The Sinister Mr. Corpse - A Zombie Comedy

by Jeff Strand

Zombies… Sometimes they rise from the grave, hungering for human flesh… Sometimes they’re created by a mad scientist intent on forming an unstoppable army of the undead… Sometimes the zombie plague is transmitted by a horrific virus… …and sometimes, they’re resurrected in front of millions of viewers as part of a live primetime television special. This is the story of Stanley Dabernath, zombie. A regular guy who dies, is brought back to life as a ghastly walking cadaver, and becomes the international sensation hailed by the press as The Amazing Mr. Corpse. Fame! Wealth! Groupies! Despite his ghoulish appearance, Stanley finds himself living the dream. But in many ways, it’s harder to be a celebrity than a zombie. The suits behind Project Second Chance want to tell him how to behave in public. It’s difficult to enjoy a simple restaurant meal in peace. There’s constant pressure coming at him from all sides–not to mention that many people consider him a vile blasphemy that should be erased from existence. And does Project Second Chance have Stanley’s best interests in mind, or is the real reason behind his reanimation something much more…SINISTER? REVIEWS : “With loads of relentless action and characters that make reading seem more like eavesdropping, The Sinister Mr. Corpse will have even the biggest stiffs among us laughing all the way to the grave.” —Rue Morgue “Those expecting the typical apocalyptic world full of flesh eating corpses will quickly realize they are in for a different treat altogether. For those familiar with Mr. Strand’s popular Andrew Mayhem novels, take the witty banter, sharp one liners and laugh out loud moments, then turn it up a notch or three.” —Horror World

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Humor, Fiction, Comedy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Dark Humor

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Bram Stoker Award-winning author of a bunch of demented books, including PRESSURE, DWELLER, CLOWNS VS. SPIDERS, AUTUMN BLEEDS INTO WINTER, MY PRETTIES, the official novelization of ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, and lots of others!

Reviews

[Mort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different take on the zombie genre...

How to make your very own zombie:
Step 1: You @@@@@@@@
Step 2: Then ************
Step 3: Don't forget to #########
Step 4: Most important of all, you MUST &&&&&&&&&&
Step 5: Finally, you should $$$$$$$$$$
Step 6: Sit back, relax and...

Hey, I don't have ALL the answers for you, okay.

In this story, scientists creates a mysterious fluid which they claim will bring someone back from the dead. And Stanley is the lucky guy!

What is the most natural step to take with this procedure? Televise it live, of course! Get publicity for a modern day miracle and let the money roll in!
Project Second Chance succeeds!! It worked, it worked -
For those of you who don't know me, this is the part where I explain the GIF which i lack to actually put in the review...
The scientist staggers away, screaming "It's alive! It's ALIVE!"

It is a fool-proof plan.
Almost...

Stanley is not the most mature and responsible person in the world. At least, he wasn't, and death didn't seem to change him. Except for the fact the he doesn't breathe, doesn't have a heartbeat or any blood, heals fairly fast, he is the same difficult person he used to be. And, to top it all off, he doesn't crave brain. At all. He's just your average zombie-next-door...
But he needs a daily shot to keep from decomposing.

This story is so much more about the trappings of fame, fortune and sexiness - yes, even a somewhat decomposed zombie can attract beautiful women (yes, plural, bitches!) when he is famous for being famous.

And then things starts getting weird.

____________________________

I liked this story, but didn't love it. It's good and very funny, but Stanley was a little annoying even for me. However, solid Strand book - recommended more for the comedy than anything else.

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

DNF at 57%. 3.5 stars. Once again, I’ll heap praise onto Jeff Strand. He’s a wonderful writer. Just a fact. And this was a really unique, fun twist on the normal zombie lore. Where this lost me was how one note it all was. Stanley, the lead and freshly resurrected subject, was just on this high pressure publicity tour, all focused on the medical miracle that was him. And it was filled with strange characters like groupies, SNL, drug prevention programs, and all sorts of interesting stops. But, it just going…and going…and going…and going some more. The jokes and situations all felt like run on ideas, repeating one another quite a bit, with no end in sight, and occupying a ton of the 260 pages. Again, the writing was great and the story was good, and maybe things shifted towards the end. However, this needed to greatly vary the content, all while making this a much shorter affair. Not bad, but in need of some fine-tuning to make it a better experience.

