Several months have passed since the dead began to walk. The first winter has taken its toll in more ways than one as humanity continues to struggle to survive.
Not every threat to humanity comes form the undead as so many have discovered man's ability to sink into depravity with the absence of law and order. Time and again survivors have fought, run. and regrouped. Yet, there seems to be no respite, and as winter draws on...things become more and more difficult to endure. A new threat seems to materialize even before the last can be dealt with. And if the physical toll was not enough, the hours of isolation and the time left with one's thoughts can become just as destructive.
Tucked away in the Pacific Northwest with my wife Denise, a Border Collie named Aoife, a guitar collection, and an increasing number of aquariums sporting a variety of fish (cichlids are my new favorites), I live for football season when I can cheer on the Oregon Ducks and be disappointed by my Seattle Seahawks once again. I am a fan of Cookie Monster, KISS, and Dr. Who (along with most things British).
As a person who always dreamed of writing as well as one completely enthralled by all things zombie, it is hard to believe that I never once considered writing in the genre. It is true. I wanted to be more “mainstream”. The first novel I actually wrote is titled Dakota (as Todd Brown). It is about a pair of DEA types tossed back in time to just prior to the start of the Civil War. They are in Charleston, South Carolina, and one of them is an African-American.
The zombie thing really started when I wrote a short for a college Creative Writing class. The teacher, Ms. Bose, pulled me up and told me I had an obvious love for the subject and a real talent for the style. I decided to give it a shot.
The first thing I cobbled together was Zomblog. I wrote it as a warm up for the project I had brewing in the back of my mind. It is a journal account of the apocalypse. The funny thing is that it was never intended to be published. A few things happened and it ended up being presented to me as a gift in book format by my wife for a Christmas present. There was something I will never forget about holding the copy of that book in my hand the first time. Because it gained a readership, and those readers asked for more, I made it a trilogy (Zomblog, Zomblog II, and Zomblog: The Final Entry). It is also because of those fans that I have returned to the Zomblog universe and just released the sixth (and FINAL) book in the series on Halloween of 2013: Zomblog: Snoe's Journey. I freely admit that I will sellout my plans to write what the fans ask for.
I really want my DEAD series to be what I am known for, and in the last year, it has really taken off. However, I will say that with the release of the fourth book in the DEAD series (DEAD: Winter), the numbers started to pick up beyond my wildest dreams.
The DEAD series (DEAD: The Ugly Beginning, DEAD: Revelations, and DEAD: Fortunes & Failures, DEAD: Winter, DEAD: Siege & Survival, DEAD: Confrontation, DEAD: Reborn) is scheduled to be a 12 part epic series.
It is told in three rotating chapters. One is from the first person perspective of Steve Hobart, a man thrust into the role of leader for a group of survivors struggling to keep alive. One chapter follows a group of four self-professed zombie “geeks” who initially believe that the zombie apocalypse would be fun and soon discover that it is nothing like the movies. The third of the rotating chapters is called “Vignettes” and is a series of snapshots from all around the world. Some of the vignettes are single chapter episodes, others are continuing threads that carry on for several chapters. A few are merged into the Steve story or the Geek story line.
Last year,I began my horror/comedy series, "That Ghoul Ava" and have found it to be my new guilty pleasure.
REALLY?!? You broke my heart Lol. I actually was yelling at this book. I don't write summaries of books just what I think. Excellent addition to the series. Finally glad to see Aarehu get what was coming to him and Beers. Mr. Brown has quickly become one of my favorite writers and the group of characters in this series are great. I would like to see more of Juan and Mackenzie though. There's more to them I think. I Like the whole Emily zombie thing. I was sad when she died. Glad she was in it (in a way) and see a glimpse at the child zombie mystery. Loved it. Can't wait for the next one!
Better than the last book but still in the bad decision rut. Some of the side stories seem to get more silly, some more pointless and some running in circles (still). Worth reading? If you finished 5 then read 6. If you are reading all the reviews before you decide if you want to start the series...wait till you see my review on 7+.
In case you didn't read my review for #5 I'll repeat...
The Series started off being based on people making reasonable decisions based on the knowledge they have. So as the story progressed people learned more about the zombies and the other survivors leading to them making smarter and smarter decisions. Then it just went off the rails and everyone regressed...but in a way that felt false and forced with a sole intent of creating drama.
Will book 7 progress past this? I have no idea but I hope so.
