders, heated arguments, and hair-raising battles with the undead there is hardly a dull moment; I ended up reading all of it in two sessions because I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I don't know where to start with this, but The Dead somehow manages to be as intelligent as it is gruesome; for every face-shredding or grisly mutilation, there's a thought provoking theological debate, and although the story is based on Catholic symbolism concerning the end of the world, at no part is it ever "preachy." The Dead also manages not to be dull at any point, with suspenseful escapes, heated arguements, and all-out battles with the undead on every page. Do yourself a favor and buy this one.
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Summary: Impressed
Review: What can I say, the book has it all. Never before have I seen the idea of the end of the world addressed quite like this. The viewpoints and arguements about religion present much to think about while the intense action and gory details will make it impossible to put the book down. By the time you finish you will be questioning your faith and giving grave yards a second glance when you pass by.
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Summary: Apocalypse Now!
Review: The "guts" of this book are every bit as creepy and frightening as the cover. I read this book almost a dozen years ago when it was first published and it gave me nightmares. After discovering this new edition, with vastly improved cover art done by Mark Rogers himself, the nightmares returned. I have loaned my battered, out-of-print first edition to almost every friend I have and everyone of them thought it a great book. The Dead is terrifying on many levels, but the author's ability to make the premise of corpses clawing up out of their graves, bent on maiming and torturing the living seem possible and believable scared me more than anything else. The story moves along at a furious pace, punctuated by gun battles, martial arts action and conversations with the damned undead. The theology, on which the book is based, is well thought out and argued over from many different viewpoints by the characters, keeping the book from becoming too preachy. I can't recommend it enough.
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Summary: The Dead
Review: The Dead is probably my favorite horror novel. The book describes a version of the Biblical Armageddon from the perspective of ordinary people trying to survive a series of horrific events. As in Stephen King's novelette The Mist (though with a very different type of crisis), the story begins with a normal-or mostly normal-world, and its tension steadily increases as the world disintegrates. As the characters struggle to avoid destruction, they also struggle to make sense of what is happening around them. They are not stupid, nor are they pietistic superheroes that always make the right choice. I particularly like the handling of the main villain, who is utterly ruthless and diabolically clever about the strategies that it uses to accomplish its goals. Also particularly good are a few grisly scenes of the dead in action and some of the details of how the world falls apart, which I won't spoil for you by listing here. As a minor criticism, the editing for the Buy Books printing could be better, but that didn't distract me (much) from a fine story, which I would recommend.
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Summary: Mucho Zombies for you
Review: 3 years ago this book was recomended to me by several of my friends. And one graciously lent my a copy (at that time it was out of print) and i tore through it ..loving every bit of it. Now that its been re-released I've had the opprtunity to pass this book on to several of my friends...non of which thought it was anything less than awsome. Now that its circulated through my friends i've gotten it back and reread it. Even now 3 years later its still the most creepy, enjoyable book I've ever read.
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