Dead Set: A Novel

by Richard Kadrey Narrated by Kate Rudd

Overview

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey creates a wonderful, stand-alone dark fantasy

After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams-a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.

But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

09/16/2013
Sixteen-year-old Zoe, grieving the death of her father, is miserable in a new home and a new school as her mother struggles to make ends meet. Zoe’s father taught her to be a fan of classic punk bands, and the music is her one connection to him and to her fellow students. Then Ammut, a mysterious record store owner, promises he can reunite Zoe with her father’s spirit. Soon Zoe finds herself in Iphigene, a city full of souls trapped on their way to the afterlife, as she’s guided by the ghost of her dead brother on a quest to free her father’s soul and return to the world of the living. Aiming for a mythic story about grief and loss, Kadrey (the Sandman Slim series) hits some extremely familiar beats, but he does it with an easy grace. Nothing about this book is unexpected or surprising, but perhaps it doesn’t need to be. This bittersweet and elegiac fantasy will appeal to both fantasy fans and mainstream readers. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Nov.)

From the Publisher

A dark and eerie world, a razor sharp plot, and a heroine worth rooting for make DEAD SET unforgettable.” — Kami Garcia

“If punk and underworld mythology got into the mosh pit, it would come out something like this book; spiky and pretty with lashings of black eyeliner and its heart tattooed on its sleeve.” — Lauren Beukes

“A fantastic supernatural horror novel with deep punk roots ... Kadrey’s underworld is a gloomy mirror of the overworld with all its injustice and broken dreams, and Zoe’s battle with her fear and her honorable spirit put her in enough jeopardy for six novels. — Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

“Kadrey again has painted a world that draws you in with its mysterious, yet frightening, beauty…The imagery is just phenomenal.” — Crimespree Magazine

“An intelligent stand-alone tale of quiet horror that should appeal to Kadrey’s many fans, as well as to lovers of more subtle shivers.” — Library Journal

“This bittersweet and elegaic fantasy will appeal to both fantasy fans and mainstream readers.” — Publishers Weekly

“A tender, if terrifying, story of a lost teenager trying to find her way.” — Los Angeles Times

|Los Angeles Times

A tender, if terrifying, story of a lost teenager trying to find her way.

Cory Doctorow

A fantastic supernatural horror novel with deep punk roots ... Kadrey’s underworld is a gloomy mirror of the overworld with all its injustice and broken dreams, and Zoe’s battle with her fear and her honorable spirit put her in enough jeopardy for six novels.

Lauren Beukes

If punk and underworld mythology got into the mosh pit, it would come out something like this book; spiky and pretty with lashings of black eyeliner and its heart tattooed on its sleeve.

Crimespree Magazine

Kadrey again has painted a world that draws you in with its mysterious, yet frightening, beauty…The imagery is just phenomenal.

Kami Garcia

A dark and eerie world, a razor sharp plot, and a heroine worth rooting for make DEAD SET unforgettable.

Los Angeles Times

A tender, if terrifying, story of a lost teenager trying to find her way.

Kirkus Reviews

Known for writing quirky supernatural-themed books, Kadrey's latest offering doesn't stray far from the formula cherished by his readers. Zoe's having a bad time: Her father died and left the teen and her mom almost destitute. They've moved into a fourth-floor walk-up in a sketchy neighborhood, Mom's trying to get back into the job market after many years, and Zoe isn't crazy about her new high school, where the only person with whom she's made friends is a girl who calls herself Absynthe. Then Zoe wanders into a store selling rare old vinyl records. Her parents were heavily involved in the early punk music scene, and she's grown up with a huge library of LPs, but this store has something besides ordinary music in it. Zoe stumbles upon a room that holds some odd-looking records and a weird machine that the creepy and strange looking proprietor says can help her connect with her dead father. When Zoe opts in, she finds that the proprietor demands an odd sort of payment each time she visits: He instructs her to bring parts of herself ranging from a lock of hair to a tooth to blood. And while that gives her pause, she also finds that the peculiar dreams she has always had are not what they seem, and the long road to finding her dead father leads to a nightmarish place where bad things happen. While the tale's both well-crafted and imaginative, it's not going to be every reader's cup of tea, although fans of zombie novels may find the author's take on the dead unique. Zoe and her family present themselves as sympathetic and interesting, but the storyline is unsettling, and the ending seems both rushed and tacked on, like the author ran out of steam in the final third of the book and just decided to get it over with. The writing is top-notch, but for many, the book will prove an acquired taste.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169790177
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos