Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, But Ultimately a thinly veiled sermon
Review: The author has an interesting taking on the Romero zombie, with several very good gruesome scenes throughout the book. The author also weaves a very compelling setting of despair and gloom throught his new zombified world. However, he mars the story-telling experience by injecting page after page of theological debates between the main characters. Ultimately the book turns into a thinly veiled sermon waxing on about Judgement Day and Christianity. I have no problems with religion, but I don't want to be lectured in my leisure time reading. Additionally the climax and subsequent resolution of the book and it's main characters is not satisfying.
Rating: 
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.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and Chilling despite the typografical errrors
Review: The Dead in this novel are torturing the living out of sheer envy. "The very fact that that were not sharing his pain was unendurable, worse than the pain itself."
Consider this state of mind when dealing with a minimum wage earner in a horrendous job who is probably looking up from his grill, mop, shovel, or cash register with the same point-of-view as Mark Rogers' damned souls (why aren't you suffering like I'm suffering).
On a lighter note: Max and Gary must be human stand-ins for Samurai Cat and Shiro. Since that series ended it was good to see them, even in pontificating human form.
Rating:
Summary: Good Zombie Fiction with Religious Overtones
Review: The Dead presents a unique cross between what would be considered standard zombie horror and "Left Behind" style end-of-the-world fiction. The story begins days before "The Rapture" and continues into the apocalyptic nightmare world that follows. The zombies that inhabit this world are actually demons clothed in the bodies of the dead. These zombies are able to think, attack logically in groups, use weapons, and in some cases even talk. These are also not your typical zombies that are killed by a bullet to the brain. The plight of the surviving humans left behind by the rapture is made worse by the fact that technology seems to be failing rapidly as the world collapses into a new hellish world order. They are soon left without cars, phones, or electricity, and even guns soon begin to fail.
Other reviewers have complained about the religious dialogues that occasionally take place between the surviving characters, but I found these discussions to be rather interesting. In fact these discussions are essential to the plot, since as the novel progresses it becomes clear that the most important goal for each survivor is less survival than to find salvation.
Although the book is littered with spelling and typographical errors that should make the publisher ashamed, The Dead is a fast-paced and exciting read that I would recommend to any zombie horror reader who won't be put off by the religious overtones.
Oh, and if you REALLY liked the religious dialogues in The Dead, you might want to try "Between Heaven and Hell" by Peter Kreeft.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Better Entries in the Pantheon of Zombie Horror
Review: Though many readers have voiced disappointment in reading Mark Rogers' "The Dead", their criticism seems to arise from a horror generalist's perspective on zombie fiction rather than a more focussed view on where "The Dead" stands in relation to its genre counterparts. As others have done with respect to "The Dead" vis-a-vis end of times novels, I would like to assert the novel's excellence both in thematic and story development as well as in the writing thereof.
For many horror readers, mention of the word "zombie" quickly evokes images of Romero's zombies seeking the flesh of barricaded survivors (I'm sure his brilliant scripts are usually not considered by the average horror reader). However, the zombie/apocalypse survivalist subgenres of horror allows for a much wider range of zombie types-- from the Halperin Brothers' wide-eyed mill workers and David Moody's addled husks, to Romero's and Lenhart's aping stumblers, to Garland's and Snyder's sprinting fiends and finally to Keene's homicidal wiseacres. Not only does zombie type allow for varied semiotic and metaphorical expression, but structures and charges the story to allow for differing tales/narratives of survival and humanity to unfold.
Most amateur zombie enthusiasts tend to keep their fiction to the level of Lenhart and Romero-- i.e., survival depends on the protagonists' bonding, survival skills and generally Herbert Spencer/Ayn Rand outlook on life, careful thinking and luck. "The Dead", however, falls well within the nastier, more complex category of "hard" zombie/apocalyptic fiction, wherein the undead agents of downfall are fast, tough, smart and savagely tenacious. Survival cannot be a product of careful thought or preparedness, but largely only through the accident of one's surroundings. This is a tough genre within which to write convincingly, but Mark Rogers does so with nary a falter (though the editors at Infinity ought to be ashamed of the typesetting gaffs littered throughout the book). The ease of his prose, and his often mellow sense of black humor, make the work an excellent companion in any type of reading setting.
Given "The Dead"'s genre context, and the divine inspiration of the novel's zombie aggressors, we have the perfect literary crucible in which to test our particular band of protagonists. Many have complained that Gary and his family are unrealistic, caricatures, not well written, incomplete, etc., but Roger's choice to follow the development of this intellectual, sensitive, impassioned, dysfunctional family of overachievers and envelope-pushers is the appropriate one given the nature of the zombie threat. Who better to follow than religiously-minded, curious people in the face of the end of times?
Rather than focus on how convincing the characters-- especially Max, with his tiresome litany of lame arguments-- may be to us as readers (it would be as difficult to relate to and empathize with this History Professor/Marine hand-to-hand instructor as it would be to say, oh I don't know, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan), we should instead be gauging their internal development (and where none, society's) over the course of the crisis.
Altogether, an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: VERY VERY GOOD
Review: Here is one of the very best books ever written. Those that would disagree are either fops, knaves, or Bedlamb beggars. No more need be said.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Numbing
Review: This is the point where I put this book down: About seventy pages in one the main characters, Max, first reigns down a history lesson on the head of his uncle that Edward Gibbon would envy, then proceeds to kick the crap out of no less than four guys with a series of kung-fu moves that Jean Claude Van Damme would envy. I was actually willing to live with the idea of a smug, super-intelligent butt-kicking philosopher, but no less than three pages after that Rogers has the nerve to try and talk a little smack to Stephen King, not even making fun of a book that deserves making fun of, like Desperation, but instead tries to make fun of It of all books. Word to the author: It's really not a good idea to poke fun at one of the most respected works of a great author, especially when your own book doesn't even begin to equal his in depth, creativity, or just sheer horror. The premise seems cool, a theological fantasy that takes biblical prophecy as literal rendering, but the cast of characters are simply a collection of stereotypes that don't even react like human beings. In an early section of the book, just after the tragic, and presumably painful, death of their father, Max and Gary's mother then goes missing. This horrible turn of events doesn't seem to affect anyone at all. She only gets mentioned in passing, like, "I sure hope she's okay." or "Any word about Mom?" This kind of sloppy writing just doesn't cut it, especially for a book that is supposed to be about The End of the World. We should feel something for them, anything at all. Instead we are left with reactions that are ridiculous, at best, and inexplicable at worst. The book may have been saved if Rogers could muster just a little sympathy from this reader to his protagonist, but I can't identify with a kung-fu-butt-kicking history professor. I couldn't even bring myself to care whether he lives or dies,(unlike a book like It where so much of our investment is not tied up in premise, but in the lives of the characters) so why would I care whether a whole world populated with such stock-characters like this makes it out alive either?
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Read
Review: Many typo's. Very "Turn or Burn" religious style book. If you are looking for a " Living Dead" or zombie horror novel this is not it! If your looking for a turn to God or burn in hell with the demons book this would be right up your alley. All in all a disappointing read!
Rating:
Summary: "Left behind".....with Zombies!
Review: Plenty of religious sermons....with plenty of flesh eating.
Is it just me, or is that a strange combo?
But it's a pretty good book...probably 3 and 1/2 stars.
I thought the characters were fairly fleshed out and the action sequences were very well done.
I'm a big fan of zombie fiction and if you are too...you won't want to miss THE DEAD.
The only two minuses in this book are the excessive religious discussions and the typos.
And I mean ALOT of typos...words running together, misspelling and so on.
Plan on seeing a typo about every other page...if that sort of editing gets on your nerves, you might want to stay away from this one.
Rating:
Summary: What book did all those other reviewers read???
Review: I read the Dead by Rogers and I have to say that it was really bad.
The story isn't horrible. The action scenes at least work, very reminiscent of either Romero's work or that old Dead World comic.
But interspersed are long dialogues about the nature of man and God and the Devil. NOT kidding. This book is fundementalist and the dead coming back to life are there to punish sinners.
Thought I'd read it all (I did read this whole book) before but this one was a first.
If the author reads this...please in future editions, make the religious sections in a red font so readers know what to skip.
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