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The Last Sanctuary of the Living: Book One: The Deal Zombie Chronicles
When the world drowned in blood and silence, the coast became a fortress.
Sydney Carter never asked to lead. But in the shattered remnants of Deal and Walmer, leadership is the difference between hope and extinction. As the undead choke the countryside and new human predators rise from the ruins, Sydney must rally survivors who’ve already lost everything — and face the ruthless tyrant holding Dover Castle.
From the salt-bitten cliffs to tunnels soaked in ash and gunfire, The Last Sanctuary of the Living follows the fight to reclaim a fragment of humanity in a world gone feral. Bonds will break, kingdoms will burn, and the living will prove every bit as dangerous as the dead.
Gritty, visceral, and deeply human, this is the first chapter of The Deal Zombie Chronicles — where survival isn’t victory, it’s the beginning of the reckoning.
Sydney Carter never asked to lead. But in the shattered remnants of Deal and Walmer, leadership is the difference between hope and extinction. As the undead choke the countryside and new human predators rise from the ruins, Sydney must rally survivors who’ve already lost everything — and face the ruthless tyrant holding Dover Castle.
From the salt-bitten cliffs to tunnels soaked in ash and gunfire, The Last Sanctuary of the Living follows the fight to reclaim a fragment of humanity in a world gone feral. Bonds will break, kingdoms will burn, and the living will prove every bit as dangerous as the dead.
Gritty, visceral, and deeply human, this is the first chapter of The Deal Zombie Chronicles — where survival isn’t victory, it’s the beginning of the reckoning.
431 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 6, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 12, 2026
I loved it! who doesn't love a good zombie movie ....I mean book..it's a change for once, it's been a very long time since I have read anything like this. I am sooo loving this and I NEED BOOK TWO, I need to see what happens next and I really hope it continues after two books cause it's such a good page turner. light some candles turn off the lights and get comfy on the couch with a warm blanket and open the first page...I dare you!!!!
January 11, 2026
⚫️The Last Sanctuary of the Living: Book One The Deal Zombie Chronicles by Stuart Smith is a captivating and atmospheric dive into the zombie-apocalypse genre, one that emphasizes humanity, leadership, and the moral dilemmas that come with survival, just as much as the bloodshed.
⚫️Set against the haunting coastal scenery of Deal and Walmer, the novel quickly sets itself apart through its vivid setting. The rugged cliffs, abandoned towns, and smoke-filled tunnels aren’t just there for show; they play a crucial role in building the story’s tension and mood. Smith crafts a world that feels authentic and eerily believable, anchoring the chaos of the undead outbreak in a stark reality.
⚫️At the center of the story is Sydney Carter, a reluctant yet fascinating leader. Her journey isn’t about being a flawless hero; it’s about perseverance, uncertainty, and the weight of responsibility. Watching her gather a group of broken survivors each with their own heartaches adds a layer of emotional depth that lifts the novel above typical zombie tales. The danger isn’t just from the undead; the rise of human predators and the menacing figure of a tyrant holed up in Dover Castle drive home the book’s core message: power, fear, and cruelty don’t disappear when society crumbles.
⚫️What truly stands out is the novel’s ability to balance intense action with psychological insight. The battles are raw and gripping, but it’s the quieter moments fractured alliances, flickers of hope, and tough choices that resonate the most. Smith captures the essence that in a world turned upside down, survival isn’t a victory; it’s a heavy burden, and that understanding gives the story its haunting impact.
⚫️Gritty, immersive, and profoundly human, The Last Sanctuary of the Living is a compelling start to The Deal Zombie Chronicles. It will satisfy die-hard fans of zombie fiction while also drawing in readers who appreciate character-driven narratives and morally intricate worlds. This isn’t just a story about the end of humanity
it’s a poignant exploration of what it truly means to survive.
Happy reading ❤️✨
December 20, 2025
The Last Sanctuary was a great escape. A government program, with a noble goal, decides to play god with nature before unleashing horror on humanity on an unimaginable scale. The prologue's setting sets the tone for the book. The descriptive writing is well done. A pharmaceutical company with endless underground floors sets a chilling backdrop for what is to come.
It is a page-turner, so be careful about starting this too late at night. The main character, Sydney, must lead the survivors of the nightmare to fight the undead. Sydney is the reluctant person who is forced to lead because of his humanity. His reactions during the horror were not clichéd but were realistic, panicked ones, which felt real.
I mentioned it was a page-turner, but hear me, this is deliciously tense. Smith doesn’t waste a word. Every sentence matters and drives the story forward.
It’s a great start to a series. I fluctuate between the romance and horror genres, and this book is why I love horror. It is character-driven and not just zombie gore or tropes. But, be warned, it is brutal. The realism was the sort that is getting harder to find as authors try to rein in freedom of expression to pacify sensitive readers. Smith does not hold back, and the reader is rewarded for it. I’m looking forward to the next book. A great read! It leaves the reader wanting the next book. “To quote Smith’s main character, “Stay alive. Just stay alive.”
It is a page-turner, so be careful about starting this too late at night. The main character, Sydney, must lead the survivors of the nightmare to fight the undead. Sydney is the reluctant person who is forced to lead because of his humanity. His reactions during the horror were not clichéd but were realistic, panicked ones, which felt real.
I mentioned it was a page-turner, but hear me, this is deliciously tense. Smith doesn’t waste a word. Every sentence matters and drives the story forward.
It’s a great start to a series. I fluctuate between the romance and horror genres, and this book is why I love horror. It is character-driven and not just zombie gore or tropes. But, be warned, it is brutal. The realism was the sort that is getting harder to find as authors try to rein in freedom of expression to pacify sensitive readers. Smith does not hold back, and the reader is rewarded for it. I’m looking forward to the next book. A great read! It leaves the reader wanting the next book. “To quote Smith’s main character, “Stay alive. Just stay alive.”
January 5, 2026
The Last Sanctuary of the Living: Book One – The Deal Zombie Chronicles by Stuart Smith
Rating:5/5
Review:
👉The Last Sanctuary of the Living plunges readers into a world where civilization has already collapsed and left nothing but fear, violence, and uneasy alliances in its wake. Stuart Smith’s depiction of the English coastline as a final refuge is both striking and unsettling, transforming familiar seaside towns into grim strongholds clinging to survival. The atmosphere is heavy with dread, and the sense of isolation created by the sea reinforces the idea that there is no escape, only endurance. From the opening pages, the novel establishes a harsh tone that never softens, drawing readers into a landscape where hope feels fragile and temporary.
👉Sydney Carter stands out as a compelling and believable protagonist, not because of exceptional strength or heroism, but because of quiet resilience. Leadership is thrust upon Sydney in a world where hesitation can be fatal, and Smith carefully explores the emotional burden that comes with making choices that determine who lives and who dies. The survivors gathered around Sydney are deeply scarred by loss, and their mistrust of one another adds constant tension to every decision. This focus on flawed, grieving individuals gives the story an emotional realism that makes their struggles feel painfully authentic.
👉The undead threat is relentless and unforgiving, yet it is the human antagonists that truly elevate the novel’s intensity. The tyrant controlling Dover Castle represents the darkest side of survival, where power is maintained through fear rather than unity. Smith highlights how quickly morality erodes when laws vanish, showing that human cruelty can rival, and even surpass, the horror of the undead. These conflicts blur the line between monster and survivor, reinforcing the novel’s central theme that humanity itself is on trial.
👉Smith’s writing style is raw and immersive, filled with vivid sensory details that bring each scene to life.
Happy reading 😁
Rating:5/5
Review:
👉The Last Sanctuary of the Living plunges readers into a world where civilization has already collapsed and left nothing but fear, violence, and uneasy alliances in its wake. Stuart Smith’s depiction of the English coastline as a final refuge is both striking and unsettling, transforming familiar seaside towns into grim strongholds clinging to survival. The atmosphere is heavy with dread, and the sense of isolation created by the sea reinforces the idea that there is no escape, only endurance. From the opening pages, the novel establishes a harsh tone that never softens, drawing readers into a landscape where hope feels fragile and temporary.
👉Sydney Carter stands out as a compelling and believable protagonist, not because of exceptional strength or heroism, but because of quiet resilience. Leadership is thrust upon Sydney in a world where hesitation can be fatal, and Smith carefully explores the emotional burden that comes with making choices that determine who lives and who dies. The survivors gathered around Sydney are deeply scarred by loss, and their mistrust of one another adds constant tension to every decision. This focus on flawed, grieving individuals gives the story an emotional realism that makes their struggles feel painfully authentic.
👉The undead threat is relentless and unforgiving, yet it is the human antagonists that truly elevate the novel’s intensity. The tyrant controlling Dover Castle represents the darkest side of survival, where power is maintained through fear rather than unity. Smith highlights how quickly morality erodes when laws vanish, showing that human cruelty can rival, and even surpass, the horror of the undead. These conflicts blur the line between monster and survivor, reinforcing the novel’s central theme that humanity itself is on trial.
👉Smith’s writing style is raw and immersive, filled with vivid sensory details that bring each scene to life.
Happy reading 😁
March 11, 2026
Book Review: The Last Sanctuary of the Living by Stuart Smith
🧟♂️
Stuart Smith’s "The Last Sanctuary of the Living: Book One – The Deal Zombie Chronicles" is filled with suspense and courage. It takes place along the rocky South East coast of England at places such as Deal, Walmer and Dover Castle, all of which have now turned into places of horror and contest for survival.
🧟♂️
The heart of the novel is Sydney Carter, who becomes a reluctant leader, even though he never wanted to be one in the first place. But with the world already overrun by zombies and being overrun by vicious survivors, there is little choice left for Sydney and others as to whether or not they will lead a group of people through this chaos. Sydney's journey is believable because it has the feeling of realism; with his doubts, his responsibilities and the never-ending burden of making life or death decisions constantly being in the forefront of his mind.
🧟♂️
Smith creates an atmosphere that can only be described as both cinematic and disturbing. The desolate roads, cliff tops battered with wind and echoing tunnels provide an extraordinary backdrop for the battle to survive. The zombies themselves are horrifying, most notably due to their hive-mind tendencies, which only create an extremely unpredictable and dangerous outcome.
🧟♂️
What also sets this novel apart from many other zombie novels is the focus on humanity vs zombies. The survivors form tenuous alliances with each other, contending not only with the zombies, but with human ambition and the will to power. The book is filled with great energy, and includes well-conceived (from the world building perspective) and emotionally believable characters. The combination of all of these things results in an exciting start to a series that will surely be an epic adventure.
🧟♂️
🧟♂️
Stuart Smith’s "The Last Sanctuary of the Living: Book One – The Deal Zombie Chronicles" is filled with suspense and courage. It takes place along the rocky South East coast of England at places such as Deal, Walmer and Dover Castle, all of which have now turned into places of horror and contest for survival.
🧟♂️
The heart of the novel is Sydney Carter, who becomes a reluctant leader, even though he never wanted to be one in the first place. But with the world already overrun by zombies and being overrun by vicious survivors, there is little choice left for Sydney and others as to whether or not they will lead a group of people through this chaos. Sydney's journey is believable because it has the feeling of realism; with his doubts, his responsibilities and the never-ending burden of making life or death decisions constantly being in the forefront of his mind.
🧟♂️
Smith creates an atmosphere that can only be described as both cinematic and disturbing. The desolate roads, cliff tops battered with wind and echoing tunnels provide an extraordinary backdrop for the battle to survive. The zombies themselves are horrifying, most notably due to their hive-mind tendencies, which only create an extremely unpredictable and dangerous outcome.
🧟♂️
What also sets this novel apart from many other zombie novels is the focus on humanity vs zombies. The survivors form tenuous alliances with each other, contending not only with the zombies, but with human ambition and the will to power. The book is filled with great energy, and includes well-conceived (from the world building perspective) and emotionally believable characters. The combination of all of these things results in an exciting start to a series that will surely be an epic adventure.
🧟♂️
February 2, 2026
I picked up The Last Sanctuary of the Living expecting a familiar zombie setup, but what pulled me in was how grounded it felt. This isn’t just about the undead. It’s about people under pressure, making bad calls, decent calls, and sometimes the only call left.
Sydney Carter works because he doesn’t feel like a hero dropped in for effect. He feels like someone who stepped forward because nobody else could. That reluctant leadership, mixed with a very real sense of fear and exhaustion, gives the story weight, and from my own books it felt familiar. The setting along the English coast adds grit and atmosphere without feeling gimmicky, and the action never overstays its welcome.
What stuck with me most was how uncomfortable the book is willing to be. The violence is blunt, the choices are ugly, and survival never feels clean or triumphant. It’s fast, tense, and surprisingly human. I finished it already wanting to see how much worse things can get, which feels exactly right for the start of a series like this.
Sydney Carter works because he doesn’t feel like a hero dropped in for effect. He feels like someone who stepped forward because nobody else could. That reluctant leadership, mixed with a very real sense of fear and exhaustion, gives the story weight, and from my own books it felt familiar. The setting along the English coast adds grit and atmosphere without feeling gimmicky, and the action never overstays its welcome.
What stuck with me most was how uncomfortable the book is willing to be. The violence is blunt, the choices are ugly, and survival never feels clean or triumphant. It’s fast, tense, and surprisingly human. I finished it already wanting to see how much worse things can get, which feels exactly right for the start of a series like this.
April 12, 2026
Stuart Smith plants his zombie apocalypse along the windswept English coast — Deal, Walmer, Dover Castle — and the setting alone distinguishes this from the genre's American-dominated landscape. Sydney Carter is a reluctant everyman thrust into leadership not by heroism but by the simple absence of anyone else willing to carry the weight. His fear is palpable, his decisions ugly, and his survival never feels clean. Smith writes with cinematic urgency, every sentence driving forward, the prose punchy and blunt in a way that suits a world stripped of comfort. The zombies unsettle through hive-mind unpredictability rather than mere gore, but the real tension lives between the survivors themselves — alliances formed from necessity, fractured by ambition. Some character development feels compressed, and a more careful editorial pass would serve a story this strong. But Smith does not flinch, and neither should the reader. A brutal, gripping, quintessentially British opener to a series with genuine bite.
January 20, 2026
The Last Sanctuary is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The writing style of Stuart Smith is such that I felt compelled to keep reading page after page. Fast paced and punchy prose packs in a large amount of storyline which cracks along from the outset, wasting no time waiting for stragglers. I have read a few of The Walking Dead books from Woodbury to beyond and this easily stands shoulder to shoulder with that series, delivering a quintessentially British slant to the zombie genre. Had there not been a distracting number of grammatical errors, I would easily have awarded five stars. To the author I would plead for another more carefully proofed edition as the story is really enjoyable and deserves to be discovered, but the errors might act as a brake to that. I particularly enjoyed the development of the main character as events unfold and the struggles of the zombie apocalypse shape the destiny of all those met along the way. It truly is a zombie book with plenty of bite.
April 6, 2026
This is not a book I would normally have picked up as zombies isn’t my thing however this book was brilliant, I haven’t read anything like this for a while the story isn’t just about zombies killing it’s about courage, resilience focusing on humanity and leadership and a huge moral dilemmas when it comes to survival. For me this book was very captivating and kept me turning the page want to find out what happens to Stuart, Moira, Serena, Holly, Simon, Drew just to name a few of the characters you will meet as you journey through this book. I am looking forward to reading the next book to find out what happens next to the community that is in Deal.
Stuart Smith
Stuart Smith
February 4, 2026
I came for zombies and stayed for the heartbreak.
I was not ready for how intense this book would be. This is not just run and hide horror. It is raw, stressful, and so human that I felt like I was trapped in that house with them half the time. Sydney is a mess at the start but watching him step up, make brutal choices, and protect people anyway had me cheering and yelling at the pages. The danger never lets up and every win feels earned the hard way. If you like survival stories where the people matter as much as the monsters, you need this one in your life. 🧟
I was not ready for how intense this book would be. This is not just run and hide horror. It is raw, stressful, and so human that I felt like I was trapped in that house with them half the time. Sydney is a mess at the start but watching him step up, make brutal choices, and protect people anyway had me cheering and yelling at the pages. The danger never lets up and every win feels earned the hard way. If you like survival stories where the people matter as much as the monsters, you need this one in your life. 🧟
February 5, 2026
The Last Sanctuary of the Living hooked me fast with its outbreak origin and then kept me glued because of the characters trying to survive it. Sydney is not some trained hero, he is just a regular guy thrown into chaos, and watching him figure things out alongside other survivors made everything feel more real and tense. I loved how the story focused just as much on fear, grief, and tough choices as on the action, and I honestly could not stop reading because I needed to know who would make it and how.
December 25, 2025
This book delivers a dark, intense survival story where danger comes from both the undead and the living. The coastal setting adds a unique atmosphere, making every struggle feel raw and immediate. Leadership, sacrifice, and hard choices drive the story forward, keeping the tension high throughout. Gritty and emotional, it’s a strong opening that pulls you into a harsh world where survival is only the first battle.
March 16, 2026
Enjoyable apocalypse zombie read! For me, it read a lot like a screenplay: more visual than MC inner thought-driven. Elements of The Last Sanctuary of the Living reminded me of the walking dead tv series, mostly because of the politics of having to rebuild a life and somewhere safe after a zombie apocalypse. The castle reminded me of the prison sanctuary that was reformed in the tv series. So, if you enjoyed the walking dead, you will love this book!
Read
March 26, 2026It’s a real page-turner, so think twice before starting it late at night. The main character, Sydney, is thrust into leading the survivors of a nightmare against the undead. He’s a reluctant leader, chosen because of his humanity, and his reactions in the midst of the horror weren’t clichéd but raw and panicked, making them feel authentic. I’ve said it’s a page-turner, but seriously, this is de
February 22, 2026
Well written story of a very reluctant, though inspiring leader. Loved the setting of a sleepy coastal town being taken over by zombies! A must read if zombies and end of the world is your thing.
Can't wait for the second one
Can't wait for the second one
March 16, 2026
The story flows really well, I am lucky and I know Deal and Dover both very well so I can imagine all the places in the book. The author has done a great job with the story and the characters are brilliant!!!
January 24, 2026
Gripped me from start to finish eagerly waiting for book 2
February 9, 2026
Kept me flipping pages way past bedtime...
This book is a nerve shredding survival ride where ordinary people face impossible odds and prove that staying human might be the hardest fight of all.
This book is a nerve shredding survival ride where ordinary people face impossible odds and prove that staying human might be the hardest fight of all.
March 25, 2026
The Last Sanctuary of the Living gets into its outbreak premise quickly and maintains strong pacing. The main character feels grounded and relatable, which keeps the tension credible as the stakes rise. The book balances action with fear, grief, and difficult decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
February 23, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Last Sanctuary of the Living is a standout for fans of The Walking Dead or World War Z who want a localized, character-driven story. It’s a solid start to the Deal Zombie Chronicles and proves that even in a saturated market, a well-told story about the cost of humanity still carries weight.
The Last Sanctuary of the Living is a standout for fans of The Walking Dead or World War Z who want a localized, character-driven story. It’s a solid start to the Deal Zombie Chronicles and proves that even in a saturated market, a well-told story about the cost of humanity still carries weight.
February 13, 2026
Engrossing and enthusiastic. Plenty of what you'd expect without overdoing the cliches but especially endearing if you have any knowledge of the South East Kent area.
Definitely a page turner with both endearing and rage-inducing characters.
Definitely a page turner with both endearing and rage-inducing characters.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews