Dead of Night

Dead of Night #1

by Jonathan Maberry

A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects. Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up. Hungry. Infected. Contagious. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang…but a bite.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Adult

358 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2011

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan Maberry continues to amaze and entertain me with his range and quality of writing. Dead of Night, the first book in a series by the same name is no different. A prison doctor injects a condemned prisoner with a formula designed to punish him by keeping him awake while his body rots in its grave. However, things don’t follow his plan. The drugs have unforeseen side-effects. When the killer wakes up before he’s buried, he’s hungry, infected, and contagious.

Several main characters are well-defined with depth, but many of them are not likeable. The main local police officers are Officer Desdemona Fox and Sergeant JT Hammond. Fox is not a congenial main character, but she does care about protecting the community. She likes high speed chases, swears a lot, is a good cop and ex-military, and acts quickly under pressure, but she’s not a very nice person. JT is the most likeable character in the story. He’s organized, tidy, loves comics, and is detail-oriented. However, despite his long tenure with the department, he’s never experienced true danger. Readers also get a perspective from the antagonists in this novel, providing more insight into the situation.

The story has a solid plot and there is a feeling of deep anxiety throughout the novel. The story moves at a reasonable pace, but could have been tightened a bit to make it more impactful. Despite this it’s got plenty of exciting scenes, a different twist on zombies, and great world-building. Themes include scientific experiments, revenge, grief, rage, murder, fear, confusion, family, friends, community, and political and military maneuvering and actions.

Overall, this was an entertaining and emotional story filled with tension that kept me turning the pages. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was October 25, 2011.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't been reviewing books as much this year and while I want to change that this probably isn't the best book to start with. Dead of Night was written in the most effortless and trite way possible. The characters were two dimensional clichés, the dialogue was rife with overused movie lines (I seriously kept expecting someone to say 'come with me if you want to live'), and even the situations could have been Frankenstein-ed from a bunch of horror and action movies like a fan-made youtube trailer. There were a few semi-original concepts buried beneath all the tired writing, but instead of polishing the good stuff the author buried it beneath junk. The lack of ambition was just astounding. I felt like the book was churned out on a deadline because any self-respecting author would've taken a hacksaw to some of the exclamations the idiotic characters make.

Dez Fox, a war veteran police officer, is the main character. She's 'damaged' and the damaged is reinforced every which way. It would've been interesting if she had post traumatic stress from the war or if she'd failed in some way as a cop that made her so gung ho about getting the job done... But no. Her parents both died when she was young, her father in a war and her mother of cancer. She has abandonment issues that you would think she would have worked out when she followed in her father's footsteps as a solider and saw how little choice one had about how they died during a war -- but alas no. She throws many hissyfits and sobs a lot about people leaving her. I could've felt bad for her if she wasn't arrogant, surly, and a real jackass to just about everyone from page one. (She's allowed to be a jackass and we're still supposed to cheer for her because she's sad and damaged, blah.)

Her ex-boyfriend, Billy Trout is a reporter. He's just there to fill necessary story elements rather than being a character of his own. He's there to report, he's there to give Dez's back story, he's there to be Dez's love interest etc etc. He really UNDERSTANDS her. Of course, I never had any solid feel for him. He's been in love with Dez since he was young yet has not one but two ex-wives and he's only in his 30s... yeah. Whatever. Don't even bother. If there's a sequel maybe the author will throw you a bone, but it's probably not worth it.

There were two-ish characters that I liked. One was JT, who was Dez's partner. He's an older black guy, not her love interest, so obviously he gets bitten in the last few pages for tear-jerk's sake. God. Does this author really not get how he played into like EVERY troupe possible?

The other character I liked was the second zombie in the outbreak! The funeral home director who gets bitten by the original zombie offered an interesting, somewhat unique point of view. He was sad and relatable and I was very happy when he finally got his head blown off. The story might've been better served with more chapters from his point of view.

Anyway, Dead of Night was written with a lot of indifference. I never saw a spark of any passion that didn't feel borrowed from one action movie or another. I really hope the author doesn't look back at this as one of his finest works, but since I won't be revisiting him any time soon it doesn't matter much to me.

[Frank Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid zombie book, probably the best one I've read. I saw that this was a series, and with the way this one left off there's no doubt about it. Talk about a cliff hanger ending!! If I had to give one critique of this, it would be the main character, Dez, was over the top flawed and extremely unlikable as a protagonist. I understand people have issues based on things that have happened in their past, but it felt like she was overly dramatic, emotional and malicious in the way she spoke to people...it was like, 'get over it already girl and just grow up!' Definitely going to pick up book two in this series!

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry is really nothing special. It is a zombie novel, almost exactly like every other zombie novel. Probably the only nod to originality that one might argue about would be the chapters that allow the reader a zombie POV. The Human part is aware that existence is still occurring; however, it is incapable of bodily control. That loss of agency is truly horrifying. There should have been more of that. I am disappointed. I am a zombie apocalypse troll. Maberry really has a low bar with me, but he failed by using card-board characters that are either wholly unlikeable or overtly stupid. Stupidity is a horror trope so I will not take away from the rating for that, but there have to ultimately be characters that are worthy of survival. Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY here is! Still, not the worst I have read, so it gets an OK from me, but not much else.

[Mr. Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mortician is going about his daily business. He unzips a body bag and *powie* the stiff opens his eyes, grins and chomps into the unsuspecting mortician. And so begins the zombie apocalypse. The dead guy goes out and kills some more people. The dead doc wakes up, kills some people. And the people they kill wake up and kill some more people. Typical zombie Armageddon stuff.

Unfortunately, based upon the excellent Rot & Ruin by the same author, I was expecting more. Don't get me wrong. It is not a bad story. It's fun. It moves quick. The characters are somewhat interesting. People are slow to catch on and the zombies find easy victims. The survivors hole up in a secure facility and hope for rescue. The government finds out and wants to firebomb everything to 'cleanse' the outbreak.

It's just very typical and, after a bit, kinda boring because I couldn't shake the sense of 'been there, done that.' How many times have I read or seen this story line play out. Yes, there are unique twists. The author does a decent job of explaining the outbreak. (It's a parasitic infection or sorts). The zombified people are actually trapped in their bodies, conscious but unable to stop themselves as they rip apart their victims - whether they are strangers or family members. There is also a strangely conscious and in-control serial killer who is also completely insane and spreading the virus. However, even this is kind of meh. I found them kind of interesting and kind of 'so-what.'

Three brains out of five. If you really, really like your zombies, not a bad book. If you just want to read one really good zombie book try Rot & Ruin (by the same author) or The Girl with All the Gifts.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice zombie horror book. Fast paced and action packer. enjoyable read. Recommended

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

A serial killer is executed by lethal injection. But was the injection actually lethal? This is a zombie novel and contains all the things a successful zombie novel should; nasty zombies that not only bite but spew a maggot filled contagious substance; protagonists you respect and admire,and an IN YOUR FACE ending.
Can you imagine anything worse than a zombie whose conscious mind is still functioning but has no control? Totally aware of what he is doing and what has happened to him but unable to do anything to stop it? This book is that and much more.
What really makes the story successful in my opinion, is that these zombies start out as man made. As the story progresses you are left wondering who the monsters really are. Zombies or mankind?

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I interviewed Jonathan Maberry recently here. He talks about writing, favorite books, Bram Stoker Awards and Martial arts.

A military bio-weapon could be the most dangerous weapon to us all.
Maberry takes you back through the turning process to where it all started with the first host.
Homer Gibbon was the states most notorious serial killer others watched and saw him be killed via lethal injection or did they?
There is death and then life again well kind of, the undead shall walk upon the earth and Jonathan Maberry is you tale conjurer. His dialogue, and sequences of events are all written spot on and carve out a zombie dilemma of sorts a literal version of the Walking Dead right from the first infection. All that makes good reading is here likable characters, element of surprise and the bad guys.

“Homer Gibbon was a legend at Rockview. A convict’s convict. They called him the Angel of Death. Some of them had Gibbon’s face tattooed on their arms.”

“This is a serum transfer pathogen,” he said in a ghostly voice. “It lives in any body fluid. Blood and sputum would be rife with newly hatched larvae. The logic inherent in parasites would cause the host to transfer the larvae through the most efficient possible means. Spitting into the eyes, nose, or mouth of a target host would work well. The parasites would be absorbed through the mucus membranes. But the most efficient and direct way to guarantee infection would be to forcibly introduce the parasites directly into the bloodstream.”

A book trailer available to watch not for young viewers @here.

[Timothy Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan Maberry is a talented writer. In a genre full of similar stories with cliche descriptions, Dead of Night was refreshing and scary. The other book I've read of his, Patient Zero, had some of the best zombie action I've read. Where that book was more of a thriller with zombies, Dead of Night is a more traditional, zombie outbreak in a small town type of story, which is more to my preference. If you like that kind of book, I recommend reading Dead of Night.

Dead of Night is about a troubled female cop characterized by her curves and the attitude that makes them almost unappealing; her ex-boyfriend who is a journalist drawn to her town through an investigation into a recent execution; and the person who should have been executed but somehow managed to kill everyone in the morgue of his former hometown. Mr. Maberry does a little explaining about how the zombie virus was created and how it turned up in this small town. He also seems to have done his homework on how the police and military would respond.

