‘Handling the Undead’ another coup for Swedish fiction

There are no brains eaten in “Handling the Undead.” And though the novel’s zombies do sort of lumber around, they’re not on the hunt for humans.

As for the humans, they’re not necessarily afraid of the undead. Some family members hope to be reunited with their recently deceased loved ones.

The story begins as a heat wave strikes Stockholm, Sweden. People are getting headaches and electric appliances won’t turn off. People don’t know what to make of the strange occurrences, but when the dead start to rise, the city is utterly stunned.

David’s wife, Eva, recently killed in a car crash, opens her one remaining eye, giving him hope he won’t have to tell their son his mother is dead.

Mahler, an old newspaperman, gets a tip about the story. He can barely believe it until he goes to a hospital and sees for himself. Though distracted, it doesn’t take long for Mahler to think of his young grandson, recently buried after a tragic fall.

Elvy’s shocked when a scraping sound at her door turns out to be her dead husband come home. Elvy’s not exactly happy about Tore’s resurrection. She feels she has done enough after decades of marriage.

Something occurred to her and she smiled, in spite of everything. Of course it was only theological hairsplitting; but didn’t it say, ‘For better or for worse, until death us do part?’ She looked over at the closed door. Tore was dead. Therefore this was no longer her responsibility. She’d made no promise to the priest, forty-three years earlier, to have, hold or cherish anyone after death.

The government moves quickly to contain the reliving, as the zombies are called. And as the undead are quarantined, moral questions arise over their treatment and rights.

While the families demand answers, much of the public moves on — seeing the resurrections as an isolated event. But there are those who see it as much more, those who see signs of the End Times and celebrate their belief that they soon will be reunited with God.

John Ajvide Lindqvist shows once again the writing talent of Sweden. His previous novel, the vampire tale “Let the Right One In,” has been made into a movie. I hope Lindqvist’s well-written novel will benefit from the success of Stieg Larsson’s “Girl With a Dragon Tattoo” series, encouraging more American readers to not be afraid of translated novels and explore fiction from all over the world.