El camino de los muertos

by Kevin Brooks

Cole y Ruben buscan vengar la muerte de su hermana Rachel, que fue violada y asesinada cuando visitaba a una amiga en un pueblo cercano. Mientras investigan la identidad del asesino, Ruben, a través de su habilidad para percibir lo que los otros sienten, descubrirá un secreto que atrapará a los hermanos en un mundo lleno de sombríos personajes, en el que los intereses y las intrigas los obligarán a defender ahora su propia vida.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Contemporary, Fantasy, Teen

267 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2006

About the author

Kevin Brooks was born in 1959 and grew up in Exeter, Devon, England. He studied Psychology and Philosophy at Birmingham, Aston University in 1980 and Cultural Studies in London in 1983. Kevin Brooks has been in a variety of jobs including: musician, gasoline station attendant, crematorium handyman, civil service clerk, hot dog vendor at the London Zoo, post office clerk, and railway ticket office clerk.

Kevin Brooks's writing career started with the publication of Martyn Pig in 2002 through The Chicken House which won the Branford Boase Award 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. He also wrote Lucas (2002) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2003 also winning the North East Book Award in 2004.

In 2004 he published Kissing the Rain and Bloodline and I See You, Baby and Candy in 2005. In 2006 he published 3 books including: Johnny Delgado Series - Like Father, Like Son and Private Detective as well as The Road of the Dead; a standalone novel. In February 2008 he published the standalone book Black Rabbit Summer.

As a child, Kevin Brooks enjoyed reading detective novels. He writes most plots of the various books he has written around crime fiction. He likes mystery and suspence and enjoys putting both of those components into each and every story he writes in some shape or form.

Reviews

[Scott Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and also dark and creepy. A very entertaining read and finally I have found a y/a writer that I really enjoy. There are plenty that I like, but Brooks definitely writes with a confidence that I haven't seen from a lot of Y/A writers. The writing is strong and he doesn't "dumb-it-down" like a lot of y/a writers seem to do. He packs a punch. I've noticed that some Goodreads readers said there was a lack of character development. I completely disagree. I thought Cole and Rueben were fully developed, along with plenty of interesting side characters. It just proves my point that no writer can please everybody.

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly competent and well-written Young Adult read. A Dartmoor based thriller sees a half-Traveller woman raped and murdered; and this terrible crime investigated by her two brothers going over her final steps. 6 out of 12

[Lisa - BookSirens ARC Queen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intense, thrilling, and dark YA thriller, The Road of the Dead, was riveting. It, at times, reminded me of Sadie, but this one is on a whole different level. There’s also a supernatural element that gives the book more depth. Very well written by Kevin Brooks, the book is a fast read, and the author kept me hooked from start to the end.

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

De ongelezen boeken in de kast lezen #2
Dit is een YA thriller. Er zitten wat (onverwachte) bovennatuurlijke stukken in het boek, waar de omslag van het boek niets over had laten blijken. Dat, samen met de zigeuner herkomst van de familie, zou ik graag wat meer uitgewerkt zien in de ontwikkeling van het hoofdpersonage. Ik denk dat als ik hem gelezen had toen ik hem gekocht had, zo'n tien jaar geleden, ik het heel interessant en spannend had gevonden. Mijn beoordeling komt dus ook voort uit de gedachte van young-adult-Anniek.

[Morgan F · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruben knew exactly when it happened. He was sitting in the backseat of an old Mercedes in his family's salvage yard when the feeling came over him. Ruben often left his own body and could attach himself to others. He could sense their thoughts and emotions. This is what happened when he felt his sister, Rachel, get attacked and murdered. He knew exactly the moment Rachel's life was taken from her.




Even though he knew it had happened and knew the Dead Man killed her, Ruben didn't say anything to his family. He hoped he might be wrong. He realized he wasn't when the police contacted the family. The details were simple, Rachel, nineteen-years-old, was visiting an old school friend in the small village of Lychcombe on Dartmoor. After her visit was over, she left and made her way toward London to return home, but never made it. Her body was found the following morning strangled, raped, and battered.




The most important thing to the family was to get her back. They wanted to bury her and put her to rest. After a trip to the police station to find out how long her body would be held, the family found out that the police would keep her until the case was closed; meaning the murderer had to be caught. The problem with that was, Ruben knew the murderer was already dead and buried and the case wouldn't be solved anytime soon.




Ruben's older brother, Cole, wasn't going to sit around and wait. He planned to go to the village to find out what happened himself and he planned to go alone. He didn't want his younger brother going along to worry about. Ruben knew what Cole was thinking though and his mother wanted him going along to make sure Cole didn't get himself hurt. Cole's temper tended to get him in trouble. He took after his gypsy, bare-knuckle fighter father who was sentenced to a prison term for killing someone.