The characters started out rough, but won me over in the end. The female cop, Dez, is introduced as she wakes up next to her one night stand and has to hurry to respond to a murder scene. Her attitude is not an endearing quality, and even though her father figure police officer superior gives us a hint of a possible redemption story, she doesn't start off as a character I'd enjoy rooting for as the lead of the story. We soon meet her ex-boyfriend and his journalist partner, Billy Trout and (Something) Goat, and I was really turned off by their sex-centered banter filtered into their investigation of the missing body of the executed prisoner. At this point, the story was decent and the writing above average, but I didn't think the overall experience was going to work for me because the only character I liked was the father figure, who was a minor character. The place where it turned around was when we heard the aunt of the executed prisoner describe how that poor child was treated in foster care and her regret for letting him out of her care. The other relationships became more endearing as the story progressed and the deaths made an emotional difference because of that.

The sequel is out and I am going to get to it soon.

This review was for the audiobook version. The narrator did a great job with characters and adding suspense and humor suitable to the context of the writing. I would seek out this narrator for other audiobooks. A free review copy was provided by Audible for an honest review.

[Jason Brown (Toastx2) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you put all cultural Zombie dogma together and made a box, we would all be mewling puppies inside said box with Maberry using a nail gun to give us breathing holes to avoid suffocation.

In the publication of ‘Dead of Night’, Jonathan Maberry succeeds again in providing a Zombie novel that is not crippled by generations of genre dogma. Others are also participating in the uncrippling of the genre, (D. Wellington, S.G. Browne, M. Brooks) helping drive a resurrection to a dying and over saturated plot crutch.

Quick Summary – A serial killer is put to death. The world breathes easier when they know he is gone, when witnesses have seen him pumped full of poison. They feel safer, with one less killer on death row. The citizens of Stebbins County find themselves feeling less than safe a day later though.

There are four main issues impairing their “feel good” feelings of goodness:

1- The poisons put into this killer were not what were approved by the State of Pennsylvania corrections.

2- His burial on prison grounds was bypassed by a previously unknown next of kin, meaning his body was moved to a local off site facility.

3- Homer Gibbons has gotten up off his slab and is walking around with his flesh decaying and an insatiable desire to stuff his face with anything that bleeds.

4- A massive storm cell is creeping to a halt over the area, winds are high, rain is heavy, and everyone is heading to emergency shelters, where they will be packed in like sardines till the weather crisis has passed.

Stebbins County Pennsylvania is thoroughly screwed.

Maberry, worked a number of atypical angles in his telling of the Stebbins County apocalypse. One example, the first character introduced is a recently bitten human, who’s consciousness is still active, even as his body is failing to respond to his commands. He can see, hear, smell, feel; He just cant stop the beast he is becoming. Maberry is not the first to write from the point of view of a Zombie, showing that intelligence exists, and how it is retained. But his choice of perspective and the details/history/science behind it was impeccable. This is no surprise as his novels typically have a load of solid “science” backing them. These are unfortunate folks locked in their own bodies as they do horrible things. Reading the zombie POV sections were particularly painful to this reader’s soul.

Dead of Night also failed to use the word zombie for nearly half the book. Characters such as Officer Dez Fox, her partner JT and others spend much of the book trying to figure out what the hell is happening. The novel itself follows a short time frame, as the infection spreads through a small community who never once think “zombies are real” because who in their right mind would jump to that conclusion in an emergency… This lack of the Zed word actually escalated the plot a fair amount. I found myself talking to the book, telling the characters that they were being stupid and to ‘smarten up, it is a goddamn zombie”. The characters never listened to me. They eventually figure it out themselves, but only after they follow a reasonable and realistic learning curve fraught with “this is just not possible” moments.

An excellent and gripping novel. Worth any cash you spend on it


--
xpost https://toastx2.blogspot.com/

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good - there were a couple of twists in the living dead storyline I hadn't seen before. This particular strain is caused by an engineered parasite. This also has at least two characters, while being under the pull of blood/flesh lust, have some of their faculties, being semi-sentient.

I sort-of like the character of Billy Trout, news agent, but patience ran thin over his adoration of jerk Dez, who has very few redeeming qualities.

The bad - I think this story could have been told in at least 100 fewer pages.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Otro apocalipsis zombi, o al menos su comienzo.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En el condado de Stebbins, Pensilvania, los policías Desdemona Dez Fox, una joven decidida pero que se está machacando la vida con sexo casual mientras consume demasiado alcohol debido a que su relación con Billy Trout, periodista local, no cuajó, y el sargento J. T. Hammond, un maduro profesional que cuida de Dez casi como si fuera su hija, acuden al aviso de un incidente en la funeraria local, donde parece que ha habido un baño de sangre y, además, alguna persona que debería estar muerta se resiste a estarlo. Y es que el doctor Herman Volker ha estado realizando unos trabajos experimentales, con cierta complacencia de la CIA pero sin conocer ni su verdadero alcance ni sus posibles complicaciones, en un condenado a muerte cuyo cuerpo, tras su ejecución, fue trasladado a la citada funeraria.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to go with 5 Stars on this one. A very fast paced read that had my stomach in knots. I loved the way the undead scenario started. A fantastic read. Highly recommend for undead\zombie fans~

[J.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary

Stebbins County in Pennsylvania is about to change from a small and quiet town to a zombie hot spot.
It all starts with a death row prisoner who is given something unusual during his lethal injection. The madness quickly gets out of hand as more and more people become infected.
Stebbins officers, Dez and JT, do their best to not only stay alive, but to protect other survivors as well.

Personal Opinion

This was my first Jonathan Maberry novel and it will not be my last!
Usually I don't get very emotional when it comes to books. Especially not zombie novels as death and dismemberment are a main part of the theme. The ending of this one was an exception that left me feeling sad about how things turned out.
Despite the varied POV throughout, the characters were easy to keep track of and relate to.
Dez was my favorite, even though she was an emotional mess. Her kick ass attitude was fun to read and under all her sass and anger, she had a good heart.
The zombie causing illness is explained in this one and is downright cringe worthy.
I can't wait to read the second book in the series and would definitely recommend to zombie lovers.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

**********THERE BE SPOILERS IN THEM THAR HILLS, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU*********************************************

I really, really enjoyed this book. I'm wrestling with giving it either 4 or 5 stars but I think it pushed itself over into a 5 star rating but not holding many punches.

I love zombies, movies and stories. Which kinda means I've oversaturated myself with them over the last couple years. I think I love zombies because the stories are usually more about the survivors fighting against a ruthless, inhuman fighting machine. This is one aspect where Dead of Night becomes more than just "good" to me. Maberry sets up an outbreak of a very believable virus (or maybe I just watched that History channel special one too many times and it feels real) that leaves victims conscious of their actions but unable to control the insatiable hunger that their bodies feel. Dr. Hartnup, a funeral director, in small-town Stebbins, PA gets bit when a deathrow inmate, Homer Gibbons, purposely infected with the virus, gets shipped to Hartnup's funeral home at the request of his last known relative. Police respond and havoc and infection spread from there. I appreciated the way Maberry goes back to Dr. Hartnup again and again so the reader gets the sense of the man he was and how turning into a monster is affecting him. It's a nice twist on the classic zombie and gives the story some melancholy. Frankly, Dr. Volker's original plan for the death row inmate makes me sad and outraged all in one. Volker's more evil than the zombies.
I find myself again appreciating the way Maberry writes flawed heroes. You want to root for everyone in spite of their imperfections. Dez Fox, who could've come out being the stereotypical,too strong for her own good kind of female character has some softness to her. So do the male characters. It's not a total testosterone fest like it is in so many apocalyptic/zombie novels. Maberry adds just enough details about guns and technology to make the story seem current, pretty plausible and give the characters some authority.
I found myself hoping that the end of this story was not just your typical "government swoops in and saves everything and there's hope to be had". That kind of ending would have spoiled whatever else made this story original. I'm glad the end doesn't play out that way. It feels more realistic, even if its harder to tell who the bad and the good guys are. Not quite a shocking ending but a satisfying one that brought a tear to my eye yet again (This will be the 4th book I've read by Maberry where I cried at the end. I'm starting to like that his books make me feel something, I just have to read them in private to avoid looking all mushy).

[Kaisersoze · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fourth audiobook was my favourite one yet, but still not as enjoyable as reading at my own pace. I would never have even listened to Dead of Night (and would have instead eventually read it as an ebook) were it not for the fact that I forgot to suspend my Australian audiobook account. $14.95 later, I figured I may as well pick something and go with it. Dead of Night was that choice, and for the most part, it was a good one.

Narrator William Dufris is expressive and engaging as he relates the horror of Maberry's homage to George Romero, which also serves as the adult-answer to his ROT & RUIN series. The novel itself is a fairly standard exploration of small-town America being menaced by zombies, but it does offer two distinct, somewhat inventive variations on this narrative. The first is the genesis of the infection that turns people into zombies, as it veers away from the "terrorist weapon" we've all read about a thousand times. The second is the way in which the infected people continue to inhabit their bodies after they die but have no control over themselves as they rend, tear and devour any living person they come across. Now that's horrific!

Maberry populates his small town with only a few major characters - the rest serving as obvious zombie fodder - and of these, the two mains, Desdemona Fox and Billy Trout, not only sport silly names but are less than likeable. Dez, in particular, grates as an overly simplistic cliche, who spends way too much time voicing her thoughts in the manner that only fictional characters seem to. Billy fares slightly better, but his storyline serves to uncover most of the exposition, so his scenes eventually become boring.

Still, Maberry conjures up a few memorable scenes of zombies plowing through the town's police force and then the town itself, before everyone gravitates toward a central location for the final showdown - complete with government forces who may not have the survivor's best interests at heart ...

Though far from a great zombie novel, Dead of Night is a better than average, gory take on the sub-genre. Fans of Maberry and the cannibalistic living dead are unlikely to be disappointed.

3.5 Fates Worse Than Death for Dead of Night.

[Darien · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED EVERY MINUTE!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. It's very readable; good characters, good narrative. Problem is that it's all been done before and any zombie fan won't find much of anything new here. Bar one thing, and that's what makes me give this three (and a half - I really, really wish we could give half stars because this book deserves this half one) stars instead of a lower rating. We actually get to see inside the minds of the dead, learn about the people trapped inside there, and that ratchets up the horror of the whole thing; it's a great idea that the author makes good use of. The dead become real people, victims who still haven't escaped the nightmare despite the seemingly worst already happening to them. In fact there's much worse to come for them. Yes, the survivors have a hellish time of it, struggling to stay alive, save their friends and neighbors, forced to kill them when they fail, but the true torment is what the victims themselves have to face afterwards. Now there is something that I both admire and cringe at.

Aside from that, it's a basic zombie book, nothing to add to the genre. Outbreak of plague, government conspiracy/coverup, badass survivors struggling to survive and foil the coverup, predictable ending. Although, to give it credit, for all the predictability of the ending, it did give me shivers. Nice use of brevity.

I also had an issue with the narrative itself. For the most part it sticks with one point of view at a time, but sometimes, for no apparent reason and with no warning, the point of view abruptly shifts. It's even done mid-paragraph at times and is wholly unnecessary. It's a bad distraction and also makes it confusing as to who's actually doing what.

Is it worth reading? Yeah, definitely, if you're a zombie fan. You won't feel like you've wasted your time; it's solid entertainment. Just don't look for anything groundbreaking/amazing and you won't be disappointed.

[Alondra Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Not too bad; but not nearly as good as the Rot and Ruin series or Joe Ledger series; but readable and entertaining. The 2nd half of the book made up for the first half irritating me.

Jonathan Maberry has become one of my favorite authors and still shines for me. He has set a standard for me on what to expect with a zombie story and this one just didn't do it for me... so it is his fault. Now on to some really great reading; book 3 in the R&R series, with Flesh and Bone. :D

[Jammin Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this zombie book! It's hard to make zombies something new, but I really liked how they were treated as "hollow" people, because nothing was left inside them. The heroes of the story also figured out that you had to give a kill shot to the head to stop the brain activity and kill them. But, no one would believe the cops that first saw them, and they were treated like criminals. And, the President of the United States orders a shoot on sight kill order for the federalized National Guard in Pennsylvania where the outbreak starts. But we know that's not the end...

[Jessi Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead of Night is a zombie story that takes place in rural Pennsylvania. The background to the story is a little different than your standard. A government scientist working at a prison hospital decides that the lethal injection is too good for a particularly bad serial killer, so he decides to inject him with genetically engineered parasites, which will keep his mind aware while his body rots in the coffin. Things start to go awry when instead of being buried in a government cemetery, an elderly aunt comes forward to claim the body. The body, newly infected with zombie parasites gets transported to a funeral home in Pennsylvania, and your standard zombie infection scenario ensues.
I liked a few things about this story. I felt like the back story was a twist on the plain old tired zombie virus story, which was nice. I think that adding the twist that the zombies are still inhabited by the consciousness of the person they used to be adds a level of creepiness, although it adds nothing to the overall plot. There was a lot of action, and most of it wasn't completely implausible, so that's a good thing. I even liked most of the characters, although I felt like the only thing Mayberry did to keep the character of Dez interesting was to make her female. If it was an obnoxious male cop who shoots everything and sleeps around, I'm not sure anyone would care.
The one thing that kept this book from a 5 star review was the cliches. (Oh...My...God, Maberry, lets use the phrase “damaged goods,” just one more time, it wasn't quite tired enough.) It also annoyed me a little bit that the characters didn't catch on to the zombie infestation sooner. The word “zombie” wasn't even used until the 80-90 pages range. Seriously? One character even suggested they might be vampires before anyone said the word zombie. The dead people are getting up and biting other people. Mayberry paints a disaster story in the times of YouTube, FB and Twitter, but the characters don't have the cultural reference to think that these dead things are zombies? It made me roll my eyes a few times.

