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Alive Undead
Vampires. They kill. They love. They drink human blood. Their prey, however, often make the vampires feel like angels in comparison. Fans of both classic and contemporary horror fiction will enjoy this chilling tale.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2023
6 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 12, 2023
Here we have a very old vampire, Valkolar meeting up with an old friend of his, Rosalie who has the Temple of Enmity (and the business of cloning vampires). There there is a priest named Delarosa fond of young boys and more. Sirius and Olivia are vampire and Valkolar's kids. Jamie and Kirsten become vampires too. There there is Nathalie and two lesbian owners of the Serendipity. Oh, what a great many characters but that doesn't matter. The story remains the same, killing is the business here, salvation unknown. Even though the chapters are short the books becomes a bit tedious. Like the long life of a vampire? Violence and other descriptions are often found. Do you care about it? Not the way it is written and described here. A very bleak and depressing tale. Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden is on heavy rotation here (LOL the vampire twins are guitar heroes). Is it good? Well it's different, at parts read like a script, grim, monotone, modern... missed a bit the classic story telling. It was okay, a fleeting road movie of a novel. Maybe something for fans of the author.
February 18, 2023
I'm a big fan of vampire horror, so this went down a treat.
It's a bloody, fast-paced little book.
The characters are well-written and complex.
Some of the content might trigger some people, but it's a must for extreme horror fans.
It's a bloody, fast-paced little book.
The characters are well-written and complex.
Some of the content might trigger some people, but it's a must for extreme horror fans.
February 17, 2023
Alive Undead isn’t quite your average Vampire novel. I am a reader of extreme horror from time to time and a *certain* part of the story involving a mother and son, the child called Nicholas, was so viscerally intense and gory that it was truly shocking to read. It only sinks further into the depths of depravity with Rosalie the vampire’s dungeon - The Temple Of Enmity.
I did enjoy some parts here and there, so I will be rating it 2.5 stars. There are so many 5 star reviews on here, and I love vampire stories and extreme horror, but it missed the mark for me overall. It felt disjointed with the very short chapters jumping between a myriad of different characters. I did like the young vampire twins, Olivia and Sirius and their epic guitar playing ability!
I did enjoy some parts here and there, so I will be rating it 2.5 stars. There are so many 5 star reviews on here, and I love vampire stories and extreme horror, but it missed the mark for me overall. It felt disjointed with the very short chapters jumping between a myriad of different characters. I did like the young vampire twins, Olivia and Sirius and their epic guitar playing ability!
February 16, 2023
Vampires like you’ve never read before.
Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer is a lean, mean, vicious machine. He should be nominated as the king of brevity for this one. Brian cut his latest work to the bone but left in his trademark intensity and blistering pace. Alive Undead follows a group of vampires who are dangerously ruthless, but also still hold a spark of humanity. If you haven’t been reading Bowyer’s work you’re missing out. An incredible read and highly recommended.
Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer is a lean, mean, vicious machine. He should be nominated as the king of brevity for this one. Brian cut his latest work to the bone but left in his trademark intensity and blistering pace. Alive Undead follows a group of vampires who are dangerously ruthless, but also still hold a spark of humanity. If you haven’t been reading Bowyer’s work you’re missing out. An incredible read and highly recommended.
January 28, 2023
Horror Bookworm Reviews
Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer
https://horrorbookwormreviews.com/
Twins Sirius and Olivia are undead vampiric children that feed on the vital essences of the living. Among the same modern world these youths live in, there exists a dwelling of disturbing decadence called the Temple Of Enmity. It’s an establishment where for the right price savage desires can be granted. Father Donovan Delarosa, a man of the cloth, continuously seeks the guidance of God. However when paths cross within this world of degeneracy, all those involved suffer their own cruel demise.
Author Brian Bowyer creates an atmosphere teeming of nocturnal immoral depravity entitled Alive Undead. As the sun sets, fear and uncertainty rise into a final destination to Hell. Reprehensible behaviors, horrific abductions and some of the most cringe worthy pages you will ever read exist within this book. Alive Undead is what happens when pure evil meets pure evil.