Even though their mother was worried about Ruben and Cole going away to look into the murder, no one could foresee the trouble in store for them once they started digging into Rachel's murder. As soon as they arrived in the village they knew they weren't welcome. Secrets were everywhere and didn't want to be dug up. Secrets that involved the entire village. Secrets that would lead them to pain, torture, death, and eventually the truth.




Kevin Brooks doesn't let us down. He has provides another heart-pounding, deeply emotional story with strong characters. THE ROAD OF THE DEAD is a great place to start if you haven't read any other books by this creative and unique author.

[Justin bellendir]

What i learned from my book is that in life thier is also death and in strange times death can and will occure. It showed me how it can be when you lose a loved one and how you have to deal with it in certain ways like trying to think of all the good times with you had with that love one that you just lost. this book showed me the point of view of a teenage boy that had to coup with the loss of of his older sister and how he had to figure out who was the one who did it. I think this book is overall good and its a very good read from the first page of the book you get into it because the first page gets right to the point of what happened. I think ages from teenagers and up should read this book it is very depressing and also a mystery.

[Jelena · Rating 1 out of 5]

From the very beginning I knew that I would hate this book. The writing style as well as the whole story were just disgusting. While reading I considered giving it 2 stars because I had one “okay” minute. But since I rated other books with one star that were a lot better than this one I just had to rate it with one as well.

[Samir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading mystery books and this book is a really good mystery book that I read.
It is called The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks.
It is about a boy named Ruben who senses his sister death from the first page and his brother Cole and him search for their sisters killer. The book has you drawn in on every page and you don’t want to put it down. Kevin brooks surprised me with his writing of keeping me drawn in the book and putting that mystery sense in my mind. I liked that strategy that he used and I never see that in a lot of books. That is what I liked about the book, but what really struck me was the idea of the book. How do you sense death? I didn’t’ understand that. His ideas are really complex. The other thing that I liked a lot was the story started right away, I did not have to wait for an event to happen. The story was fast, quick and action packed and those are the types of books I like. I recommend this book to people who love mystery books with an interesting twist at the end.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah it was good

[Sian Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

as gripping, thought-provoking and emotion evoking as Kevin Brook's work is as a rule. It has his distinctive writing style, dealing with themes of human nature and connection but this time with an almost paranormal twist. It was very dark and gruesome in places. I would recommend Sadie to anyone who enjoyed this thrilling book.

[Alisha Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, many different things happen. People go missing, people die, and people get beat up. This book will keep you on your toes, about who kills who and who you should trust and who you shouldn't. Rachel is Ruben and Cole's sister, she goes missing and a few days after she goes missing Ruben and Cole go looking for her. While ruben and cole are looking for Rachel they get into some trouble.

I personally loved this book, the story kept me on my toes, kept my mind busy trying to put it all together and figure out what happened before the book actually told me. I believe my favorite character was Cole because he never gave up on trying to find out what happened to Rachel and he would do anything to get some of the story out of people. The characters felt real to me, because I felt the pain and wonder that they were going through with everything that was happening. This story kept me guessing the whole way through it. My favorite part was when they finally figured out what happened to Rachel and who was involved.

I think that the type of reader to read this book who have to be someone who likes mysterious book, and books that keep you guessing and thinking.

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up off the shelf in the library, where it was sitting next to a book that kept me up nights for a week (Life as We Knew It by Sarah Beth Pfeffer). I should have known then. This book in very well written and the story jumps off the page. But it is fundamentally about vigilante justice with no real consequences (other than being severely beaten up). While no one dies (at least not on the page), no one exactly survives either. By the end of the book, it felt like a lot of destruction just barely contained within the narrative framework. The story is hard and wrenching, but it felt like it was swimming in dangerous waters. I liked it a lot, but I won't recommend it to anyone.

[Rachel Ruisch · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book has good concepts, in my opinion it was poorly written. Two brothers, Ruben and Cole, go to search for the killer of their sister, Rachel. They meet some gypsies and thugs in the town during their search. Over the course of the book, Ruben can “feel” what others are thinking. This aspect took all of the mystery out of the book. When I read a murder mystery, I do not want to know what other characters are thinking. The fun part about it is figuring out when a character is lying or who the killer is. The book feels like there is no climax that the whole story leads up to. I usually love any murder mystery that I read, but this one left me wanting more mystery. The whole book felt forced in my opinion.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about the third or fourth Kevin Brooks book that I have read. They are all so delightfully creepy but this one left me sort of cold. I like the book less and less as it went on. The brother's arrival in the village, and the dark, desolate moors and the unwelcoming townsfolk and the whole gypsy thing made it very eerie, but it the end, the book just sort of descended into violence and bloodshed, and there were so many evil henchmen that I could not keep them straight. I was getting tired of descriptions of endless beatings, and a day after I finished it, I can't actually tell you why Rachel was murdered. But I'll read more of his stuff.

