Taut supernatural apocalypse thriller

I first read this in paperback many years ago, and revisited it recently to find that it still packs a wallop. One of the very first zombie novels, this is also one of the best.
No Romero zombies these; Roger’s version of the undead are intelligent and malicious, possessed by their own damned souls and determined to drag everyone else into Hell.

Despite being agnostic, I’ve always found religious horror terrifying. What if the universe really is run by a judgemental God who punishes disbelief with eternal torment? That’s a horrific thought, and that’s what we see play out here. God’s final judgement has come, the few truly good people are raptured off the paradise, and the evil and the undecided are left in a world slowly running down, pursued by the damned in their own reanimated bodies.

Some reviewers criticise the theological speculations between some of the characters, but if *you* were trapped in a bizarre situation, wouldn’t you try and reason out what had happened?

Roger’s plot is tense and terrifying, and grips right up to the end. There may have been better zombie apocalypse novels written, but most follow the form established by the Romero movies (no bad thing). This is something very different, and far more personal. These walking dead are smart, and they don’t just want us dead. They want us to suffer like they do, for all eternity.

Brrrrr.

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