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanley Dabernath wonders what is going on.
He awakes on stage in a reanimation TV special vaguely reminiscent of Geraldo and Al Capone's vault. Stanley has been resurrected! From there, he is in for a wild ride!
Becoming America's newest celebrity, Stanley embarks on a whirlwind ride of reality shows and special appearances. It turns out that being the world's only real walking, talking and swearing zombie is quite profitable.
This is very much an hilarious, tongue in cheek commentary on modern day celebrity-ism. We love to build up our stars and then we love to tear them down. Behind the laughter, though, these observations are true and that is a little sad.
All in all, this book was extremely funny and I would recommend it to anyone who may be in need of some humor. No real scares, but lots and lots of laughs!

[11811 (Eleven) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly amusing satire on celebrity culture. Almost makes me want to be a zombie when I grow up. But not really.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was...something else.

I just finished proofing the audiobook (yes, it's going to be available on Audible VERY SOON), and I have to say, even though it was written in 2007, it has held up surprisingly well. It's funny, endearing, creepy, weird AF, and so very Jeff Strand.

If you haven't read this one, you REALLY should. Stanley may just be one of his very best characters.

**Available on Amazon!**

[Brandon Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

A fun tale with interesting characters and situations. There were a few characters who didn't really feel needed like Henry. The few times he popped up i had to really think to remember him.

Still a fun read. Just a nice good time.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overwhelming majority of zombie fiction deals with humans trying to survive the the world of zombies. The really clever original (and some of my personal favorites) deal with zombies trying to survive the world of humans. This book belong to the latter category and as such was a total treat. Jeff Strand is a funny funny (and super nice) guy and his natural storytelling abilities and his awesome sense of humor made this such a fun read. His title character is a 30 something loser brought back to life by questionable means and in the process ends up being more alive without a pulse then he was while his heart was beating. Hilarity, liberally interspersed with action, action figures, adventures, violence, witty banter, fame, fortune, necrophiliacs, crime fighting, graffiti, virgin blood and cannibalism ensues. Not just a zombie novel, this was also a very clever satire on our celebrity obsessed culture. Lots happens and it all goes by lightning quick, maybe 3 hours. Exceptionally entertaining very funny and fun read from start to finish. Highly recommended.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

With all the zombie books out there today, Jeff Strand's THE SINISTER MR. CORPSE takes an entirely different approach to the subject. More of a satire (and a laugh out loud one, at that), on celebrity's, and their lives--well in this case, "post-life"....

A story that could only work so well with this author!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanley is a loser, nearing middle age with not much to show for it. After he dies in a freak accident, he is brought back to life on live TV and starts his second life as the Amazing Mr Corpse. He is now essentially owned by a corporation who are looking to cash in on his infamy, forcing him to do all manner of 'celebrity' appearances. When he begins to get cocky about his importance he is shown that a second death will be far more unpleasant than the first and that he was not the scientific miracle he thought he was but something far more sinister.
I enjoyed this one a lot, I'm a big fan of Strand and this one certainly didn't disappoint although I thought the main character wasn't as good as some in his other work. The ending was also slightly anti-climatic.
Strand uses this to lampoon celebrities who are famous for being famous, how they are viewed and the cult like status that some of them achieve for doing absolutely nothing. Stanley is a fairly talentless individual who soon begins to believe the hype of his own fame before it all goes wrong. Secondary characters were done well but for some reason none of the characters really resonated with me that strongly however the story itself was engaging, pulling several threads together at the end and gave me almost everything I come to expect in a Strand novel. As with most of his other work this was fast faced and darkly funny and whilst it's not my favourite it was still a fun read.

[WendyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine Chevy Chase playing Fletch as a zombie... that's what the main character reminded me of. Pretty funny, kinda twisted, lots of fun.
The ending was a bit odd but didn't take away from the rest of the book.

[Escapereality4now · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Sinister Mister Corpse”, by Jeff Strand

This book was everything!! I could not stop laughing. Jeff Strand is funny. He has this talent of inserting humor into horror books. This one was humorous from start to finish.

“The Sinister Mister Corpse” is a successful satire of celebrity culture. Stanley a walking talking zombie becomes a celebrity. Stanley isn’t an ordinary zombie. He is insecure, curses and cannot handle stardom. The book is not scary but it is a good time.

I highly recommend it. 5 ⭐️

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rezi: http://chrissies-kleine-welt.de/?p=2023

Stanley Dabernath hat es in seinem Leben nicht unbedingt gut getroffen. Mehr schlecht als recht hält er sich mit einer Videoproduktionsfirma über Wasser, die sich auf besondere Formate spezialisiert hat, die oft sehr extreme Dinge darstellen. Doch das große Publikum bleibt aus und der Bankrott droht. Was könnte ihm da Besseres passieren, als von einem Milchlaster überfahren zu werden und in Milch zu ertrinken?
Stanley muss bald feststellen, dass ihn genau diese Sache berühmt macht, da er vom Project Second Chance als erster Mensch vor laufender Kamera von den Toten wiedererweckt wird. Als der unglaubliche Mr. Corpse macht er so viel Geld, wie er es sich vorher nie erträumt hätte und polarisiert gleichzeitig die Massen. Man streitet darüber, ob Stanley überhaupt noch als Mensch anzusehen ist. Second Chance macht es dem ersten Zombie auf Erden mit Bedingungen und Forderungen auch nicht leichter, die er nicht abschlagen kann, wenn er seine Existenz verlängern möchte. Was also soll Stanley tun?

Die Idee hinter der Geschichte ist wirklich gut. Wissenschaftler erwecken einen bereits recht verwesten Mann wieder zum Leben und schlachten dieses Phänomen medial und finanziell komplett aus. Es wird zwar immer wieder vom Zombie gesprochen, jedoch ist Stanley keiner, da ihn keineswegs der Hunger nach Menschenfleisch (oder wahlweise Gehirn) antreibt und er eigentlich noch genauso wie vor seinem Tod denkt und fühlt, nur einfach in einem leicht gammligen Körper.

Je weiter die Geschichte voran geht, desto schwieriger wird es für den Protagonisten mit der neuen Situation auszukommen. Seine Abhängigkeit vom Project Second Chance, die ihn schlichtweg ausbeuten und ihm mit dem erneuten Tod drohen, sollte er nicht mitspielen und die Polarisation in der Bevölkerung machen sein neues Leben alles andere als leicht. Zudem möchte er verstehen, wie man es schaffen konnte ihn in dieser Daseinsform wiederzuerwecken.

Gerade das letzte Drittel des Buches fand ich gut gelungen, da Strand der Geschichte dann eine neue Richtung gab. Dabernath hinterfragt sich und seine Existenz und kommt den Hintergründen auf die Schliche. Der Kampf um seine Existenz und das Wissen um die Gegebenheiten hat mir sehr gut gefallen.

Leider waren die ersten zwei Drittel des Buches anders gestrickt. Strand lässt seinen Protagonisten hier mit Kalauern, schlüpfrigen Witzen und Trotz auf jede neue Situation reagieren und trifft damit einfach nicht meinen Humor. Anders als zum Schluss des Buches war mir der Protagonist hier über die größten Strecken zu unsympathisch und nervig, die Geschichte erschien mir zu unspannend und teilweise etwas einfältig. Gleichzeitig stellt dies aber eine gute Persiflage auf die heutige Medienkultur dar und dem Phänomen, mit immer heftigeren Dingen zu schocken und immer mehr Grenzen fallen zu lassen. Es traf nur einfach nicht meinen Humor.

