Wake The Dead

Book Description

Steve Niles, the acknowledged master of horror comics, turns his sights on the Frankenstein story in this terrifying tale, illustrated by new sensation Chee. College student Victor works to reverse death, not knowing what a can of worms he's opening up. But he'll find out...

Customer Reviews:

good.......2007-09-04

not bad.. quite greusome... a different take on frankenstien. all in all i was a little pissed i paid cover price for it when i coulda gotten it here for alot less

Introduces young adult readers to a literary classic.......2004-11-07

Getting young adult readers to pick up a literary classic like Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a hard call these days. Give them a book like Steve Nile's "Wake the Dead" and you won't get it back off them.

Steve Niles modernizes the tale, and the artwork in this graphic novel is suprerb. It brings to life all the horrific and gory details of assembling a human body from evicerated car crash victims. Though the concept isn't new (it wasn't even in Mary Shelley's day, with the concept of a golem pre-dating her work) it does bring the story to life for a modern audience.

Rehash.......2004-11-01

This is little more than a transplantation of the original Frankenstein to a modern setting. It moves way too fast; no time is spent on narrative or character development. It really adds nothing to Mary Shelley's work, and is deeply lacking in comparison.
I am becoming a fan of Steve Niles. "30 Days of Night" and his adaptation of "I Am Legend" were inspired; this is a big step backwards for him.

The art is competent, but it adopts the convention that human flesh is apparently a soft clay that shreds at the slightest trauma. Teeth have a very hard time staying in place, as they also seem eager to pop out. The art nearly made me nauseous; I suppose some people will take that as an endorsement.

I recently heard someone say that body without soul does not equal life. This story reanimates the body of Shelley's classic novel, but it possesses none of its soul.

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

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Never Forget Wake Island!
Remarkable Courage
Well researched, clearly written, excellent sources, a valuable historical reference.
One of the first tough fights for the American army in WWII
A fantastic narrative history of little known Wake Island

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island
Bill Sloan
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0553803026
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Book Description

A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the “Alamo of the Pacific” will reverberate for generations to come.

On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds.

When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong––but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found—stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn’t awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead—and had the Marines simply given up?

In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it. From the civilians who served as gunmen, medics, and even preachers, to the daily grind of life on an isolated island—literally at the ends of the earth—to the agony of POW camps, here we meet our heroes and confront the enemy face-to-face, bayonet to bayonet.

Customer Reviews:

Never Forget Wake Island!.......2007-08-18

Wake Island should have an unforgetable spot in American history, but as Bill Sloan says in this wonderful book, most Americans under 50 never heard of it. As a youngster growing up in WWII I remember the battle for Wake Island and the intense patriotism it generated in our country. Sloan's account is well researched and his descriptions and accounts will bring you right into the battle. History can sometimes be a boring read, but this is so well done you'll hardly be able to put it down. The personal stories of these men are what make it come to life. These are real heros and yet, fellows that came from ordinary American backgrounds. This is a great tribute to our Military and how much we owe them for our freedoms. I'd like to see this book as required reading in all high school history classes. It's a real winner!

Remarkable Courage.......2006-11-13

"Given Up For Dead" is a well written and moving account of the battle for Wake Island days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to start WWII, the small military force and civilian community on Wake Island were thrust into the first major battle of the Pacific conflict with barley anything more than determination and patriotic pride. Ill prepared to fight against the Japanese, the soldiers and civilians on the island working to develop this barren coral reef into an outpost, were forced to stand strong and push back what seemed like a never ending flow of Japanese air strikes and ground invasions.

The will and determination of these soldiers, told through meticulous research and 1st person accounts, is truly amazing. The courage these soldiers and civilians displayed was an inspiration to the nation and came at a time when the nation was in need of optimism after the Pearl Harbor attacks. It is hard to imagine (even with Bill Sloan's perfect story telling) how these men withstood such odds and continued to fight so bravely after their own commanders and government gave up on them.

What a tremendous story of will, determination and pride. It will make the patriotic hairs on your head stand up and cheer for these soldiers who gave it all they had in a fight they had no chance of winning. A remarkable story that should be told again and again. Three cheers to Bill Sloan for writing a superb recount of the battles and keeping the memory of these men alive.