[Christina Getrost · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care much for this book; even after sticking with it through the very slow dark and broody beginning to where it gets suddenly very violent and action-packed (but still dark and broody!), I still just didn't like it. The mystical aspect of Ruben's trances/visions/whatever-they-were didn't seem to be consistent to me, especially when they became more like an out-of-body experience. There were aspects of the mystery that were solved suddenly with no real explanation, and although I thought I would enjoy the setting (English moors), it ended up just way too depressing and stark. Not my cup of tea.

[Miglė · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was quite boring. I have read it a long time ago, but decided to re-read, because I have completely forgot what it was about. I gave up about 90 pages or so, as it completely failed to interest me. And I kind of remember not liking it the first time I readed. This book just really doesn't match my taste. Quite sad, because I just LOVED another book of this author. It's one of my all times favourites, called Black Rabbit Summer.

[Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

After i read being i had to find more books by the author and i ran into this book Love Love Loved It. I finished reading this book in a day also and gave it 5 stars.

[Vicky Lelove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to read this.. Loved the story line not so much the ending and being in Ruben's head.

[Gintė Stepanavičiūtė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esu skaičiusi beveik visas šio autoriaus knygas ir visos pasirodė labai stiprios bei vertingos. Šioje knygoje aprašoma jaunų žmonių esybės drama netekus jiems mylimo bei brangaus žmogaus. Autorius kaip visada savo lyrinį subjektą parodo iš blogosios žmogiškosios pusės. Visame kūrinyje jaučiama nostalgija,Rubenas vis bando susitapatinti su mirusia seserimi, jis įsivaizduoja lyg kalbėtų su ja, lyg vis būtų. Knyga išties įdomi ir nebloga, tačiau asmeniškai man labai keistai atrodė tas beribis smurtas, atsivželgiant,kad tai paauglių knyga, taip pat nelabai man patiko, kad Rubenas pavaizduotas lyg koks antgamtinių galių turintis veikėjas :? Trumpai tariant, viena iš silpnesnių Kevin Brooks knygų, 3/5.

[Greta Rase · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5
¿Qué tiene este libro para dar? Tenemos a dos hermanos mitad gitanos intentando vengar la muerte y asalto de su hermana. Un pueblo con un secreto. El camino de los muertos, y bastante misticismo. En esta historia Ruben, un niño de catorce años con don extraño que le permite sentir de más, se dirige junto a Cal, su hermano mayor al pueblo donde violentaron a su hermana y la mataron. Ambos Estan decididos a encontrar al culpable para que Rachel pueda ser enterrada. En general me gusta mucho el área mística que aparece: tanto con Rub por su don como por la ubicación con el camino de los muertos (que es un tema que he leido con anterioridad). Tambien me ha parecido interesante ver cierta crítica de trasfondo a la exclusión y discriminación que sufren los hungaros. En general lo recomiendo si quieren un thriller sencillo y facil de seguir.

[Jurgita · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

after I started reading this book I realized I had read it before, But I like Kevin Brooks' books so I went ahead and finished it. It has alot of violence but not really graphic. The story of the brothers relationship is what is good.

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia comienza una noche de tormenta cuando nuestro protagonista Rubén se encuentra adentro de un coche contemplando la lluvia, cuando algo extraño le pasa ya que él puede sentir cosas de la gente que le rodea tales como sentimientos, pensamientos y sensaciones, él y su hermana eran muy unidos gracias a esto estaba más “conectado” con ella y pudo sentir lo que le pasó en la noche de su asesinato.
Cole su hermano mayor no está satisfecho con el trabajo de la policía, ya que hasta que no encuentren al responsable del asesinato y no cierren las investigaciones, no podrán entregar el cuerpo de su hermana, y todo lo que quiere su madre es simplemente darle un entierro como se merece, pues ya está muerta lo demás no importa…
Es cuando acompañamos a estos dos hermanos al pueblo en donde ocurrieron los hechos, un pueblo pequeño alejado de la ciudad, donde todo es tranquilo pero nada es lo que parece, y Rubén lo sabe puede sentirlo, hay algo extraño pasando en este pueblo. Cole está decidido a investigar qué fue lo que realmente paso con su hermana, pero podrán contra lo que esconde el pueblo, ¿en quiénes podrán confiar aparte de ellos dos?
Un libro que me gustó y disfruté, no se dejen llevar por el nombre ya que no hay zombies, ni nada paranormal, lo único es el “sexto sentido” de Rob, nuestro protagonista, la historia está contada desde su punto de vista, con apenas 14 años decide acompañar a su hermano en éste viaje, puesto que este siempre se mete en más problemas de los necesarios. El autor logra meterte en la historia, con un principio algo lento, pues me tomo tiempo familiarizar con los personajes pero después de los capítulos se puede sentir la desesperación de los protagonistas y la angustia que siente Rob y su hermano, también es algo violento o crudo pero ésta es una de las características de este autor. Un libro en el que los intereses, intrigas y personajes con doble moralidad llevaran a estos hermanos a defender hasta su propia vida.

[sadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am extremely biased but that’s ok. i first read this book when i was 11 or 13 (i cannot remember) and it completely changed my life. kevin brooks was suddenly my favourite author and i was reading every single book he had ever put out and i’ll be so honest and admit that those were genuinely the best years of my life. back then, this was a book i knew i’d come back to in ten years and so here we are, ten (or eight?) years later. but let me just preface this by saying this book only comes second hand and in a condition similar to that of samuel pepys’ diary (buried in dirt, survived a fire, etc.) (kevin brooks please get this book reprinted) but i decided to read it anyway. it’s not a book you read at the age of 21 and decide is the pinnacle of literature, but it is one you read at age 11 and think wow cole ford is so cool i wish i knew him in real life. (it’s nice to know cole is still very cool ten years later. some things never change). i guess the edge of your seat moments hit a little harder when you’re a kid, or maybe it’s just my subconscious still remembering everything that happens even though it’s been ten years and i have the memory of a goldfish. i don’t know, but i still think it’s a good book that will live with me forever, both because it reminds me of better times and because it somehow completely altered my brain chemistry. literally. i react like a sleeper agent whenever i hear cole’s name i’m not even kidding. all in all, this is still a good read, and even though i’ve just finished the book minutes before writing this, i’m already excited to revisit it in another decade. (we love you cole ford) (kevin brooks please please PLEASE get this book reprinted).

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Road of the Dead is a dark and creepy portrait of vigilante justice gone bad. Ruben, 14, and his brother, Cole, 17 leave their home in London to search for their sister's rapist and murderer. Rachel,19 went to visit friend from school, but never came back. Abbie (Rachel's friend) and her husband, Vince know something but aren't saying too much.

Cole and Ruben find a town with greed, treachery, and malice on their minds. Their sister was an innocent casualty of one man's quest for power and money. Cole and Ruben enlist the help of travelers Jess and Uncle to avenge Rachel's death. They themselves travel down a bloody and violent road to get there. But, all they want is to bring their sister's body back to London...back to their mother's home where they can properly bury her. Her body and her murderer's body will tell too many clues about who is really responsible, and those people stop at nothing to prevent that from happening.

A chilling, bloody story of revenge at any cost.

[Lasar]

Ok, so I don't usually give below 3 stars, but I feel like I had to for this book. Don't get me wrong, the story plot was interesting, and the characters were fine, but I just didn't enjoy this book, as much as I wanted to. Everything was so repetitive. The same thing happened over and over again. The book's genre was mystery, and I really enjoy reading those types of books! When I choose a book, and I don't like it from the first page, I still carry on. I hate not finishing books. So I pushed myself to read the entire thing. The start was very slow. I read like 20 pages a day. I finish books in about 1-2 days. This one took me an astonishing 2 WEEKS! The only reason why I read 250 pages yesterday, was because I had to give it back to my school library (I take all of my books from the library). I didn't enjoy reading it. There were some parts that occasionally made me smile, but that happened rarely. I thought it would be a great book, judging from the title, but It wasn't. I'm not hating the book. This is just my honest opinion. Some people liked it; good for them.

~Maria

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another fantastic read by Brooks. Never one to shy away from gritty and hard-hitting storylines (this one concerning rape, murder and gang fighting), Brooks has managed to create a novel that is disturbing in parts but one that is impossible to put down.

As with other novels by Brooks, he creates characters that are far from perfect, in fact, some of them are simply awful, but he always describes them with such affection that the reader can’t help but empathise with them.

This is not an easy read by far, it’s violent and dark so wouldn’t recommend to anyone with a weak stomach, or to those who are easily offended by strong language. For me, this is the direction the YA/teenage fiction genre should be moving towards.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia oscura que me parece muy bien escrita, la escritura es fuerte y te mantiene entretenido en la historia. Los personajes están muy bien descritos que te hace sentir que estas ahí con ellos. Siento que puedes aprender varias cosas de la historia, como puedes perder a alguien y las diferentes formas con las que las personas lidian con eso. La historia te mantiene junto con los personajes intentando resolver todo. Es un buen libro si te gusta el misterio.

"Nunca te sientas culpable por nada, la vergüenza y la culpa son una pérdida de tiempo, solo haz lo que haces y lidia con eso."

[Delaney Cullinane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about two brothers who are determined to find out how their sister was murdered. They travel to England, and encounter many different people and circumstances that help to lead them to uncover the murder of their sister. I really enjoyed this book because it was mysterious, and always kept me wanting to read more. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes murder or mystery books.