T W Brown's Dead: Confrontation is the sixth book in a series about a zombie apocalypse and different perspectives of it. It continues in same style as the other books by giving the reader multiple perspectives of the going ons. These characters and all the stories have left a mark on me and I am so invested in seeing what happens to them all. These are better than watching the zombie apocalypse shows I could be bringing on right now. I'm not kidding about being addicted and cant wait to read next installment.
Narrator does a fantastic job bringing the story to life. Really brought the characters' personalities out. Love it!
I had to admit I wasn't expecting for Steve to die, and even less to feel like just another character's death. Nothing special. I haven't even realised that he was dead until Billy said it, imagining that he has fainted. Yes, it's part of the book being realistic, but also makes it hard to care for characters. Which isn't that bad either if a lot of things would happen, but this book continued to be as slow as the previous one.
Really hope that the pace will pick up again in the next book and that the zombies' "strange behaviour" makes things change a bit, as I started to feel like I should maybe abandon this series.
1/8/20: Steve???? Really????????? I've complained about him every book, but was NOT expecting this!!!!!!!!!
1/12/20: This book was ok. There wasn't much action going on this time around. Not a big fan of Billy replacing Steve as "narrator', but it's not a bad thing. I'm just not used to him. I'm glad that the new "Pharaoh" storyline went the way it did. He had delusions of grandeur, so it was time to write him out. I'm looking forward to what comes of Vics & Jemma, and their new companion Harold. They seem like a fun group. Overall a nice continuation of the series, and I will continue to the next book.
I absolutely love this series. And I could write the same review for each of them, they are that well-written. Trust me. Even if zombie lore isn't your thing, these novels will grab your imagination and won't let go. They are so much more than just zombie books.
TW Brown has a way of writing that pulls you in immediately. His scenes are rich and vivid. His characters are fully developed, including the secondary ones. By the time you reach the sixth book in this series, you feel like you know these characters as people. You like them, hate them, find them annoying - just like any real person.
Mr. Brown instills strengths, weaknesses, good and bad qualities into each one of his characters, just like a real person.
The pages of his books are filled with triumph, fear, love, and loss. And just like in the real world - no one is safe. Mr. Brown makes that clear in the beginning. You just never know what's going to happen.
When the world goes to heck, there are those that step up to become leaders and heroes who don't seem to fit the bill and there are those who have lived helpful lives who turn into sadistic monsters when the rules no longer apply.
Mr. Brown is an excellent student of human nature and puts it all into his writing.
And even through the twists and the turns and the "Oh my gosh - he did what to who???s" it would never occur to me to stop reading. I just have to know what's coming next. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I've shed a few tears along the way. But, I've also rejoiced at the victories. Looking forward to Book Seven.
Wow! This series keeps getting better. So, while brushing my teeth this morning and having those random thoughts as one does, I ponder on how to best describe how I liked this book. Yeah, there is character development and the plots and vingettes are great but I'm a simple man. I just want to be entertained on my long commute to and from work and I prefer to do it with zombie and science fiction audiobooks. So I will relate this. I'm listening to this book on my hour long commute to work in my car and I come to a point in the story that makes me full on say," What The F**K!, how could you do that!" There it is. An author has done his job when he makes you feel some type of way when a character is killed off. Yup, bad things happen to good people in the zombie apocalypse. Also, thanks for how Valerie was left, that was cool. Mr. Brown, you know how to spin a yarn.
Zombie books are all about survival, the best/worse of humanity and the fact that nobody is safe. Yet in most zombie books/ series that's not really true. Usually the main character (or group of main characters) makes it to the end. The best part of the DEAD series is that NOBODY and I mean NOBODY is safe. This series will rip your heart out, give you faith in the kindness of people, make you disgusted with people and keep you hooked until the very end. You will root for some and hope some get torn apart by a vicious horde of zombies. Unpredictable and awesome! Can't wait for the next book!
I'm really pleased with Mr Brown's take on the zombie apocalypse. Unique ideas, multiple perspectives, and the use of familiar themes play out extremely well. He is also not afraid to kill off main characters and introduce new ones. Dialogue is relatively smooth and overall believable.
It wasn't as bad as the last few books, but it was boring. It kept dragging and I'm tired of most of the useless side characters. Billy is okay, but Jake and Jon... nope. The only person I like from Kevin's group is Heather. Vix and the two teens are okay. The rest, including Juan, can go now.
4.9...I just can't give 5 stars considering who was taken away. I was left dumbfounded, like, noooo, it can't have ended already!!! I need more, more, more:0