I can sense an amount of Richard Laymon language channeling through Brian Bowyer. It shines as the reader is allowed to tread into the unknown where homicidal urges and unspeakable atrocities take place. Following the dark paths of addiction and brutal violations, this nightmare of a novel holds many alarming storylines. I strongly suggest partaking into the twists and turns of Bowyer’s purgatory.
Chaos comes at night, so grab your crucifix and a vile of Type O Negative blood, you’re gonna need it. There’s extreme fiction, then there’s Brian Bowyer’s extreme fiction. I have officially discovered a new favorite author. A five star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Horror Bookworm Recommendation.
Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer
https://horrorbookwormreviews.com/
Twins Sirius and Olivia are undead vampiric children that feed on the vital essences of the living. Among the same modern world these youths live in, there exists a dwelling of disturbing decadence called the Temple Of Enmity. It’s an establishment where for the right price savage desires can be granted. Father Donovan Delarosa, a man of the cloth, continuously seeks the guidance of God. However when paths cross within this world of degeneracy, all those involved suffer their own cruel demise.
Author Brian Bowyer creates an atmosphere teeming of nocturnal immoral depravity entitled Alive Undead. As the sun sets, fear and uncertainty rise into a final destination to Hell. Reprehensible behaviors, horrific abductions and some of the most cringe worthy pages you will ever read exist within this book. Alive Undead is what happens when pure evil meets pure evil.
I can sense an amount of Richard Laymon language channeling through Brian Bowyer. It shines as the reader is allowed to tread into the unknown where homicidal urges and unspeakable atrocities take place. Following the dark paths of addiction and brutal violations, this nightmare of a novel holds many alarming storylines. I strongly suggest partaking into the twists and turns of Bowyer’s purgatory.
Chaos comes at night, so grab your crucifix and a vile of Type O Negative blood, you’re gonna need it. There’s extreme fiction, then there’s Brian Bowyer’s extreme fiction. I have officially discovered a new favorite author. A five star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Horror Bookworm Recommendation.
February 18, 2024
In this tale of vampires with a rock 'n' roll aesthetic, Bowyer gives a glimpse of the underbelly of the undead existence. A wicked ensemble of characters. Grisly descriptions. A cruel world carefully written.
February 17, 2023
4.5/5
I really enjoyed this book! In fact, I'm hoping there will be a continuation - I want to know more about these vampires what the get into and what happens with Mohammed. This is my first read by Bowyer and certainly won't be my last. I LOVE his writing style. Love that he gets right to the point.
This was mysterious, dark and revolting. Which is exactly how I prefer my horror literature. Excuse me while I go add all his other books to my TBR.
I really enjoyed this book! In fact, I'm hoping there will be a continuation - I want to know more about these vampires what the get into and what happens with Mohammed. This is my first read by Bowyer and certainly won't be my last. I LOVE his writing style. Love that he gets right to the point.
This was mysterious, dark and revolting. Which is exactly how I prefer my horror literature. Excuse me while I go add all his other books to my TBR.
July 8, 2023
I love vampires in all of their undead glory, so when I found out that Brian Bowyer had a vamp story available, I couldn't wait to check it out.
Valkolar is a very old vampire. Delarosa is a faithless priest. Jamie and Kirsten are young lovers looking for music and adventure. Olivia and Sirius are gifted undead children living their lives recklessly. Naomi is an ambitious musician with an alcohol problem. Mohammed stalks the night. And Rosalie, she's a whole different kind of monster...
Well, this is one hell of a violent and bloody ride! And I enjoyed every gory minute of it.
The fast-paced pages of this book are fuelled by short and crisp chapters that grab you by the throat and refuse to let go. There are a lot of dark characters in this depraved tale, but every single one feels different and their alternating POVs move the overall story until you're thrust headfirst into the shocking conclusion.
I do have to mention that this isn't for the squeamish, or for anyone who can't bring themselves to read violence against children. But if you can stomach extreme horror of the true-crime kind, mixed with an interesting take on vampirism, then this book is definitely worth your time.
Personally, I was hooked from beginning to end, and couldn't wait to find out where everything was going to go. And where everyone was going to land.
