‘The Rising’ a gory zombie tale

  Literature snobs beware: Brian Keene’s “The Rising” is not your cup of tea.
  Those easily grossed out, a warning: Do not crack open this book.
  Readers lacking a sense of humor, turn back: You will be offended.
  To those jolly souls who crack a smile at the thought of a zombie bunny and to the horror lovers who can appreciate a gruesome decapitation: This one’s for you.
  A great evil begins reanimating the dead, bringing a zombie plague to the world.
  Very few survive, as these zombies are not slow, stupid walking corpses, but cunning, decaying bags of flesh who can drive and use weapons.
  Jim Thurmond has managed to stay alive, but his rotting wife and neighbors surround his hideout. He fears for his son, Danny, who moved from West Virginia to New Jersey with Jim’s ex-wife and her new husband. After a brief, desperate phone call from Danny, Jim knows he has to leave his cellar. He pushes himself through his fear and moves to the stairs that will take him up into the dangerous night. Listening to the shuffling footsteps above, Jim stops at the stairs.
  The footsteps in the kitchen hurried towards the door.
  Grimacing, Jim pulled the lighter from his pocket and looked down.
  Intestines. Somebody’s intestines lay on the stair in a congealing heap.
  The footsteps stopped on the other side of the cellar door. ...The doorknob began to turn.
  He raised the rifle, aiming blindly in the dark.
  The door crashed open, and Jim gaped at the hideous thing standing before him. The viscera on the stairs had belonged to Mr. Thompson. The glistening ends of its intestines hung from their empty cavity, swaying as the zombie raised its arms.
  “Howdy neighbor,” it rasped. Its voice sounded like somebody gargling glass. “I see you found the rest of me.”
  The zombie’s tongue was a blackened, swollen mass; yet impossibly, the thing spoke.
  Jim fired. ... The crotch of the creature’s soiled pants disintegrated.
  “Oooo,” it glanced downward. “Mrs. Thompson isn’t going to like that at all.”
  Pulitzer Prize-winning writing? Perhaps not. An entertaining gore fest with laugh-out-loud moments? Right on.
  As Jim journeys toward his son he comes upon other survivors who join him on his quest. The small group has more to fear than the walking, flying, swimming undead. Many of the living are on the hunt, too, and Jim and his friends will have to keep their wits about them if they have any hope of survival.
  “The Rising” certainly doesn’t qualify as a great literary achievement. But what it does accomplish is to entertain readers who appreciate cringe-worthy moments written by an author who doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s something most horror fans adore and that will keep them coming back for more.
  And there is more. “The Rising” was first published in 2003. Keene wrote a sequel, “City of the Dead,” which was released in 2005.
  I know what I’ll be picking up during my next trip to the bookstore.