Death Springs Eternal (The Rift Book III) [Kindle Edition]

Let me just start this review by saying this book absolutely blew me away.

I am, admittedly, a huge fan of Robert Duperre's work. I love the way he stretches the genre of horror to be so much more than the sum of it's parts. Like so many master authors before him, Robert Duperre has the ability to develop full, rich characters with brilliant abilities AND realistic flaws, he puts them in completely fleshed out scenery and amidst events dramatic on global and personal scales and he makes the reader connect in a viseral, emotional way.

The first two books in this series bring you to the point where life is not easy for these characters. The world as we know it has completely fallen apart. Those few who survived the horror begin to band together but are met time and again by obstacles, be they monsters or the aftermath. Still, humans have the inherant ability to move on, in the toughest circumstances, against the harshest of odds. And such is the case with these characters.

I loved the way Macy grew in this book, learning to trust herself and find love, making mistakes along the way. Josh too deepens his connection with Kyra, his long time love and the woman carrying his child. But the characters I was most fascinated by were those who had aligned themselves with evil.

There's Tom Steinberg, the former Speaker of the House, to start with. He's been around since The Fall, but in the first two books he was so controlled by Sam, the not-quite-a-real-man with the evil plan, that I didn't really connect with him. But Tom starts to question Sam in this book, pushing back as he remembers the things that are important to him: his wife and daughter. The struggle Tom endures to save his own soul becomes a prominent story line in this book.

We also meet the not-so-altruistic portions of the human race. General Bathgate and his toady, Cody Jackson, are some of the most dispicable characters I have ever come across in fiction, and I found them fascinating. The issues that roil within their psyche's are PROFOUND and deep. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what insanity they engage in and incite in the next and final book, The Summer Son!

I have but one warning for this book: the cliff-hanger just might kill you. But honestly, it's just SO worth it!!!

Bottom Line: Watch out! Robert Duperre will have you cringing, crying and desperate to see the anguish these characters are mired in stop. But the one thing you WON'T be doing, is putting this book down, because I know, like me, you won't be able to stop until you've savored every last word!

"Death Springs Eternal" is a the third of four books in 'The Rift' series by author Robert Duperre with illustrations by Jesse David Young.
This Kindle e-book was a 1397 Kb download (approx. 348 printed pages) and sold for $3.95 at the time of writing this review.

Please Note: the author provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers (general theme)

With the Zombie/Wraith infestation spreading across the land most of surviving humanity has been relegated to isolated pockets. The largest and most organized of these has been in Richmond, Virginia where self appointed General Alexander Bathgate has decided to set up the new capital of the USA. The problem is that his ranking is in name only... having procured his uniform from an injured 5 Star General who he accidentally came across and then murdered. The army at his command is made up of remnants of few scattered army personnel but most are comprised of nothing more than small town vigilante-type militias. A mixture as unstable as any you'd likely come across... where decency and civility become rarer by the day.

End Spoilers

Some thoughts on "Death Springs Eternal"...

1.) well written with a great sense of pace and timing. Also the action vs drama ratio is spot on, making this book hard to put down.

2.) brutally realistic... with little or no tempering authoritative counterbalance, human depravity runs unchecked.

3.) many people can be grievously injured or die. Adding a sense of realism to this incredible tale... the difference here is that he numbers are larger than in most books of this ilk.

4.) the impressive character development continues.

5.) haunting drawings at the end of each chapter by illustrator Jesse David Yound add their own impact ot this extraordinary tale.

Impressions:
The glimmer of hope that was seen at the end of the second book was effectively extinguished in this one. But the thing with this novel is that you begin to realize that if there ever was any apocalyptic event, that this is very likely what the world and its surviving pockets of civilization would develop into... many small and a few larger, despotic enclaves.
As the author says in his notes about this particular story, 'happy endings are in short supply'.

And finally, a personal observation. My favorite sub-story... Chapter 5: "The Sad, Sad tale of Brandon Hawthrorne". A stunning and brilliant diversion.

Conclusions:
A terrific third book... maybe the best so far.
This is one of the best Zombies/apocalyptic series I've ever read... bar none. And it's the quality of writing and story-telling that separates this work from so many of its brethren of the same genre.

As it is... 5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson
raynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com

Absolutely amazing read! This book kept me at the edge of my seat, literally. Don't attempt to read this without reading the first 2 novels first. This series is definitely the best zombie series I've read. The characters are great and the zombies are more than just gut-eating, brain-dead walkers. This is a great read.