I look forward to checking out more books written by Brian.
Valkolar is a very old vampire. Delarosa is a faithless priest. Jamie and Kirsten are young lovers looking for music and adventure. Olivia and Sirius are gifted undead children living their lives recklessly. Naomi is an ambitious musician with an alcohol problem. Mohammed stalks the night. And Rosalie, she's a whole different kind of monster...
Well, this is one hell of a violent and bloody ride! And I enjoyed every gory minute of it.
The fast-paced pages of this book are fuelled by short and crisp chapters that grab you by the throat and refuse to let go. There are a lot of dark characters in this depraved tale, but every single one feels different and their alternating POVs move the overall story until you're thrust headfirst into the shocking conclusion.
I do have to mention that this isn't for the squeamish, or for anyone who can't bring themselves to read violence against children. But if you can stomach extreme horror of the true-crime kind, mixed with an interesting take on vampirism, then this book is definitely worth your time.
Personally, I was hooked from beginning to end, and couldn't wait to find out where everything was going to go. And where everyone was going to land.
I look forward to checking out more books written by Brian.
March 6, 2023
My first from this author after a recommendation from a friend. And I'm always here for vampire fiction and the different ways an author tackles the midnight world of the undead. ALIVE UNDEAD comes with a pared back style and with the short chapters it's a race through read.
A rollercoaster of blood and depravity this isn't for the faint hearted. The characters here are almost all condemnable but I think Rosalie comes out at the top of that list - evil incarnate as the queen of the Temple of Enmity. But one thing the author knows is how to tell a story and he wields his pen very skilfully, pulling his readers further and further into the bleak, gory depths of this tale.
Extreme horror isn't normally my thing but this ticked all the boxes!
A rollercoaster of blood and depravity this isn't for the faint hearted. The characters here are almost all condemnable but I think Rosalie comes out at the top of that list - evil incarnate as the queen of the Temple of Enmity. But one thing the author knows is how to tell a story and he wields his pen very skilfully, pulling his readers further and further into the bleak, gory depths of this tale.
Extreme horror isn't normally my thing but this ticked all the boxes!
January 22, 2023
Brian consistently wows me with his creative, bleak vision. This book was no different. Spiraling bouts of debauchery, the coldness of existence, this book has it all. Great ending. I read this thing in two nights, and wished there was more at the end. Keep up the good work Brian!
January 5, 2025
I LOVED this story so much! I’ll definitely be revisiting this one again in the future. Brian is such a great story teller and I really enjoyed this take on vampires. In this story, there are several POV’s much like the rest of Brian’s stories and eventually all come together at some point. From beginning to finish, I was completely immersed in the story. I never wanted it to end😭
If you haven’t checked out any of Brian’s work then please do yourself a favor and do it already. He never disappoints.
If you haven’t checked out any of Brian’s work then please do yourself a favor and do it already. He never disappoints.
January 16, 2023
I'm a huge Brian Bowyer fan and when I learned he was writing a vampire novel, I couldn't wait to get my - ahem - fangs on it. By Bowyer's own admission this is his most minimalistic work to date, and I can't argue with that. There's no fluff here: just flawless writing and the type of characters one comes to expect from Bowyer's mind. He uses some of the familiar vampire tropes here, but if you know Brian's work you know that he never does anything in an ordinary way -- nor would we want him to! ALIVE UNDEAD is one hell of a ride and a welcome addition to the vampire horror genre. If I had to draw a comparison, I would put it next to LOST SOULS by Poppy Z. Brite. Love and highly recommend it! I read it on Kindle and am now off to buy a paperback for my collection.
April 17, 2024
Cut and Dry
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I liked the way it was written. It was written in a very cut and dry manner that I’ve not seen before.
It’s from the POV of several people that all cross paths eventually in some way or another. I enjoyed all the characters introduced even the ones who were killed.
All in all this was a great book, I’m a sucker for vampire novels period and this was a good one.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I liked the way it was written. It was written in a very cut and dry manner that I’ve not seen before.
It’s from the POV of several people that all cross paths eventually in some way or another. I enjoyed all the characters introduced even the ones who were killed.
