Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist

For the politicians, it becomes a debate about whether or not the reliving have any rights, and how society should deal with them. For some, it’s a sign that death is not the end. Through the three families in this book – David and his son Magnus, and the reliving Eva (David’s wife and Magnus’s mother) Anna and her father Gustav and Anna’s reliving son Elias and Flora and her grandmother Elvy, and Elvy’s reliving husband Tore – different viewpoints on this reanimation are represented: it is the end of days it is a miracle it is a burden and more. If that appeals to you, I would recommend this book. This is more about the families and loved ones of the ‘reliving’, as they are referred to in this book, than it is about the reliving themselves.

A horror novel that transcends its genre by showing what the return of the dead might really mean to those who loved them. One grandfather is alight with hope that his grandson will be returned, but one husband is aghast at what his adored wife has become. In the morgue and in cemeteries, the recently deceased are waking up. Across Stockholm the power grid has gone crazy.

In his new novel, John Ajvide Lindqvist does for zombies what his previous novel, Let the Right One In, did for vampires. I borrowed this from the library because I read and enjoyed Lindqvist’s debut novel, Let the Right One In, a while back and was interested in reading more of his work.

Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist