Undead Dawn

Cooper Kane is the last guy you’d bet on to survive the zombie apocalypse.

When the bombs fell, Kane’s carefree life of fast cars, fast women, and even faster getaways came to a screeching halt.

Now, Phoenix has transformed into a nightmare where the dead don’t stay dead, and Kane’s only concern is saving his mother from the heart of this hellscape.

But the road out of the city is paved with the living dead. With the help of his tougher-than-she-looks mother, a crotchety old sniper, a foul-mouthed mentor, and a blonde bombshell with secrets of her own, Kane fights to get out of Phoenix.

As they battle through hordes of zombies and face unimaginable horrors in the wilds of Northern Arizona, survival becomes more than just staying alive—it’s holding on to what makes them human. Fans of The Walking Dead, World War Z, and Mad Max will feel right at home in this adrenaline-fueled wasteland.

If you’re ready for a wild, blood-soaked ride through the apocalypse, grab your copy of Undead Dawn and see if Kane has what it takes to survive when the world ends.

• Undead Dawn by Matthew Doggett
• Published by: Five Brothers Publishing on September 13, 2024
• Genre: Horror, zombie, apocalypse
• Pages: 250
• Dates/Time Read: 6.15.25 – 6.21.25 (7 days); 5 hours 26 minutes
• Format: eBook
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• ⭐⭐⭐
• ☠☠

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Normally, it would not have taken me 7 days to read a 250-page book, but work, man…I’ve mostly only had time to sleep, eat, and get back up to go back to work. So please don’t judge the time it took me to read the book as a bad omen! lol I’ve just been busy, ok, sheesh! haha

I came across Undead Dawn from a new website that I discovered that caters to book reviewers and authors trying to get the word out there on their books. I’ve been a horror lover since I was a little kid, so zombie stories will always call to me. I’m also a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories as well, so when I read the blurb about this book, I thought, “Well, this sounds right up my alley!” I also haven’t read a lot of nitty-gritty horror stories lately, so I was excited to dive in. And dive in I did!!

This book is really fast-paced. You get just a little tease in the prologue of how the zombies came to be, and then you’re dumped head first into the shit show of the zombie apocalypse. You first meet our protagonist, Cooper Kane. It took me a little bit of time to really like him, but he did grow on me. You follow along for the ride with Cooper, his tough-as-nails mother, her boyfriend, a beautiful stranger, and a crotchety old man, as they traverse the state of Arizona, trying to survive. There is literally, never a dull moment! The book is jam packed with tense moments, that will leave you holding your breath. You may even find yourself giggling from time to time, as Doggett has a dark sense of humor and sprinkles little humorous breaks here and there. And I really liked that! I mean come on! Just because the world is ending and we’re running from zombies, doesn’t mean we can’t also laugh, right? lol

As much as I did find the book entertaining, I have to be honest and say that I didn’t love everything as well. The book itself feels to me like an intro book to a series, which it is! But don’t read this book thinking you’re going to get a complete story. There are still many many plot holes that need to be filled in, and hopefully more character development. As I mentioned already, it took me a little bit of time before I really liked our MC, Cooper. He did/said/thought some things that I found a bit off-putting, largely because I didn’t feel quite connected to him yet. By the end of the book, I felt like I had just scratched the surface, which perhaps that was exactly what the author intended. He hooks you in with a great story and some interesting characters, then leaves you hanging, wanting more, therefore you’ll be dying to read the next book. I see what you did there Mr. Doggett!

“I’m gonna put a bullet in your head and fuck the brain hole, you son of a bitch.”

I enjoyed the author’s writing style, many times feeling like I was reading a tale one of my best friends would be telling me. It was very easy to read. He doesn’t shy away from the gory details either, and I loved that! The story is about zombies, so there better be some blood, guts, and I want to read about it all! Matthew Doggett does not shy away from details…and I didn’t always like that. lol I know that seems like a crazy thing to say, but there were times where my eyes glazed over with the (in my opinion) unnecessary description of the route that they were driving. I’m not from the Phoenix area, so all those street names, highways, etc. were just fluff to me. It makes no difference to me what road they are driving on, or which one they took a left onto. But that’s just my personal opinion about it. I just noticed that during these portions of the book, it was difficult to hold my attention.

My other critique on the writing that kind of annoyed me, was the naming of the guns. I guess maybe since the writer is a male, and maybe most men appreciate knowing the specifics of a gun, as a female…I can honestly say that I did not give a shit! lol You can leave it simple. Call a gun a shotgun, a rifle, a handgun, etc and I can get the point. But referring to a gun by it’s specific name just goes right over my head. Characters even referred to the guns by their names when talking to each other, such as “Hand me that 30-06. I’ll take him out.” Do people really talk like this in the middle of shooting? Especially in the heat of running away from zombies or someone chasing them? Why wouldn’t you just say “Hand me my gun!” While I’m on the topic of names…why do some authors shift names of their characters. Our main character in Undead Dawn is Cooper Kane, and the author switches back and forth referring to him sometimes as Cooper, sometimes Kane, and other times, Cooper Kane. It can be a little confusing, especially with a book like this, that has so many different characters and the reader is being introduced to them quickly.

So overall, I enjoyed the book. I think the only person who will really enjoy this book and be into the rest of the series, is someone who is a fan of zombie horror. Especially since this isn’t a completed story in one book. I am excited though to check out the rest of the series and find out some of the answers to the mysteries about who these twins are, who in the heck is their boss, and what is going to happen to Cooper and his band of survivors.