Overall, a solid zombie book that's a lot of fun to read for those who enjoy the horror genre.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two things I enjoy, zombies and Jonathan Maberry. So naturally, I loved it. I loved that, yes it’s just another zombie story, but I enjoyed hearing from the “zombie” and the Dr. Just all of it was good.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Some good characters didn't really like dez the main character. Gibbon and Volker my favs as they were interesting. 4 star book.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:

4.5 Stars for Narration by William Dufris
3 Stars for Story/Progression

I went into the story with low expectations. Figured it'll be like a horror story with just enough to establish setting, characters & waves of action and that's what I got. Good entertainment.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This is how the world ends.
This is how the world ends.
This is how the world ends.
Not with a bang...but a bite.

Mr. Maberry has done it again. He’s made an awesome zombie novel that has sucked me in and had me begging for the sequel so that I could continue consuming the story. Alas, I’ll have to wait until September to see how this story ends (although since Maberry had stated that Fall of Night is the story of First Night (Rot & Ruin), I pretty much know that there’s no happy ending to be had).


Dead of Night follows Officers Dez Fox and JT and reporter Billy Trout through a horrific, roughly 24 hour period in a rural Pennsylvania county. You see, mass murderer Homer Gibbons had been put to death, and his only living relative, secretly requested that he be sent home for burial. Of course, the doctor administering his cocktail of death via IVs decided to play god, and we all know how well that turns out. So, does Homer Gibbons stay dead? Of course not, this is a freaking zombie novel, people! The bastard rises, and Stebbins County, Pennsylvania pays that ultimate price, with our MCs stuck right in the middle of it all.

Officer Dez Fox is a broken, damaged main character. She’s snarky and closed off, and she’s just not well liked, unless you’ve been able to get close to her. However, if you get too close to her, she’s going to fuck you over, as reporter Billy Trout knows only too well. And although she wasn’t likeable to the other characters in the novel, as the reader, I rooted for her. I loved her abrasiveness and her rough demeanor. I, however, didn’t really care for how she treated those that were considered her friends and close to her, especially in such a devastating situation.

Her partner JT, was the opposite of her. He was opened and a fatherly figure to her, and I loved him.

Billy Trout was a little bit of a blah at first for me. He felt weak, and I just wanted to smack the heck out of him in the beginning of the book. But, he really did a lot of good by the end of the book, and even though I still wasn’t a fan of the pining over Dez thing he did the entire novel, I just dismissed it as the bit of romance of the novel and moved on.


Now, what really irked me was the stupidity in this novel. Seriously, in this day and age, and this book was set in a present time, not unlike now, we have a zombie pop culture. And NO ONE, not one single person thought “hey, maybe these are zombies? I know it’s crazy, but these dead folk are getting up and eating people. I’ve seen Shaun of the Dead.”

Nope, they had no clue. Not when Dez is first attacked by the first dead person, not when they were checking vitals in the ambulance after one of the cops starts eating other cops’ faces, not when they’re at the hospital and that cop is still coding as DEAD. No, no one says zombie.

So word of advice: be the one to call zombie. Sure, it may make you look like a freak, but if anyone comes at me with their mouths opened and a moan, I’m bashing their skull in. I’ll beg forgiveness if they end up being jacked on some drug instead later. No way am I turning zom.


OH! I absolutely loved one part of Dead of Night in particular, and it was getting to see inside the zombies mind. I loved that. I thought it was clever, and wonderful, and fantastic. The main zombie who’s mind we see (aside from Gibbons, who’s not a mindless ghoul) is the mortician Lee Hartnup. He’s the first victim, but because he has knowledge of the human anatomy and death in general, it was just really awesome to witness these two sides of him. The scientist/doctor who knows he’s dead, and the brainless, useless body no longer taking commands from his brain. It was just always excellent to read, and it made me really feel sorry for the Doc by the end of the story. To read the torture he went through, begging his body to stop, but not being able to force it to stop, was just brilliantly done.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it would have easily been a 4.5/5 Star book for me had zombie pop culture played a role in someone understanding what was happening faster than Trout digging for a story, and if Dez had been a more likeable character.

If you like zombie novels, give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And, if you’re like me, and just a huge Maberry fan, this is a definite must read!

[Liz at Fictional Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, this is my first Jonathan Maberry book, and I am completely blown away. Dead of Night was flipping awesome. I'm glad I listened to Christy @ Christy's Love of Books and got on board with this series - now I just have to find time to read the rest of his books!



Dead of Night is gruesome and gut wrenching.... like seriously, I was reading this, and my innards threatened to become outards. It was fabulously disgusting! It's like Maberry gets zombie guts and puts them under a microscrope for you - repeatedly. Ewwwwww! Those bastards are horrifying!

Everything starts out in small town PA. But the infection spreads quick. At the center of it is an inmate who was sentenced to death, Homer. Seems the good doctor that was in charge of putting him down had some other ideas in mind. Well, those ideas spin beautifully out of control. It's like an infection tornado of monumental aspects.


"You think I'm crazy?"

"Of course you are. You're crazier than a barn owl on meth, and you damn well know it. Look at your lifestyle. There's nothing about your daily habits that doesn't speak of self-loathing. You drink too much. You'll screw anything with even a high school level pickup line and a tight ass. You're a bitch of legendary proportions..."

And who is just one of our heroes? Dez. Desdemona, actually. Tough as nails cop with a tough as nails exterior. This is a woman who is not quite dead on the inside, but she's not exactly living either. She's been hurt so many times, and she just never fought her way out of that. She just exists now, going through the motions. This zombie apocalypse though, it really changes her. Seeing people you know getting eaten alive can do that to ya, ya know.

There's a host of other fabulous characters. But I'm a romance fan, so I'll tell you there is a romantic interest for Dez, even if she hates his guts, and would likely stab him in the neck if given half a chance. But Billy, that's his name, he's not a bad guy. If anything, he's an awesome guy who is in love with a severely damaged woman. He's a man with strong character, and throughout this book he shows his awesomeness over and over.

This is an exciting book. A lot of it takes places in the dusk and ahem, well, the dead of night. It really lends an eerie factor that just gave me the creepy crawlies all over my skin. Something else you only get to see once in a while - inside the mind of a zombie. Oh yeah, it's a doozie. Add in some shady governmental practices (Damn the man!!) and you've got yourself one HELL of a ride. But it's the last couple pages that will really wind you up for the next book.

Yep. I'm a complete and instant fan, and I am thrilled I already have Fall of Night to start reading. Have you read Maberry before? I'm a bit late to the game, but you can bet your ass I'm catching up now!

[Karla Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

How would you like it if the world you know it ends with a bite and not a bang? For Officer Desdemona Fox, Officer JT Hammond, and Billy Trout the reporter this is how the world they knew it ended. It ended when a doctor decided to make a bioweapon that turned people into Zombies. A very infectious disease, it was spread through a bite or even one of these creatures spitting black blood at you that was full of parasites. The parasites are little white larvae that are born pregnant that keep the consciousness of their host intact, while the parasites have complete control over their body.
It all started in a prison with one prisoner who the doctor thought would be buried shortly after his execution. This prisoner’s name is Homer Gibbon. He was the worst type of serial killer and he was on death row. So, the doctor thought he would inject Homer Gibbon with parasites that would eat him alive while he had full consciousness and everybody else thought he was dead. Well Dr. Volker you were wrong, oh how very wrong you were. He did not know that Gibbon had family an Aunt Selma Conroy to be exact. She wanted his body buried on her farm instead of in the prison graveyard. Poor Doc Hartnup did not even see this one coming when he unzipped the body bag to start the process of fixing the body up for burial, needless to say there laid Gibbon hungry, infected, and very contagious.
In the end it was up to Officer Fox, Officer Hammond, Billy Trout to protect the children and adults locked in the Stebbins County Little School from the Zombies. They had to kill people they knew that had been turned into Zombies and protect the ones that had not been infected. Desdemona also known as Dez had to face some problems that stem back to her childhood. One main thing she had to face was her abandonment issues when she had to place a little blonde hair girl outside to be killed. She could not do but her partner took the little girl from her and told her to go back inside. Then when JT did not follow Dez to come back inside she got upset and started crying, and pleaded with JT not to leave her all alone.
This is an amazing fast paced book and deals with one major aspect of everyday life that the government fears most. This would be Bioweapon Warfare. I know that I do not have a clue as to what I would do, if this was to ever happen in real life. But I sure do hope that our government would make better decisions than the one in this book. Overall I think Jonathan Maberry did an excellent job in writing this book. I recommend this book to everybody. This book is an amazing read along with a must read for everybody else. I know that I really enjoyed this book and I am sure you will too.
I know I would rather have my world end with a BITE and not a BANG.

[Andrea Olson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have officially given up on reading zombie books. I just wanted one good one!! Instead, I got a mediocre one about a guy in Spain willing to sacrifice the world for his stupid cat, one that's a political thriller that only said it has zombies in it, and now this book.

I don't mind profanity in a book, if it serves a purpose, no other word could possibly describe the situation better, or if it is really how a character would express his/herself. However, when it moves from those uses to "Hey, look at how much I can swear per page (Gone Girl for example) it comes off as amateur and unprofessional while desperately saying "Look, I use adult words, my book must be sophisticated."

I heard raving reviews about Maberry, so I decided to give one a try. I went with the stand alone book so when I closed it, it would be done and I'd be happy. Wrong.
I can't recall a more irritating protagonist. "I'm a hotty with a body that swears like a sailor and am the self-destructive slut of city!"
When the the defining feature of your character is how proficient she is at swearing, that's just stupid. Maybe the story had promise, but I never got into it because I too distracted trying to figure out why Dez was screaming and berating people during every exchange. Why do I care about someone who comes off as intelligent and articulate as a drunk hippo?
Then insert love interest for the sake of there being a love interest, and BAM, now we're cheesy Hollywood territory.
JT should have put a bullet in her head or she should have been munched on by Russian zombie from the get go.
Maybe 5 years from now when my rage has subsided, I'll try Rot and Ruin. Since it's for kids, maybe it might actually be a book with a story instead of a primer for how to construct entire sentences using only the most five common curse words in English.

5 star reviewers, consider yourselves lucky. You got a book on zombies that you got to enjoy and put down with satisfaction. I envy you.

EDIT - October 2013: So my rage cooled far sooner than the 5 years that I estimated above. I still stand by my review; however, I did try Rot and Ruin and it was pretty good. It has some cheesy YA dialogue and lacking parts, but it was a zombie apocalypse story that delivered. Mayberry, you have not redeemed yourself entirely in my eyes, but I will at least recommend one of your books now for a "I need a zombie book!" fix.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead of Night takes place in a small Pennsylvania town that becomes infested with flesh eating zombies after a notorious serial killer, injected with a serum that would cause his conciousness to stay aware once he was buried, awakes in the local funeral home and starts feasting on the unsuspecting residents. The epidemic spreads quickly through the small town and soon even the police force have become one of the walking dead.



Over the course of Dead of Night we see the chaos through the eyes of numerous characters. I found this quite difficult to follow for the the first 50-80 pages, but once I had become used to Maberry's writing style and the "voices" of his characters I was able to read the remaining 300 pages without difficulty. I liked that we not only saw the action via the villains and heroes, but from the POV of one of the infected. It was interesting to experience the thought process of a character carrying the infection. To know a little awareness still remained made this novel all the more frightening.


With so many characters weighing in, you'd think character development would be lacking. This wasn't the case. I sympathized with those fighting for the greater good and despised the bad guys. You won't believe who ends up being the bad guys in this one! Officer Dez Fox is determined to save her little town. She is a character that comes into this madness all ready emotionally damaged. It seems characters that share this quality are always more willing to put their life on the line. I liked her though and her partner J.T.


I'd most definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a gruesome (emphasis on the gruesome) tale of zombies taking over the world one small town at a time. The ending of Dead of Night was wide open, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it turn into a series (and I definitely wouldn't complain).

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zombie books are one of my favourite genre. So when I got this novel I start planning to read it. Overall I am very satisfied with this experience.

Plus Sides
- Multi viewpoints. We've got Dez Fox, the she-devil police officer. Billy Trout a reporter with a old crush with Dez. Doc Hartnup, the first person bitten by (and) Homer Gibbon - the first zombie. We've got also some viewpoints from the president, military man and other one-chapter characters.
- Doc Hartnup - was the best innovation that this novel brought. A person bitten who remains sentient even if it lost all control of his actions. Truly a remarkable character who deserved more air time. I was truly glad of his ending
- The Army, president and such - they were portrait as almost soulless bastards which do anything to hide their mistakes. Even if the end they repent themselves.
- Zombie Infection - The author gives a detailed information about the plague was created and even hinted on historical and factual events. Quite good.
- Pace of the book - The writer wrote the book so we could read it in a couple of sips. Quick but informative at times.

Down Sides
- Character Behavior - The characters sometimes behave as you expected. Stereotypes everywhere. From the main characters to the army and such. JT death, boy saves girl, army behavior... Doc Hartnup was the truly inovation as I said before but, don't get me wrong. For people like me who wants to read about zombies and Romero films and such it is expected. That's a thing of this kind of novels.

Neutral
- Sequel? - The last chapter gives the writer opportunity to enter once again the town of Stebbins, Dez, Trout and Homer Gibbon.

Should I advice this book? Yes. To anyone who likes Zombies. A must have.