Review: Run from the Rising
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 8, 2012
This book was hard for me to review.  I would actually classify it more as a "horror" book than a typical "zombie" type apocalypse book because of certain elements which I can't go into because they were at the end of the book and would literally spoil it for other readers.Seth is a man who is a blue collar worker who has had a contentous relationship with his brother, who is a Doctor.  He wakes up to find his elderly neighbor eating the helpful 12 yr old who helps her around the house and is horrified.  He realizes what is going on after the 911 operator is eaten while on the phone with him and leaves his house in search of safety.After a few encounters, he realizes that he hasn't even thought of his brother, Kevin, thus takes a run over to the "rich" part of town to check on him and his wife Amy.  Little spoiler:  Kevin has been bitten and won't be part of the story going forward...Amy married for money and has been in a loveless relationship with Seth's brother for all of these years.  She is spoiled and knows it - after all, she is a self proclaimed "trophy wife" and is rather detached from reality, at least at the beginning of the book.  She and Seth leave her house and search for safety, rescuing others along the way.  Those rescued give her a chance at redemption which is latches onto with both hands and her entire heart.They take refuge in the safety of a church where Seth is in charge of supporting the other refugees in terms of supplies.  This is where it starts getting strange and veers more into the "horror" type of book...The secondary characters play an important role in watching their personalities changed over the weeks.  The author did a wonderful job in what he set out of accomplish in that aspect.  In fact, the author's writing builds a world where you think you know what is going on and then BOOM, you are now in an entirely different place in reality with an outcome that you were not expecting.  That, to me, is where the true talent in his writing lies.This is where the rating part gets so hard... it isn't the actual writing itself - the author is talented if understated (if that makes sense - work with me here).  You are reading along thinking this is a rather simplistic zombie novel - without even that many zombie encounters - but he is really building a sense of depth that you don't see until it is too late.I found the book disquieting I guess would be the best way to describe it as I read further along and I actually wanted to put it down but I never do that - have to see what happens at the end - and I am glad that I did.  I felt the entire gammit of emotions toward these characters - starting to like them, feel sorry for them, hate them, understand them, want to shoot them myself.. Lily, the Great Dane, is the only one that I loved the entire book.  Sorry that I can't explain better but really, that would give away the entire premise and then why would you need to read the book?For what I was expecting, I would give it a 3.  For what it actually WAS, I would give it a 5 thus the average of a four.  I do recommend this book if you are looking for something different than a straightforward zombie book - if you like a twist, if you like suspense, if you like horror, then this is definitely the book for you!