The Rising (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = The Rising
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Brian Keene
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Horror novel
publisher = Delirium Books
release_date = April 2003
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 1-929653-41-7 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by =
followed_by = City of the Dead

"The Rising" is the first book in a series of zombie-themed horror novels written by author Brian Keene. This title won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003. "The Rising" was optioned for both film and video game adaptation in 2004.

Plot introduction

The dead are returning to life as zombies. But they are not just flesh-eating ghouls, they are intelligent, capable creatures that are taking on all forms of life: both human and animal. Trapped by the undead, escape seems impossible for Jim Thurmond. But Jim’s young son is alive and in dire peril hundreds of miles away with his ex-wife and her husband. Despite overwhelming odds, Jim vows to find him— or die trying.

Joined by an elderly preacher, a guilt-ridden scientist, and a determined ex-prostitute, Jim embarks on a cross-country rescue mission. They must battle both the living and the undead. And for Jim and his companions, an even greater evil awaits them at the end of their journey. This is the time of...The Rising.

Plot summary

The story starts off in the aftermath of a secret particle accelerator experiment. ] Somehow the experiment has opened some sort of interdimensional rift allowing demons to possess the dead. As the dead come back to life, the zombie plague that results is not like any other plague shown in movies like "Night of the Living Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead".

The story's protagonist is Jim Thurmond, a construction worker living in West Virginia. Hiding away in a bomb shelter, which was previously constructed because of a fear of the aftermath of Y2K, Thurmond holds off packs of roving zombies, many of which were his neighbors and one of which is his recently deceased second wife who was pregnant. A distraught Jim laments his situation and worries about his son, Danny, who is living with Jim's first wife in upstate New Jersey. Jim considers suicide when unexpectedly Jim's cellphone rings with a message from his son, Danny. Danny whispers into the phone that while their situation is equally morbid they are, for the present moment, safe hiding away from the zombies. Jim's suicidal thoughts turn around into a new purpose - to rescue Danny. Jim packs some supplies from the shelter and heads out into an apocalyptic United States overrun with gruesome sights. Jim fights his way out of the shelter by killing his undead neighbors and even his undead second wife, who taunts him with his unborn daughter. The moment he leaves the shelter, Jim is on the run discovering that the undead possess the ability to think, drive cars, use weapons, and set traps for the living.

Meanwhile, a scientist named Baker, who was working on the covert project involving cosmic black holes is trapped within the confines of his underground workspace. With the undead epidemic having swept the world for which Baker is directly responsible he begins to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. An old colleague is trapped inside a room, a member of the undead who refers to himself as Ob. He hints that he comes from somewhere called The Void, the connotation of which appears to be like "Hell" on Earth. He learns that the zombies are not occupied by their original selves but instead a different evil entity with the possession of the host body's memories and personalities. Baker eventually escapes and finds his life being saved by Worm, a mentally handicapped young man whom grateful Baker takes under his wing.

Jim eventually meets Martin, a wise elderly black minister. The two join forces to find Danny and soon run into many life-threatening situations such as packs of roving zombies, backwood cannibals seeking extra food and undead wildlife. Among one of their exploits, they run into a father and son in hiding, who help them along the way until tragedy strikes in a double suicide for the two. At the same time, Frankie, a heroin user and prostitute who is trying to hide from a vengeful pimp, narrowly escapes disaster in the Baltimore Zoo begins a trek out of the cities and into the country. Somewhere within Pennsylvania, the National Guard is present which has literally become psychotic with Colonel Schow, a sociopathic official leading a crew of horny, violent soldiers who abuse their authority by violently drafting people into their army and turning women into sexual slaves to satisfy the soldiers. With utter disregard the army uses living humans as zombie bait. Amongst all this chaos a lone private named Skip, who is disgusted with his comrades' behavior, looks to escape.

Frankie eventually meets up with Jim and Martin. Together they help Jim reach his destination, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Professor Baker, the scientist responsible for creating the zombie outbreak, finds that Ob is possessing his assistant who had decided to kill himself. Ob is the leader of the demons that are infesting the world and taking over the dead and he demands to be released from the room that Professor Baker has trapped him in. The story also keeps tabs on one of the other scientists in charge of the particle accelerator as he too seeks his destiny in a world full of the undead.

In the final chapter all the main characters meet which results in a scene of extreme violence providing a cliffhanger conclusion that raises more questions than answers.

Quotes

* "We are your masters. Demons, your kind called us. Djinn. Monsters. We are the source of your legends - the reason you still fear the dark."
* "This is our world now. Surrounded on all sides by the dead."
* "The color of death isn't black. It's red."

tory analysis

"The Rising" draws aspects from George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead", Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" as well as Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend".

