Handling the Undead-John Ajvide Lindqvist

Handling the Undead
John Ajvide Lindqvist
Dunne, Sep 28 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312605254

The odd weather in Stockholm has had a strange effect on the city’s power grid especially an abrupt significant surge. Soon after the surge, the recently departed return to life. Many of the living are euphoric to see their loved ones. Others are not pleased. Some pray for a reanimation as they wait with hope.

David the comedian has mixed feelings when his beloved wife returns from the dead. ; Elderly reporter Gustav Mahler worries about him and his daughter not moving on passed the death of his grandson; he hopes for a return so he disinters the body from the lad’s grave.

This is a brilliant psychological horror thriller that looks at love and death by analyzing the return of the undead from the perspective of family members and the reanimated corpse. Readers will appreciate the actions and reactions of those living when those dead come back from the grave. Although the story line slows down under the weight of the profound psychological analysis of love and death, fans will relish the reflective story line; wondering of the essence of a person’s soul when they were alive the first time would return as them from the grave.

Harriet Klausner