Positiv aussprechen möchte ich mich noch für das Cover, welches sehr gut gelungen und ein wahrer Eyecatcher ist.

Wer mit dem Humor von Strand auf einer Wellenlänge liegt und einen medienkritischen Unterhaltungsroman mit leicht morbiden Zügen lesen möchte, der ist mit diesem Buch gewiss goldrichtig beraten. Horror darf man jedoch nicht erwarten.

[David Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all genres of literature but my favorite genre to read is horror. I especially like horror mixed with comedy and I’ve read three books recently that fit that category. The first book I want to talk about is The Sinister Mr. Corpse by Jeff Strand. The story is about a man named Stanley Dabernath who was a regular guy until he became the worlds first living zombie.

Stanley’s movie company, Demented Whacko’s Video is not successful. In fact he is $60,000 in debt, was recently evicted from his apartment and lives off a diet of Ramen Noodles that he stole from the grocery store. His luck changes one day though when he is run over by a milk truck and drowns in the milk.

Death is not the end for Stanley. His body is rescued from the morgue and he gets brought back to life on national TV by Project Second Chance. Now Stanley has everything he could ever want, he has money, fame, product endorsements, action figures and he’s a hit on all the talk shows. Stanley has the life he has always dreamed of, but it comes at a price, he has to take injections to keep from rotting any more then he already has, Project Second Chance owns his body and there is a group of religious fanatics that want to prove that he’s a fake.

After two failed attempts to kill him, being hounded by the media and having a man decide to build a religion based on him; Stanley escapes project Second Chance and heads to New York to become a super hero. Things don’t go well and he gets kidnapped and held for ransom. He then finds out what happens when he doesn’t get his injections and the secret behind how Project Second Chance brought him back to life. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t science that resurrected him.

The Sinister Mr. Corpse is an action packed horror comedy filled with twists and turns. What I enjoyed most was the dialog in the book, all of the characters had great personality and if the book had no action and was made up entirely of dialog between the characters, I would have still enjoyed it. Another part that really stuck out with me was a fight between Mr. Corpse and an assassin near the end which unexpectedly moves from drama to comedy. Despite the fact that this book is meant mainly for laughs, it does make a good point about how we should be careful about idolizing celebrities.

[Todd Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The jokes come fast and furious and rarely disappoint in this Jeff Strand gem that pokes fun at zombies and reality TV. Stanley Dabernath meets an unfortunate end in life but is given a second chance, thanks to daily injections by an organization known as Project Second Chance. To tell you much more would start spoiling it, but suffice to say it's an entertaining, speedy read. I didn't want this to end.

Purists might have trouble with me tagging this 'horror' because it's not intended to be scary and yet there are some gory, suspenseful scenes. Reading this book reminded me somewhat of the first time I saw the movie Airplane! Leslie Nielson could play Stanley, the lovable, fallible zombie.

This is the fourth book I've read by Strand, starting with two collaborative works, DRACULAS (4 stars) and Suckers (3 stars), then moving to his amazingly entertaining solo werewolf horror humor book Wolf Hunt (5 stars). The Sinister Mr. Corpse is easily a five star read for me. More fun than drowning in mother's milk!

Can't recommend this one highly enough to those who want a dose of smiles and laughter.

[Meri Anne Schow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming back from the dead can really mess up your life. After all fame and fortune aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially when people want you to go back to being dead. Not to mention you're now owned by a Corporation who controls the injections you need to STAY undead!

In another delightfully gruesome tale from Jeff Strand we get to meet the Amazing (and Sinister!) Mr Corpse, whose foul decomposing body is only eclipsed by his foul language and sarcastic attitude. Controlled by the Corporation who brought him back to life, Stanley is turned into an overnight sensation when his corpse is reanimated after an unfortunate accident. But not everything is wine and roses as Stanley soon learns!

Great little story, fun read, but be prepared for adult (or rather, very juvenile) humor. Once again, Jeff Strand doesn't disappoint!!

[Andrew Lennon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book ended ok but the majority of it was pretty boring. It wasn't funny and I was fifty percent through before anything really started happening. If I was to compare this book to movies then I'd say it would prob be one of the lite budget horror movies you pick up from the bargain bucket. Not really one to remember, or maybe I was just expecting a lot more after enjoying "pressure" so much.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a quick read and have always enjoyed Jeff Strand. Ending went a little too fast though and thought it could have drawn out a bit without slowing down the pace of the book. Other than that I thought that Stanley was a classic Strand character..funny and sarcastic.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, great read and, as always, very entertaining. How on earth does Jeff Strand come up with all these strange, bizarre and extremely creative characters, plots and ideas ?- a great writer in this genre and definitely, as billed, he is undoubtedly the "Clown Prince of Horror". Mr Corpse was worthy a solid 4.5 stars...let "nobody" deny it, be they fans of zombies, ghosts or ghouls!

[Tyler Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story from Jeff Strand. Zombies, dark magic, cannibals, zombie superhero?! This is one of his shorter novels and hated to have it end so soon.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun solid little romp

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 3 out of 5]

At this point, Jeff Strand is essentially his own genre. Judged against his other books, this one is not his best. While his trademark humor is much in evidence the overall effect is listless. This lacks a real narrative thrust and while there is a plot, the structure is highly episodic in a way that makes most of the incidents feel random and pointless.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[❤ArtfullySinful❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Die, you wormy piece of filth! Scaly vacant-eyed little bastard! Die!"

Stanley Dabernath was your average, struggling American trying to find a voice in this world, and figure out how to amass the money required for a life truly worth living. Stanley was down on his luck, financially unstable following yet another dud movie release Extreme Fishing with their company Demented Whackos Video. Along with is best friend Martin Vines. Martin was a twenty something man who favored the color green, choosing to make it his one and only wardrobe color as the two struggled in a filthy trailer to make a crappy horror movie that’ll sell millions. After yet another night of snuggling his sobs with a pillow, Stanley finds himself walking alone before a semi pauses beside him and tips over crushing his foot beneath it as milk poured over his open nose and mouth. Drowned in milk was his official cause of death, yet it wouldn’t remain his only way of his life ending.

"Death. Once upon a time, it was thought to be the end of our worldly existence, at least in our current body. But has this changed?"

"The corpse in question is Stanley Dabernath. An ordinary man, taken from this world far too early in a tragic accident several weeks ago."

"Is what you will see tonight wrong? Is it evil? Is it perhaps even the beginning of the end? I suppose that's only for the man upstairs to decide."

Mr. Dabernath wasn’t who one would expect to be worthy of being brought back from the dead and given a second chance at seemingly immortality. Whether it be fortunate or unfortunate he fit the criteria of age, build, and time of death that he was deemed a good specimen. For two months they preserved his body with only minor rotting to his flesh, until you looked towards his face and seen the near skeletal reflection staring back into your eyes. Upon his revival, he welcomed viewers alike to his lengthily screams of agony and explicit curses. As people say shell shocked and amazed by the seemingly impossible feat, many others remained skeptical in the practice of bringing someone who has passed back into living.

I'm going on a camping trip and I'm bringing an apple. I'm going on a camping trip and I'm bringing an apple and a box. I'm going on a camping trip and I'm bringing an apple, a box, and a cooler. I'm going on a camping trip and I'm bringing an apple, a box, a cooler, and a deadly disease, one that's eating through my legs at this very moment.

He was a comedic element to a somewhat twisted tale that could very well divide many readers in his stories. Stanley was what should of been an abomination, yet with the use of daily injections remained able to heal himself, even without blood pumping through his veins or breaths filling his lungs. The desire to breath was the only reason for his inhales and exhales; something he retained from his first time alive. Yet being a living zombie had its quirks as well as it’s downfalls. Lusting after his assistant Veronica Luxon, Stanley kept a steady stream of curses and sexual commentary going throughout his jouney as he was slowly becoming a Celebrity born into Fame. Nearly scoring a threesome by two incredible attractive and drunk girls, Mandy and Dot, he turned them down as he began to realize he wasn’t sure how he felt about necrophiliacs. While he continued his life, he pushed Richard Brant to nearly his breaking point in every encounter. Rude and snippy to the sarcastic and hilarious Stanley, Brant was who controlled the experiment of his existence and who held the code to the injections keeping him from dissolving into a puddle of goo at the end of the day.

This wasn't him. It couldn't be. His face wasn't a face at all. It was a skull with grey skin tightly stretched over the surface. He barely even had a nose, just a pair of nostrils.

It wasn't like he'd ever be getting laid again anyway, but the process of decomposition could've been kind enough to spare his dick. Would that really have been so much to ask?

I've got a face that only a drunken coked-up lobotomized mother could love."

"Stanley, can you hear me?" Brant repeated. "Curse if you can hear me."
"Fuck!"

Stanley grinned. "We could do the Mr. Corpse Glory Hole Experience." "You know what?" asked Veronica. "That may well be the single most disgusting thing you've ever said to me. I'm impressed."

Turning away from Richard Brant and fleeing off onto his own with Martin with a mere weeks worth of injections would become his worst mistake to date. Posing as a bizarre super hero who’s target were petty criminals on the run in New York, he left the safety of his bunker home in New Mexico to try and make a name outside of the stigma of just being famous for being a dead man walking. Yet it wouldn’t take very long for things to go sour, as two Low end drug dealers, kidnapped him and severed his arm to try and receive twenty million dollars for his return. Locked in an old, smelly room where rats nibbled on his toes and cheek, Stanley knew little good could come from setting them off yet he couldn’t help himself with his sarcastic comments. He’d been shot in the chest and forehead, had his arm sawed off, and found himself staring towards the end of his second life when he discovered the truth behind the serum keeping him alive. Virgin Blood. Once a month the quest for a new virgin to be picked, where her family would be massacred In front of her before her life was ebbed away slowly over the course of the month. From there the blood was combined with a dark magic, not the synthetic chemicals by Project Second Chance.

Black magic? That made him a creature of evil. A monster. He cried.

As he found himself struggling to survive, one of the men to shoot him previously, Charlie, had found it to set up a demented church praising Stanley as their Savior in a world full of so much darkness. After he found his way back to his bedroom in Project Second Chance, Stanley felt normal for the first real time while plans of escape sat idle in his mind. After being confronted by the demented church goers, they found convened eating his flesh would allow them immortality too until he pointed the finger at Brant as well creating his cruel death at the hands of cannibalistic citizens. With his lack of shots remaining, he and his best friend Martin and Veronica found themselves in Hawaii where he plunged off the volcano edge ending the career and legacy or the Amazing Mr. Corpse.

The only way I'm gonna escape is to tie a message to a rat!"

"You also got beat up by that ice cream man that one time when he accused you of not paying for the drumstick." "I did pay for it." "I know. But he beat you up and you paid for it again."

Stanley trailed off. "Have you been calling me Savior?" "Yes, Savior!" ...... Stanley took a couple of moments to fully process that piece of information. "Okay, now that is creepy and messed up!"

The girl in the lab, Marcia Dunlan, was going to live.

Do you dare? Do you dare to enter CorpseLand, the official theme park of Stanley Dabernath, The Sinister Mr. Corpse?

[Kaisersoze · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first read of a Jeff Strand novel(la) and I largely enjoyed myself. Despite the presence of the words "Sinister" and "Corpse" in the title, this is less of a horror novel and more of a comedy. It's rare that I find myself laughing at a novel - for what it's worth, I've never found the written medium to be as funny as film - but Strand had me chuckling along with his undead protagonist numerous times. He has a rare gift for dialogue, and exploits that gift to its fullest here, as this streamlined tale is almost totally driven by the verbal communications between his characters. Though this sometimes felt like it left me as the reader having to work a little too hard to fill in some of what was happening around the dialogue. The titular Mr Corpse also never quite clicked with me.

Regardless, this was a fun read and I certainly plan on checking out more of Strand's work in future.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts out really strong, gets a little bit meh for a bit then picks up again and stays pretty funny till the end. The humor is riduculous and childish at times but Stanley is a charming character and the Bonus Padding at the end had me chuckling and thinking that Strand himself is also a pretty dang charming person.

There some fatphobic comments by the main character (they're not a core thing nor a repeated thing though the book but they're there so if that's going to ruin it for you now you know). For the aces/sex-repulsed in the room: there's a near sex scene but it ends up not happening it's safe on that front

[Janene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Jeff Strand. His Andrew Mayhem series kills me. I was super excited when The Sinister Mr Corpse made its debut, and 3 months later...I finished. Not a good sign.
I love zombie books above all else...and I did care about Stanley, but for some reason, I just couldn't get into the story. *sigh.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how Strand’s humor tickles me! What’s so funny about a sinister zombie? Pretty must everything. From his drowning death in a sea of milk to his constant need to curse. From his constant ogling is his assistant Veronica to his sparring with Brant. I’m glad I chose this as a filler read to up my book count. I should have actually read it much sooner.

[Joanne Moyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

not quite 4 stars for this one though I really did enjoy it - very funny and entertaining .. I will read more by this author

[Elusive · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 'The Sinister Mr. Corpse', unsuccessful movie distributor Stanley suffers an untimely death when he is involved in an accident. Unbeknownst to him, his death marks the beginning of a brand new life as a famous zombie. Now he's enjoying fame and fortune that he'd always longed for, thanks to the mysterious Project Second Chance. However, how are the project people keeping him alive? And more importantly, will Stanley get used to being a zombie?

This story was wonderfully fast paced, filled with an avalanche of humorous moments tinged with sarcasm. Stanley certainly was an interesting character regardless of whether he was dead or alive. He never failed to speak his mind even when he knew he was being rude or offensive and he definitely had a potty mouth that couldn't be tamed. His reaction when he found out that he'd been resurrected from the dead was realistic and believable. His newfound status as a celebrity was well-written too.

However, he realized that he had to obey many restrictions. He was told what to do and say to the point where everything he said was actually a lie. In addition, he had to face people's reactions when they saw him face-to-face and it wasn't always easy. Other characters especially Brant who's in charge of Stanley and knows what's keeping him 'alive' were distinguishable due to their unique tone of voice and personality. There was also character growth evident in Stanley as he learned to put others before himself and stay true to himself.

Overall, 'The Sinister Mr. Corpse' was a light-hearted yet meaningful read. The author put a new spin on the typical overused 'dead person brought back to life' storyline and made it interesting.

[Padders · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's past midnight so I will do a full review tomorrow when I am not falling asleep! But 'The Sinister Mr. Corpse' was a fantastic and hilariously funny read that I literally laughed out loud at throughout. In a genre that is at best tired nowadays, it was refreshing to get a different take and spin on the whole zombie genre and just read something that was fun and light to read, instead of going through the whole 'walking dead/night of the living dead' scenario.

Stanley was such a charismatic and sarcastic SOAB and I loved it his interactions with Veronica his assistant in particular just had me rolling, but the dialogue between all characters were all filled with humour and sass. Sure it was ridiculously over the top and the plot just went completely bonkers at the end. But it was fun, you can't help but love it. Not very often I read this type of thing but Mr Strand has given me reason to pick up comedy horror in the future. Great read solid 4 stars from me!!!