The Dead

The Dead
Author: Charlie Higson
Pages: 485
Recommend Ages: 7th to 10th Grade
Rating: I give this 4 Brads across the aboard

     The Dead is not just another typical zombie story.  In fact if you ask the kids of the books, they aren't zombies at all. What makes this different from the other end of the world books is how the disease killing off the population only effects those over the age 16.  So now it's up the surviving kids of the world to live on through the sickness, plague, no body really knows how or why it started.  Taking place in England, focusing around London, you learn that if you're over 16 when it started, then you become a sicko.  Like I said even the kids say they aren't zombies.
     What starts to sound like every kid's dream, no adults, turns out all wrong when the adults are wanting to eat you.  Ed and Jack, school buddies at an all boy prep school, are fighting to save their lives. Rugby players, athletes, you'd think them ready to tack what happens, but it's not the same thing when you fighting for your lives, killing your favorite teachers and hoping to find food that has gone bad or blocked by other sickos wanting nothing more than eat you.
     Running out of food, energy and the will to fight, the last remaining boys held up in the prep school decide to head to the country side where they hope there are less people and more food to be found. Will they make it. Will they get diverted and find themselves in a place they never expected, or maybe just maybe they'll find themselves as a sicko meal. Is this the end of the world? Save to say it's the end of the world as we know it.  Follow Ed, Jack, Dognut (Yes Dognut, cause when there are no parents around you can name yourself), in their adventures of survival, teenage love, and the desire to just plainly not be eaten.

If you are interested in reading about the lives of Ed and his pals, you can find the book with a new cover on Amazon at The Dead.