The Deading

It’s summer time, which means it’s time to watch Jaws and get yourselves ready for Shark Week. Or how about something washing up on the shores of a small fishing town that starts turning the greater populace into marine zombies? Now that’s something to get your teeth stuck into.

Nicholas Belardes greets the world of horror with his debut novel, The Deading. Welcome to Baywood: an idyllic place that is quaint and touristy and filled with people who know each other and love to get in each other’s business. Then, one day, a bunch of sea snails wash ashore and beginning attacking all animals, including people. Once dead, something weird happens, and they creatures, including said people, come back to life and begin traversing Baywood. The government acts quickly, quarantining the town from the rest of the world. It’s up to brutish Chango and his introverted Blas to do something about it.

Belardes does what good horror should do: present the reader with a disturbing premise and then sets it free on a made-up town. However, his characters are more interesting, minorities and complex, especially in Blas who is a bird-lover like the author. The Deading is a refreshingly original horror novel.