The Dead Won't Die

August 31, 2015
In the predictable second title Deadlands postapocalyptic novel (following The Plague of the Undead), series protagonist Jacob Carlton continues battling for his life against the so-called Great Texas Herd of zombies. Survival is a relentless struggle. He and his two remaining friends, Kelly Banis and Chelsea Walker, are completely surrounded by the mindless undead. At the last minute, they are saved by a survey ship from Temple, a technologically advanced society with familiar politics. The trio, who thought they had useful data to trade, are instead hounded by a group of self-serving politicos intent on seeing that information buried. McKinney’s story is bogged down by wooden characters, seat-of-the-pants plotting, and convenient escapes from improbable situations. On the good side, there’s loads of gory action; on the bad side, there’s every other part of the book.