Unlike "Resident Evil" or "28 Days Later", where biological agents trigger the happenings, the cause can at best be attributed to being a spiritual/scientific one with demons being unwittingly unleashed from a place called "The Void". The Void is explained to be neither Heaven, nor Hell, but a place that is devoid of life and quite cold and empty. It is only after the mysterious particle acceleration experiment that opens a dimensional doorway between The Void and Earth that they can escape their environment. The demons are part of something called the Sissquism and their leader is Obot, or Ob for short. A similar character is present in Morton Smith's book, "Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God?" where Smith states the following of Ob:

"The 'obot (plural of 'ob) are a mysterious class of beings, commonly said to be 'spirits of the dead,' but probably some sort of underworld deities. Although they are in the realm of the dead, and speak from the earth in whispering voices (Isaiah 8.19; 29.4), they are associated with deities and are referred to as objects of worship to whom Israelites sometimes turn, abandoning Yahweh."

It is said that these spirits were wielding influence even in the past as stated in this passage:

"These 'obot can enter men and live in them, evidently for a long time, so that the man possessed is known as 'one who has an 'ob' (I Sam. 28.7), more specifically, 'one who has in him an 'obot'. The priestly law said such persons were to be stoned (Lev. 20.27). The most famous of them is 'the witch of Endor' to whom King Saul went when Yahweh refused to speak to him (I Sam. 28.8). Saul said to her, 'Do magic for me with the 'ob and bring up (the spirit of) the man I shall name.' Evidently here permanent, personal 'ob was not the same as the spirit who was to be brought up just this once." "Belief in 'obot or similar powers seems to have lived on in Palestine to at least the third century A.D., when it is attested by some...rabbinic passages..."

Hence, it can be seen that elements from "The Rising" are borrowed from biblical texts.

"The Rising" also consists of a similar structure as other mainstream horror stories with a prime example being how the military is portrayed as the antagonist. This is akin to Romero's "Day of the Dead" and "28 Days Later" where the military is similarly depicted. As embodied by the coldblooded Colonel Schow, the National Guard of Keene's book is generally psychotic and immoral but eventually find themselves violently undone by their own arrogance and destroyed by the hordes of zombies.

A key theme of "The Rising" is how in times of crisis, transformations occur changing even the most simple civilian like Jim into a seemingly staunch hero, a theme that can be paralleled to the film adaptation of "War of the Worlds". The conversion of the National Guard from a symbol of security and assurance to that of fear and totalitariansm also carries on this line of reasoning.

Editions

* Ultra Edition Hardcover (Delirium Books, April 2003): Limited to 6 signed and numbered copies, bound in leather and packaged in a leather hinge box. 324 pages; Dimensions (inches): 1.25 x 8.50 x 5.75.
* Leather-Bound Hardcover (Delirium Books, April 2003): Limited to 26 signed and numbered copies. 324 pages; Dimensions (inches): 1.25 x 8.50 x 5.75.
* Limited Edition Hardcover (Delirium Books, April 2003): Limited to 300 signed and numbered copies. 324 pages; Dimensions (inches): 1.25 x 8.50 x 5.75; ISBN 1-929653-41-7.
* Mass Market Paperback (Leisure Books, Jan. 2004): The title on the front cover is raised (embossed). 336 pages; Dimensions (inches): 0.95 x 6.78 x 4.24; ISBN 0-8439-5201-6.
* Mass Market Paperback, Second Printing (Leisure Books, 2005): The title on the front cover is flat (non-embossed). 336 pages; Dimensions (inches): 0.95 x 6.78 x 4.24; ISBN 0-8439-5201-6.
* Mass Market Paperback, Third Printing (Leisure Books, 2006): The title on the front cover is flat (non-embossed). 336 pages; Dimensions (inches): 0.95 x 6.78 x 4.24; ISBN 0-8439-5201-6.

Trivia

* A comic book adaptation, written by Keene, was licensed by the now defunct company Indie Gods. The scripts and artwork that were completed will be published in 2006 by Delirium Books under the title "".
* Author Richard Laymon, who died two years before "The Rising" was released, wrote a blurb used for promotion of the book. The blurb was written in 2000 and based on the first draft of the novel.
* There is an alternate ending to "The Rising" that was published in the Lettered Edition of "City Of The Dead". In it, Jim Thurmond enters the house to find his son, Danny, has turned into a zombie.
* While attempting to rescue his son, Jim is giving directions. Eventually he states "It is the last house on the left." An obvious reference to the Wes Craven film "The Last House On The Left".
* The character, Colonel Schow, is named as a tribute to splatterpunk pioneering author, (and creator of the term) David J. Schow.
* The Obot are significantly referenced in at least two of Keene's other novels. In "The Conqueror Worms", the Obot are among the evil deities that an insane cult worship. In "Ghoul", there is a moment of reflection from the creature's point of view in which it is made clear that the Obot are "cousin" to the monstrous race of which the Ghoul belongs. However, despite the creature's reference to the Obot and knowledge of their ultimate plans, "The Ghoul" is not recognized nor considered to be a prequel of any sort to "The Rising".

References

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/fashion/sundaystyles/26ZOMBIES.html?scp=2&sq=brian+keene&st=nyt "NY Times" review of "The Rising"]