All in all this was a great book, I’m a sucker for vampire novels period and this was a good one.
January 26, 2023
Intense and Bloody
The story goes from zero to sixty right away. Tales of haunted monsters, doomed saints and dreaming sinners populate Bowyer's rain-soaked cities. Really enjoyed not knowing how everything was going to tie together until the end. For fans of extreme horror and splatterpunk, this is a wild ride.
The story goes from zero to sixty right away. Tales of haunted monsters, doomed saints and dreaming sinners populate Bowyer's rain-soaked cities. Really enjoyed not knowing how everything was going to tie together until the end. For fans of extreme horror and splatterpunk, this is a wild ride.
February 1, 2024
This was a brutal story that follows a wide range of characters as their stories slowly intertwine to a killer conclusion. Each chapter switches perspectives which made for a really quick and easy read. I really enjoyed how this story was laid out. It felt like peeping through windows into different people’s lives and watching the horrid events unfold. Brian Bowyer did a great job creating some truly terrifying monsters. I definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re looking for a dark, twisted tale.
September 23, 2023
Top notch vampire book. A nasty vicious tale that flies right along at a breakneck pace. Lean, mean, and hypnotic.
January 18, 2023
absolutely entrancing
full review to come
full review to come
June 28, 2023
Another one from the indie-horror master. Lots of gore and violence as per usual with Brian Bowyer. Only with creepy kid Vampires! The writing is bare bones, no frills. A fun quick read for the horror aficionados.
August 8, 2023
Took me a while to get to this but the King of Minimalist Prose and Maximalist carnage strikes again with a piece that will have you up for days. His dark gritty underworlds only continue to get better each work. Bowyer is in his prime with Alive Undead, and that’s going to make for many sleepless nights.
January 11, 2023
What I love about Bowyer’s work is that he doesn’t give two hoots about expectation, he doesn’t care if he’ll offend, he doesn’t care if you’ve made attachments to his characters and he certainly doesn’t care for tropes!
And that was a good thing for me, because I can’t stand Vampires - there I said it. All that can’t go out in sunlight, crucifixes, holy water, reflections and the such… and so Bowyer’s take on the vampire genre is as refreshing as you would expect bloody… all bets are off!
Bowyer said that this is his most stripped back work to date, his work was already stripped back and so I wondered if I’d be looking at just a few sentences on the page. But it is stripped back, he’s gutted the life out of it, but what remains is the soul of the story and this one is dark and enthralling - and with needless scene exploration gutted from the book, what we get is a runaway train of a horror novel.
There is such speed in Bowyer’s writing, such onwards propulsion that the pages just fly, and the story unravels at break-neck speed, causing the reader whiplash at many points.
But with all the stripped back prose, there is a story here and characters that you’ll remember long after you’ve stopped - the twins, Kirsten and Jamie, Naomi and Valkolar - all of them have a part to play, and so do a great many others.
This is what Vampire fiction should be… a bloody, lusty, gutsy romp of a book!
And that was a good thing for me, because I can’t stand Vampires - there I said it. All that can’t go out in sunlight, crucifixes, holy water, reflections and the such… and so Bowyer’s take on the vampire genre is as refreshing as you would expect bloody… all bets are off!
Bowyer said that this is his most stripped back work to date, his work was already stripped back and so I wondered if I’d be looking at just a few sentences on the page. But it is stripped back, he’s gutted the life out of it, but what remains is the soul of the story and this one is dark and enthralling - and with needless scene exploration gutted from the book, what we get is a runaway train of a horror novel.
There is such speed in Bowyer’s writing, such onwards propulsion that the pages just fly, and the story unravels at break-neck speed, causing the reader whiplash at many points.
But with all the stripped back prose, there is a story here and characters that you’ll remember long after you’ve stopped - the twins, Kirsten and Jamie, Naomi and Valkolar - all of them have a part to play, and so do a great many others.
This is what Vampire fiction should be… a bloody, lusty, gutsy romp of a book!
January 31, 2023
A Thrilling Vampire Read!
I couldn’t swipe the pages on Kindle Unlimited fast enough and read Bowyer’s new book, “Alive Undead” in 24 hours!
As a huge Bowyer reader, I’m used to the mainstays of his stories—dismembered bodies, blood, booze, drugs, and getting into the heads of his serial killers.
“Alive Undead” includes all of what one would expect from Bowyer and more—Delarosa, a man of the cloth who craves sex with young boys; telepathic twins (Sirius and Olivia) who form a rock band; and a female vampire who clones and eats her own vampiric-newborns because she prefers the taste of her own blood, to highlight a few of my favorite characters.
Enter the Temple of Enmity on a misty night to explore savage, unspeakable desires?
The atmospheric writing of misty, drizzling nights with Biblical references laced appropriately made this a thrilling read for me.
More Vampire extreme horror books from Brian Bowyer, please.
Highly recommended.
I couldn’t swipe the pages on Kindle Unlimited fast enough and read Bowyer’s new book, “Alive Undead” in 24 hours!
As a huge Bowyer reader, I’m used to the mainstays of his stories—dismembered bodies, blood, booze, drugs, and getting into the heads of his serial killers.
“Alive Undead” includes all of what one would expect from Bowyer and more—Delarosa, a man of the cloth who craves sex with young boys; telepathic twins (Sirius and Olivia) who form a rock band; and a female vampire who clones and eats her own vampiric-newborns because she prefers the taste of her own blood, to highlight a few of my favorite characters.
Enter the Temple of Enmity on a misty night to explore savage, unspeakable desires?
The atmospheric writing of misty, drizzling nights with Biblical references laced appropriately made this a thrilling read for me.
More Vampire extreme horror books from Brian Bowyer, please.
Highly recommended.
May 9, 2023
Not since reading Poppy Z. Brite’s Lost Souls decades ago have I loved a vampire story so much. Brian Bowyers Alive Undead, however, is now one of my favourites. His gritty, realistic writing style brings this tale to life. The vampires have their foibles and for being almost immortal, they are very human in so many ways. Brian really knows how to bring his characters to life.
This gore soaked and sometimes disturbing story follows many vampire and human characters in several different storylines as they cross paths, for good or bad, advancing the plot and keeping me turning the pages. You’ll be rooting for the “bad guys” and despising other characters, who, given their place in life should not be so genuinely evil. Yet they are.
I love Brian’s writing style and how the characters and their paths intersect until it all builds to a crescendo. There are never any lose ends or questions left as he deftly spins his lurid tales.
I’m not even a huge fan of the vampire genre but Alive Undead stands out as top tier to me. Whether you love vampire tales or not, don’t pass this one up!
This gore soaked and sometimes disturbing story follows many vampire and human characters in several different storylines as they cross paths, for good or bad, advancing the plot and keeping me turning the pages. You’ll be rooting for the “bad guys” and despising other characters, who, given their place in life should not be so genuinely evil. Yet they are.
I love Brian’s writing style and how the characters and their paths intersect until it all builds to a crescendo. There are never any lose ends or questions left as he deftly spins his lurid tales.
I’m not even a huge fan of the vampire genre but Alive Undead stands out as top tier to me. Whether you love vampire tales or not, don’t pass this one up!
November 10, 2023
This was my third trip through the literary mind of Bowyer, previously reading AUTUMN GOTHIC and KILL FACTOR. And what a wild and sadistic trip it was! I would say this is the most extreme of those three, and I would highly recommend it to fans of the genre and the author. The book has memorable, unique and well-developed vampires at its center, and a serial killer character who you won't soon forget as well. As is usual with Bowyer's work, the pacing is excellent with short chapters and lean-to-the-bone writing. It really tightens up in the closing chapters and has an ending that is set up well for a sequel. I join other readers in their hope to see more of this vampire world from Brian.
July 8, 2025
The author's writing is stark and bleak; it's written to allow the reader to fill in the blanks in the mind. As such, it's probably best to be read in short sessions rather than dived into and power read. You'll enjoy it more if you allow yourself to live with it a bit. If you do, welcome to a land without heroes, where everyone wants something, and what they want is horrible.
