Handling the Undead

By John Ajvide Lindqvist

*Now a film featured at the Sundance Film Festival, coming in 2024!*

Zombies and human clash in this horror novel by the author of the international bestseller Let the Right One In, for which he wrote the screenplay for the the Swedish smash hit film of the same name, which some critics (see below) have called the best vampire film ever made. John Ajvide Lindqvist has reinvented the vampire genre. Now he's taken on zombies, and readers everywhere will find themselves utterly consumed by Handling the Undead.

Something peculiar is happening. While the city is enduring a heat wave, people are finding that their electric appliances won't stay switched off. And everyone has a blinding headache. Then the terrible news breaks – in the city morgue, the newly dead are waking.

David always knew his wife was far too good for him. But he never know how lost he'd be without her until the night she died. Now she's gone and he's alone. But when he goes to identify her body, she opens her eye…

Across the city, grieving families find themselves able to see their loved ones one last time. But are these creatures really them? How long can this last? And what deadly price will they have to pay for the chance to see their spouses and children just one more time?

"John Ajvide Lindqvist is a master philosopher of the horror genre." --Washington Post Book World

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Published Aug 30, 2011

384 pages

Average rating: 7

2 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

mom2burgess
May 22, 2026
8/10 stars
I think the books description does a massive disservice to the book itself. I snagged this book thinking it was a zombie story. blood, guts, survival and the like. it is NONE of that. dead people come back to life. no viruses, ripping of flesh, etc. once you move past the idea that it's not a zombie story, It's actually a rather beautiful story. I think the low ratings are because the description makes you feel a bit cheated, like a bait and switch. I actually enjoyed this book.

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