Well researched, clearly written, excellent sources, a valuable historical reference........2006-10-17

There seems to be three types of books when it comes to the Wake Island saga: the personal account, the scholarly analysis, and the journalistic story.
Bill Sloan's book is the latter, a tapestry comprising personal stories, academic research as well as critical historical as well as tactical analysis.
Sloan introduces the characters as the story evolves, piecing together many of the inconsistencies found in earlier published works.
Sloan is highly critical of CDR Winfield Cunningham's role in both the command of the garrison as well as his responsibility for the garrison's surrender. Also criticized is the more heralded MAJ James Devereux, whose shortcomings, albeit much more limited, are also realized.
This is an exceptional book which shall serve as a valuable anthology of some less heard stories of Wake's survivors and dead alike.
Truly an homage to these men, so many of whom we are in the midst of losing today, whose gallantry will hopefully not be lost to the fickle memory of American History.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR THOUGHTS, OPINIONS AND CRITIQUES!

One of the first tough fights for the American army in WWII.......2005-02-28

Everybody knows about Pearl Harbor, and the sneak attack by the Japanese that helped usher the Americans into World War II. On the other hand, not that many people know about Wake island, the heroic stand of less than 1000 U.S. Marines and the civilian contractors who were there to help build it up, which began very shortly after Pearl Harbor and ended two days before Christmas. With Given Up For Dead, Bill Sloan has done his part to rectify this lack of knowledge. With powerful prose and words from the men who served there (and even a few from the invaders), Sloan tells us the story of these men and what they went through. The book is riveting, relatively easy to read, and quite thorough.

Wake island is a sleepy little atoll out in the middle of the Pacific, but it is strategically located. It was originally supposed to be built up during the 1930s, but lack of funding hampered this, until the coming of Pan Am, who wished to use it as a base for transoceanic travel. The island is mostly coral, scrub and trees, and is pretty desolate. For these men, however, it would become a crucible, and it would also gain the American army its first victory over the Japanese, though it was short-lived. The final defeat is shown to be completely unnecessary, as only a few miscues by the commanders (both on the island itself and back in Hawaii) result in the premature ending of a battle that was actually going fairly well for the Americans.

Sloan has interviewed most of the survivors from this battle, and he references the books written by the two commanders who died in the 1980s. This gives a very vivid view of the battle, right on the ground watching as the 3-inch gun crews manage to blow up two Japanese destroyers who ventured too close to land. We see the maneuvering during the second invasion, as Captain Wesley Platt manages to clear Wilkes island (one of the three islands that make up Wake Atoll) of all Japanese invaders, just prior to being ordered to surrender. Sloan pulls no punches, with the occasional description of battle that is quite graphic, but he doesn't go overboard. Instead, he makes it real.

The book begins with the history of the Wake atoll, from its discovery until its use as a military base, culminating in the pre-war years of build-up through Pan-Am and the military. This sets up the rest of the battle, as many of the civilian contractors who were on the island for this construction end up playing pivotal roles in the defense of the island. Some of the most heroic men who died were the civilians who volunteered to do whatever they could to help the Marines who were dying for them. Sure, some of the contractors fled to the jungle and survived on their own for two weeks, though strangely enough we never really hear about them again. Sloan mentions them in passing, but we never know exactly what happened to them. They were presumably killed, but if they were captured, Sloan never mentions them. Most of the civilians, however, took part in the defense.

Even more important than a detailed description of the battle, however, is the aftermath. Sloan tells us about the horrifying sea voyage of some of the prisoners, from Wake to Japan and then to a camp near Shanghai, about the desolate conditions on the ship and the brutality of their captors. There is no mention of any deaths on this voyage, except for the five who were beheaded up on the deck for no apparent reason (and Sloan states that the reason for this has never been revealed), so I'm not sure if that's glossed over or if it's just a fact that nobody died. The journey was horrible, though. Sloan also shows a few "good" Japanese soldiers, including Doctor Ozeki, who saved the life of Wiley Sloman back on Wake. Sloman had taken a bullet in the head, and Ozeki eventually saved him. None of the men had anything bad to say about him, and he even met with some of the survivors in 1995. Ed Borne even called Ozeki his best friend after years of correspondence with him.

In addition to all of this, Sloan examines the surrender and why it happened. A relief fleet was sailing toward Wake, but it was going too slow because of both the slowest ship's speed and the ambivalence of the new temporary commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Pye, toward the relief effort. Add this to the severed communications between the commanders of the Wake defense and the troops giving the commanders a wrong impression of what was going on and you get a recipe for a premature surrender. Platt had cleared one island and was looking to go help on one of the others. The Marines could probably have held out for two or three more days, but the relief convoy was aborted as soon as Commander Cunningham, commander of the garrison, indicated to the Pacific Fleet headquarters (in a cryptic, though dramatic message) that Japanese troops were on the island and the situation was grim. What could have been a major American victory turned into another defeat.

Given Up For Dead is a book that's hard to put down. The book is well-researched, with most of the sources being interviews or the books written by men who fought there. There are a few details missing, as mentioned above, but overall this is quite the comprehensive work. It will keep any military history reader turning the page, and it is an important book for bringing to light a forgotten battle. Everybody remembers the Alamo, but hardly anybody seems to remember the Alamo of the Pacific.

David Roy

A fantastic narrative history of little known Wake Island.......2005-02-24

Every high school student knows about the events of December 7, 1941 ("Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..."), but almost nobody knows what happened on the other side of the globe only a few hours after that surprise attack on Pearl Harbor started - the Japanese attacked a tiny island of coral in the midst of the Pacific Ocean known as Wake Island.

Starting on December 8 (local time) and ending on December 23, the Japanese attempted to overrun Wake Island, but the Marine bastion stationed there resisted with passion and courage unknown to most. For 2 weeks, these marines held out against superior odds, and that is the crux of this book.

Sloan does a fabulous job of describing the history of the battle - it's more than a recant of the military posturing or the general's orders; it is a true narrative history of the soldiers that participated intertwined with the civilians that were unlucky enough to be on Wake when the attacks started and the actions of the commanding officers.

Publishers Weekly called this "The best account yet of the battle for Wake Island", and I would agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. This is indeed an awesome book, and every student of World War II history should read this to better understand why Wake is so important in our history. It may have ended in the surrender of American troops on the island, but it was important from a psychological perspective - it proved to the Japanese and the world that America would not die quietly; we would indeed persevere even in the face of tough odds.

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THE SICK TWISTED MIND OF RICHARD LAYMON SCORES AGAIN!
Just plain sick
Mr. Layman does it again!! Creepy stuff!!
This tale will sear your brain, great fun!
Laymon at his best

To Wake The Dead
Richard Laymon
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 084395468X

Book Description

An ancient beauty . . .

Amara was once the Princess of Egypt, the beautiful wife of Mentuhotep the First. Now, 4000 years later, she and her coffin are merely prized exhibits of the Charles Ward museum. Her lovely face and strong, young body are no more. If you were to look at her today you would see only a brittle bundle of bones and dried skin. But looks can be very deceiving. . . .

A missing mummy . . .

Barney, the museum's night watchman, is the first to make the shocking discovery that the mummy's coffin has been broken open. He immediately assumes it's the work of grave-robbers who care nothing about the sanctity of the dead. But Barney doesn't have a chance to do anything about it. Then two security guards come upon the open coffin and they too believe that the mummy has been stolen. What else could sane men think? By the time they realize the unbelievable truth, it's far too late for them to do anything . . . ever again.

The walking dead!

Now Amara is once again freed from the cramped confines of her coffin, free to walk the earth, free to stalk her prey. Free to kill. Nothing can satisfy her deadly bloodlust. And no one can stop her. You cannot kill what is already dead.

Customer Reviews:

THE SICK TWISTED MIND OF RICHARD LAYMON SCORES AGAIN!.......2007-08-11

To wake the dead is another multi-story read from the great laymon which paths all cross at some point in the book...though if you read the back of the book it only explains the premise for one of this books storys and while that story is good the best one is unmentioned. The main focus here is a vicious female egyptian mummy awakened in modern day.....but the book explains the whole back story of course.....the gem here in my opinion centers around the story of a young teenage boy who has a long walk home when he and his gf get in a fight in the middle of nowhere and she speeds away without him leaving him stranded....He's then knocked unconcious in the night and abducted by someone who sticks him in a dark room inside a cage.....but he's not alone, there are 2 other captives here and there both inside cages.....There captor then proceeds to force them to have sex or they die.......yes there is more but i don't want to spoil it.....This is a sick twisted story that i just bathed in...4 stars!

Just plain sick.......2007-06-07

An ugly novel filled with sexual torture, gratuitous violence, and way too many unrelated characters with convoluted story lines. Mr. Laymon has such a legion of fans and his books most generally have good recommendations. But while I don't mind some blood or gore (it's horror, after all) this one was sickening and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Mr. Layman does it again!! Creepy stuff!!.......2006-10-31

I own almost all of Mr. Layman's books and have to say this is one is a nail bitter. As usual he has some sick and twisted moments in the book but hey, that is Layman!! Highly recommend if you like his other books. Couldn't put this one down!

This tale will sear your brain, great fun!.......2006-09-14

My first introduction to Richard Laymon happened with a book called "No Sanctuary" followed by "Blood Games" and I think those were the best books to give me a taste of true Richard. Two years later I gingerly pick his books off my shelf and read them with insatiable appetite for I am accustomed to his style of gore, sex and whacky stories that morph into one giant, insane tale. When in the mood for his style of horror, there is no other writer who can deliver me what I want to read, so taking in all that I know of him "To Wake the Dead" was a great book but with some minor flaws, hence the 4 star rating.

I believe that this book should have been about a hundred pages longer, as there are so many characters introduced that I had a hard time keeping up with who was who. He, or rather the mummy did not spare a lot of them as they were ripped to shreds, perhaps that many were needed in order to chill me to the bone since he sacrificed more characters than in any other book I have ever read. This would have been a five star book if I could find out more about what happens to them all in the end, as there are some hanging and suspenseful moments that he build through out the story that I am dying to read about.

This is not your regular mummy horror tale, forget what you saw on TV and all the Egyptian horror books you've read; this is the Laymon interpretation of a hungry, angry "woman" who happens to be a cursed mummy on a prowl. The meat of the story begins with a robbery at the Callahan mansion, where in chaos and fighting ancient seals of Osiris are broken, that free Amara, a 4000 year old mummy from its magical protective spell. When the next day the bodies are found with chunks of their faces ripped apart and the mummy back in the coffin, the Charles Ward museum takes the mummy for their exhibit as per Callahan's will and that's when the real trouble starts. At night when all is quiet with the inky blackness lit by silver stars, trouble stirs as Amara awakens in her gruesome brown wrinkled body, reeking of spices, as she makes herself a tasty snack with Barney, the night security guard. Night after night horrible deaths occur at the museum until she escapes, presumed to be stolen by the museum officials.

This is where the story starts to introduce some nice and some not so nice characters. Susan Connor, woman in charge of the Callahan exhibit and her police officer boyfriend Tag, have to deal with the missing mummy and with a woman named Maybel, a real scary nasty wench who is jealous of Tag and is out to get Susan. There is also Imad, once adopted by Callahan himself, now grown, an Egyptian with strangely polite manners and appetite for women, as he woes one after another in the course of the book. Following them is Grace, her boyfriend Cody and her sister Pix, who ran away from their North Carolina home due to some gruesome family behavior. They encounter some vile and despicable characters once they reach Hollywood. Next up in the tale we meet April, a blind woman, living alone who is sad and tired of her solitude at her murdered father's mansion. She longs to be loved and it's very interesting to see the story take her in and make a good use of her character. Then we have one of the best, yet most disturbing parts, Edward, Virginia and Marco, who are enslaved in metal cages, in a black room, ordered by a booming scary voice. The horrors and trembling emotions they go through can be a book all on its own, I would have loved to read their story, even more than the mummy story itself. It's very interesting how they tie in with the mummy and with all the other characters. There are some shocking explicit scenes, nothing I want to spoil that made me sick and totally captivated at the same time. Then there is the mummy itself on it's enigmatic quest, tearing through people as if they were mere weeds in a grassy field. She bites, rips, shreds and chews so many that I lost count. I wish I knew more of who she really was and where she was going.

All those separate, or so they seemd lives, followed the same big road that lead to Amara and her sharp teeth, and as usual half the fun with Laymon is to see how hard they clash.

As the tale continues, Amara is simply indestructible, as the only thing that can keep her in place are magical seals, now broken. She is strong, mean and deadly and has no preference who she eats as long as they are in her proximity. The ending was great, it truly ended with a bang, but I felt there were pieces missing, perhaps never edited by Laymon since this book as published after he died. For what it was I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to recollecting in my head the crazy things I just read about.

I know that this story was a big success, as it stayed in my head long after reading the last page. In my mind I would go back and revisit the scenes and emotions, as it was a never ending source of shivers.

- Kasia S.

Laymon at his best.......2005-12-31

This is a great Richard Laymon book. Sex, gore, violence, all the good stuff you could want from Laymon. Actually a pretty good story to revolve around the tired mummy plot, and that is what really saves the book.

Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues

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Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues

Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0820321583

Winds Can Wake Up the Dead: An Eric Walrond Reader (African American Life Series)

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Winds Can Wake Up the Dead: An Eric Walrond Reader (African American Life Series)
Eric Walrond
Manufacturer: Wayne State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

West Indian author, journalist, and essayist Eric Derwent Walrond (1898-1966) was the least-known and arguably most complex writer of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Guyana and raised in Barbados and Panama, Walrond had a view of upper Manhattan's city within a city as an outsider of Afro-Caribbean descent. "The white man in America strangely does not consider the West Indian a 'nigger,'" Walrond once remarked. He is to him a 'foreigner.'" But unlike most of his countrymen who tended to mythologize their differences and allegiances with the United States and Great Britain, Walrond revealed deeper nuances of the race, ethnicity, and immigrant life of West Indians. "Like many people from the Caribbean, Walrond became a permanent migrant, always having a sense of home while simultaneously feeling the loss of it. This contradiction is what often adds power and poignancy to his work," writes Professor Louis J. Parascandola of Long Island University, who edited Winds Can Wake the Dead, a pleasing potpourri of Walrond's eclectic work. It contains selections from his days as a reporter and editor for the Panama Star and Marcus Garvey's Negro World; his essays for the Urban League journal Opportunity; and his marvelous collection of short stories, Tropic Death--one of the most moving depictions of Caribbean life ever written. From his perceptive portrayal of Harlem in "The Black City" and his penetrating review of Richard Wright's "Twelve Million Black Voices" to his critique of the black condition in "The Negro Before the World," Eric Walrond's newly recovered works are a welcome addition to the Pan-African literary canon. --Eugene Holley Jr.

4 Complete & Unabridged Dr. Fell Mysteries: To Wake the Dead/ The Blind Barber/ The Crooked Hinge/ The Case of the Constant Suicides

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Fell play

4 Complete & Unabridged Dr. Fell Mysteries: To Wake the Dead/ The Blind Barber/ The Crooked Hinge/ The Case of the Constant Suicides
John Dickson Carr
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0517659565
Release Date: 1988-11-23

Customer Reviews:

Fell play.......2003-02-24

This collection contains: "To Wake the Dead," "The Blind Barber," "The Crooked Hinge," and "The Case of the Constant Suicides." All star Carr's elephantine, shovel-hatted detective, Dr. Gideon Fell.

"To Wake the Dead" (1938)- South African drunkenly bets a friend that he can travel from Capetown to London, on his own by Feb 1, without any money and without any aid except for his own wits. Murder ensues, as does the gargantuan Fell.

"The Blind Barber" (1934) - A shipboard mystery/comedy concerning the murder of a woman, whose body subsequently disappears, the loss of a valuable emerald, and recurrent assault and battery on the ship's captain by various blundering would-be detectives. This is the most blatantly farcical of all his books, with a lot of drunken shenanigans and a truly ditzy heroine. Fell does his detection from his arm chair, after the fact (smart man!).

"The Crooked Hinge" (1938)- John wasn't the heir, but the black sheep of the family when he was packed off to Colorado via the spanking, new ocean liner, 'Titanic.' He was thought to have died when his ship sank on her maiden voyage, but after his older brother dies without issue, not one but two John Farnleighs show up within a year of each other to claim the family estate and title. Could be subtitled "He doesn't have any legs!"

Book Description

This book explores how modernity gives rise to temporal disorders when time cannot be assimilated and integrated into the realm of lived experience. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s description of the shock experience of modernity through readings of Baudelaire, the book turns to Baudelaire and Flaubert in order to derive insights into the many temporal disorders (such as trauma, addiction, and fetishism) that pervade contemporary culture.

Through close readings of Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Elissa Marder argues that these nineteenth-century texts can, paradoxically, make us aware of aspects of present-day life that are not easily described or perceived. Following reflections by Benjamin, Jameson, and Lyotard, she shows that the ability to measure time increases in inverse proportion to the human ability to express it and create meaning through it. Although we have increased our ability to record events, we have become collectively less able to assimilate the experience of the very events that new technologies enable us to record. The literary articulations of addiction and fetishism in Baudelaire and Flaubert reveal that these temporal disorders can be understood structurally as expressions of an inability to live in time. At a psychic level, they can be read as attempts to ward off increased stimuli and unwanted aspects of reality by stopping time.

The book also interrogates the relationship between misogyny and modernity. By revealing the privileged function assigned to feminine figures in Baudelaire and Flaubert, and engaging with contemporary writings in psychoanalysis, feminism, and cultural studies, this work shows how the experience of time—and the attempts to stop it—become inscribed on a feminine or feminized body. Dead Time provides us with a way of understanding how our own collective temporal disorders may be part of the unassimilated legacy of nineteenth-century modernity.

Customer Reviews:

Dead Time Come Alive.......2002-12-10

With clarity and verve and energy, Dead Time updates Benjamin for the twenty-first century, illuminating how Baudelaire and Flaubert speak to the technology-laden twenty-first century.

The book unfolds with equal aplomb in the subjects' time and our own: time out of hand -- caused by war, personal trauma, and the persistent anxiety over fears of terrorism -- can be regained through an understanding of Flowers of Evil and Madame Bovary. You may not believe that nineteenth-century texts can hold the key, but they just may. Marder's book, written before 9/11 but with the event seemingly in mind at each turn, begins the work.
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Meticulously plotted
Farfetched But Entertaining

To Wake the Dead (Dr. Gideon Fell Mystery)
John Dickson Carr
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060809981

Customer Reviews:

Meticulously plotted.......2006-08-06

To my mind John Dickson Carr was the greatest mystery writer of the twentieth century in the sense that he was the most skilled at creating bizarre and fascinating puzzles. No mystery writer who plays at all fair with clues and evidence created works in which it was more difficult to guess the solution and identify the murderer. Though Carr's characters could be a bit flat, their interactions and conversations are refreshingly intelligent and plausible. He usually did a nice job creating a sort of P.G. Wodehouse meets Edgar Allan Poe atmosphere as well, with straight-laced upper-class Brits faced with frightening situations often hinting at the supernatural.

TO WAKE THE DEAD is one of his most intricate and baffling puzzles, though I think not one of his very best books. It drags a bit in the middle and the "Watson" character through whose eyes we encounter the action is a bit of a dud. Carr fans will want to check it out though, and if you are a mystery lover and have not read his work, you should!

Farfetched But Entertaining.......2005-01-03

Much of his work is now forgotten, but during his lifetime John Dickson Carr was regarded as among the finest of mystery novelists, a writer who counted both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers among his many fans. Although he wrote novels featuring various detective heroes, the most memorable by far is the rotund Dr. Gideon Fell, and the 1938 TO WAKE THE DEAD finds the erudite detective up to his constant quotations in the sort of "locked room" mystery for which Carr was so famous.

Wealthy young Christopher Kent has undertaken a bet: that he cannot work his way from South Africa to England without recourse to his own bank account. With less than twenty-four hours left before he can reveal himself and win the bet, Kent arrives at a London hotel he knows, hoping to scam a meal--only to find himself trapped in a room with a half open trunk and a dead woman's body.

Already a bit farfetched, the novel's next twist will likely strike readers as very farfetched indeed, and the "real time" style in which the book is written is a form that Carr does not carry quite as well he might. Even so, Carr brings the entire thing up with a good solution, and the book is an enjoyable read. Not among the first rank of Carr's work, but reasonably entertaining just the same.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Average customer rating:

Nice Twist on the Zombie Genre
Very Enjoyable Book
A worthy first effort from an interesting author
Engaging summer read.
Unusual entry in the undead genre

To Wake The Dead
Steven W Woeste
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595389007

Book Description

To Wake The Dead is a new take on the raising the dead phenomenon. What happens when people rationally try to investigate the living dead, and to give meaning to their existence? Can such an otherworldly occurrence be justified with the current scientific understanding of living things? How would people, and society, react to raising the dead, especially if it were to become routine, and even done against their wishes?

Who would control the use of those who had the ability to raise the dead, and what would they be used to do? If it was our government, could they trusted? Ultimately, who could you trust?

To Wake The Dead examines exactly what happens when the borders separating the living from the dead are redrawn, sometimes forcefully, and sometimes violently. No matter what positions the new boundaries occupy, the world will never be the same.

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Who would control the use of those who had the ability to raise the dead, and what would they be used to do? If it was our government, could they trusted? Ultimately, who could you trust?

Customer Reviews:

Nice Twist on the Zombie Genre.......2007-08-19

A compelling first novel with an interesting take on the use of resurrection as applied scientifically and politically. The novel suffers from some missed opportunities, at times a lack of depth where the main character is concerned and when addressing political and humanistic implications and exploration in relation to its subject matter. There were times I found protagonist Ed Harris unsympathetic and aloof, and a theater scene falls flat. A stronger editing would have benefited the book, as a number of transition scenes were either too abrupt or too drawn out and sentences and paragraphs needed tightening. The ending, somewhat of a letdown, felt a bit rushed. I would have liked to know more about "the talent", its development, why those who had it had it, and how those unaware of it managed to use it.
That aside, this book is well worth a read and at times quite entertaining. The author has a strong voice and a nice narrative flow and a great deal of potential. A number of scenes work very well, including a chilling plane crash scene that rose goosebumps and a little revulsion. The overall theme is also a fascinating one and perhaps a sequel delving into it more deeply is in order. Don't let the fact that it is self-published dissuade you; its prose is as gripping as many coming out of large publishing houses.
Overall, I would definitely recommend giving this book and this author a read. I've got a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Very Enjoyable Book.......2007-01-11

Being a huge Zombie fan I am always on the lookout for a good Zombie book. This book is not your typical Zombie story but it was well written and fun to read.

A worthy first effort from an interesting author.......2006-10-05

Imagine Michael Crichton crossed with Stephen King and you have some idea of what's in store with To Wake the Dead. The novel is essentially split into two parts, the first dealing with the discovery of "the Talent"- the ability to resurrect dead animals/humans for a short time- and the second with business and government's attempts to capitalize on the Talent. Dr. Woeste puts his expertise in molecular biology to good use here, creating a plausible scenario of research into the previously unthinkable and the Talent's reception by the scientific community. I can't help thinking that if someone were to discover something like the Talent in real life, events might play out very much as they do in To Wake the Dead.

The second part of the novel jumps forward several years, and includes harrowing imaginings of how the Talent might be used for altruistic- and later, more sinister- purposes. This is where Dr. Woeste tangles with ethical questions through the detached lens of his narrator. Ed Harris (later his last name changes in a minor editorial slip) is a departure from standard science fiction heroes. He's a creature of routine, rationally minded and a little bit misanthropic. He does his job, worries about the state of the world, and keeps to himself. Although Ed might not be to everyone's taste, I enjoyed reading the story through his eyes, because it allowed me to layer my own thoughts and feelings onto the situation- Ed became a camera recording events for me which I was then able to interpret as I saw fit.

In the end, I thought To Wake the Dead missed out a bit on some of its initial promise, leaving some of the juicy ethical questions hanging, but I still enjoyed where it led. Steven Woeste has told an engaging and creepy story. I can't help thinking that with some editorial assistance, it would have been even stronger- but I found it very enjoyable. I know Dr. Woeste personally, and he is a fascinating person, with a bone-dry sense of humor and a taste for good horror. I think he's a worthy new voice in the genre, and I hope he's picked up for wider distribution and gets the chance to further hone his storytelling talents. Well done!

Engaging summer read........2006-08-21

I just finished reading To Wake The Dead by Steven Woeste. I found the story to be both enjoyable and compelling. Dr. Woeste's research and science background give a deeper level of believability to the phenomenon of re-animation. This page turner was certainly a fun read with enough twists and turns to keep one thinking. I will never look at road-kill the same!

Unusual entry in the undead genre.......2006-07-27

Animal physiologist Ed HARRIS receives an email from a scientist friend Tom urging him to come over to his university. Over there Tom shows him what he brought back from his latest field trip - an undead dog! The two scientists examine the poor creature and try to find out where it came from and how it got back from the dead. This introduction with the scientist's lab experiments and their subsequent investigation is a bit CSI like (e.g. they detect a .22 calibre bullet in the undead dog's skull and back trace it to a gun buff club). It turns out eventually that there are people, who have some strange supernatural ability (the Talent) to resurrect the dead. When the scientists present their findings at a conference of the National Society for Research Scientists they are met with disbelief, outrage and hostility by the scientific community, prompting Tom to commit suicide.
Fastforward ten years in the future: Men and women from around the USA with the Talent (including Ed HARRIS) are concentrated in an Institute, where they are given assignments.Grudgingly accepted by the population, resurrection of the dead for the benefit of society (e.g. resurrecting a shot crime victim for gaining eyewitness testimony) is commonplace. However, there is something horrifying in store for Ed HARRIS...

TO WAKE THE DEAD is an unusual entry in the zombie genre. There is also a bit of political paranoia thriller thrown in for good measure. My favorite scene is when narrator Ed HARRIS (the book is written in the first person) has to confront a fellow Institute agent and his undead son in a cinema. Great! Important: Do NOT expect a gore fest, or you will be disappointed! Also don't be put off by the fact that the novel is selfpublished (iuniverse). This is NOT the usual awfully written fanboy fiction that gives self-publishing a bad name. The style is very good and vivid. The author manages to keep you hooked throughout.
On the down side there are one or two spoofs (e.g. the new institute director enters a room although it was established earlier that he is already there), but it is nothing overly distracting.
Overall an entertaining read and a clear recommendation!

Average customer rating:

Tribulations of a Member of Parliament
Excellent and heartbreaking

Wake the Dead
Dorothy Simpson
Manufacturer: Crimeline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553562525
Release Date: 1993-10-01

Customer Reviews:

Tribulations of a Member of Parliament.......2003-08-04

Inspector Luke Thanet and his wife Joan attend a fete at the estate of a Member of Parliament when the MP's mother turns up murdered. The woman had been in very bad health. The fete was good for Fairleigh's public image. Sergeant Lineham was Thanet's extra ears and eyes and he felt thwarted when Lineham was not present. Eventually, of course, he is brought into the picture. Thanet's wife Joan was a probation officer. She usually did not bring her work home, but at this stage she was concerned about Michele, someone who was a battered girl friend. Through the investigation, contacts made in the course of it, Thanet is able to suggest a job for her.

The victim had a sister who lived with the Fairleighs. The victim's sister had hidden depths. She was a secret gambler. The victim was apt to be manipulative in order to get her way according to some of the persons interviewed by the police. Along the way Sergeant Lineham learns that his son is dyslexic. I do not want to disclose the ending, particularly because I liked some of the characters and did not like seeing them pained. The writing is elegant and good. Undoubtedly the series is well worth following.

Excellent and heartbreaking.......2001-08-04

Marvelous. The local MP is hosting a sort of fair in the grounds of his house when he finds his elderly mother dead in her bed.

I've always enjoyed Inspector Thanet, and this is an excellent example of the British "cozy" -- except that it does point out that, for all the noise about serial killers, sometimes the worst things happen right in the bosom of the family.

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