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April 2, 2024This one just wasn’t for me. I know a lot of people love this book but I put it down at 52% after giving it a fair shot.
The story seemed interesting but there were too many characters for me and I found myself having to go back and remind myself who was who. I also struggled with the dialogue and found it just didn’t flow for me.
With that said, there are other books by this author I will 100% check out in the near future as I’ve heard great things, this one just wasn’t a good fit for me.
The story seemed interesting but there were too many characters for me and I found myself having to go back and remind myself who was who. I also struggled with the dialogue and found it just didn’t flow for me.
With that said, there are other books by this author I will 100% check out in the near future as I’ve heard great things, this one just wasn’t a good fit for me.
April 6, 2024
🧛🏾🧛🏾🧛🏾🧛🏾🧛🏾/5
I notoriously don’t like vampires. If I read a vampire story, I want them to be animalistic killing machines a la 30 days of night. My ass will fall asleep if I have to read about what color their petticoat was on the veranda of Lord BeefWellingtonShire’s Cotillion, etc. So I was hesitant to try another, but I had heard so many good things about Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer…I had high hopes…and ended up loving it!
Quick synopsis: No time for backstory, we hit the ground running. Blood, violence, no remorse or rationale whatsoever. We are pulled into the *after* lives of a group of vampires that are…for lack of a better term…dirtbags. They lie, cheat, steal, abduct, maim, and devour with reckless abandon. Criminals, addicts, savage guttersnipes that want their next fix. They are hungry and when it’s time to eat, it’s whoever happens to be in reach.
Bowyer wrote a gritty, bleak underworld of sanguineous demigods that you aren’t rooting for but…you enjoy their brazen gameplay with the cards they were dealt. After more than a few centuries, I’m sure I would be tired of the bullshit myself. This book was an immersion into a chaotic vampireverse that I enjoyed immensely & welcome more of. Highly recommend!
I notoriously don’t like vampires. If I read a vampire story, I want them to be animalistic killing machines a la 30 days of night. My ass will fall asleep if I have to read about what color their petticoat was on the veranda of Lord BeefWellingtonShire’s Cotillion, etc. So I was hesitant to try another, but I had heard so many good things about Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer…I had high hopes…and ended up loving it!
Quick synopsis: No time for backstory, we hit the ground running. Blood, violence, no remorse or rationale whatsoever. We are pulled into the *after* lives of a group of vampires that are…for lack of a better term…dirtbags. They lie, cheat, steal, abduct, maim, and devour with reckless abandon. Criminals, addicts, savage guttersnipes that want their next fix. They are hungry and when it’s time to eat, it’s whoever happens to be in reach.
Bowyer wrote a gritty, bleak underworld of sanguineous demigods that you aren’t rooting for but…you enjoy their brazen gameplay with the cards they were dealt. After more than a few centuries, I’m sure I would be tired of the bullshit myself. This book was an immersion into a chaotic vampireverse that I enjoyed immensely & welcome more of. Highly recommend!
November 17, 2023
I really don't know why I waited so long to read Brian Bowyer, I feel like the biggest fool that it has taken me so long. The short chapters! The no nonsense violence! It has been said in other reviews, but the 'stripped-down' writing is really an amazing feature of this book, the way it doesn't feel like it has to explain every minute detail is refreshing, and allows readers to make their own visuals. And the dialogue! I loved it all. "The whiskey isn't working," Kristen said. "Let's go drink some blood."
I die.
I die.
August 5, 2023
I recently finished reading Alive Undead by Brian Bowyer and it’s fire. It’s dark, pulls no punches, and the vampires don’t sparkle. Written in a sparse, bare bones style reminiscent of Richard Christian Matheson and a combination of hardboiled crime fiction writers, I could barely put it down. Probably one of my favorite vampire books of all time.
August 29, 2023
Another wild ride by Bowyer. He is one of my favorite authors and always delivers. Fast paced and brutal. Very interesting take on vampires and filled with many disturbing things. Do not sit on this, read it!!! In fact, read all of his work. If not, you’re missing out!
August 23, 2023
A vampire story so dark and brutal it will chill you to the bone.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews