Coldbrook
Coldbrook book cover

Coldbrook

Paperback – April 8, 2014

by
Price
$14.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
400
Publisher
Titan Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1781168783
Dimensions
5.12 x 1.36 x 8 inches
Weight
15.2 ounces

Description

From Booklist Lebbon, who’s won some prestigious awards for his horror and fantasy fiction, packs a lot into this new novel: multiple universes, a plague that threatens to wipe out human life, heroes and villains from an alternate Earth, a group of cutting-edge scientists desperate to find a cure for the plague—oh, and zombies, too. This is a zombie-apocalypse story quite unlike any other, one based in science and technology (the walking dead in this book are the product of a deliberate infection by an unknown entity). Its characters are richly detailed, its story imaginative and filled with surprises. The plot shifts back and forth from a top-secret underground lab to the alternate Earth, following several characters (among them, the lab’s chief, battling zombies all by himself and fearing he’s going insane; a scientist who was instrumental in creating the breach between this universe and another; and a morally conflicted man who escaped from the lab and unleashed the zombie plague upon the world). An exciting, thought-provoking novel that will definitely appeal to zombie fans but should also do well with fans of hard sf and technothrillers, too. --David Pitt " Coldbrook is a good read with nicely developed characters and some really great action sequences...t’s a zombie apocalypse for sci-fi fans." - Bricks of the Dead"Tim Lebbon takes a fascinating science fiction approach to the zombie apocalypse that reinvigorates the genre with a sense of originality." - xa0Drunken Zombie" Coldbrook is like Stargate meets The Walking Dead and I absolutely recommend this one to anybody who likes sci-fi and/or zombies and/or likes to have the crap scared out of them. There is absolutely no way that I could give Coldbrook any less than FIVE of FIVE zombie heads. I’d give it six if I had a graphic for it." xa0- Zombie Book Blogxa0"Great potential for a movie." - Paper Droids"If you’re looking for a unique sci-fi thriller take on the zombie apocalypse, you should definitely check out Coldbrook ." - Fiction Addictxa0"Tim Lebbon is an author I will follow gladly after his superb accomplishment in Coldbrook. I love zombie apocalypses and was pleasantly surprised at Lebbon’s twists and emotionally impacting story." - Adventures in SciFi Publishing"There is no debate that Tim Lebbon is a talented writer. His imagination paints the pages of Coldbrook like priceless art and his descriptive writing style delivers provocative characters, innovative settings and situational catastrophes in highly-detailed prose." - Examiner"Tim Lebbon, in COLDBROOK , has created a terrific zombie story with a fascinating twist, with very human characters, and he’s not afraid to slip very poignant moments among the copious action and nearly unrelenting terror. COLDBROOK is like an awesome lovechild of Stargate and Robert McCammon’s SWAN SONG, with maybe a little dash of 28 Days Later thrown in, but while it reminded me of those films (and book), it’s a distinct, unique, and absorbing work unto itself, one the author can be very, very proud of. Horror fans, thriller fans, and even those of you who love those terrifying books about hot zones and disease hunters will find much to love about this book." - SF Signalxa0"An exciting, thought-provoking novel that willxa0definitely appeal to zombie fans but should also do well with fans of hard SF and technothrillers, too." - Booklist Reviewxa0“The mixture of mysteries and high tension action makes this a tough novel to put down all the way through to a dark but mostly satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend Coldbrook to anyone looking for a fast paced but intelligent disaster thriller with terrific zombie action. Coldbrook has real substance to chew on which should be just as satisfying to most readers as chewing on brains is to zombies.” – Rat Race Refugexa0“an incredibly cool, parallel-universe thriller zombie apocalypse novel. Trust me” -xa0Barnes & Noble SFF blog Tim Lebbon is the New York Times bestselling author of the movie novelizations of 30 Days of Night and The Cabin in the Woods . He has also written many critically acclaimed horror and dark fantasy novels. Tim has won three British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, a Shocker, a Tombstone and been a finalist for the International Horror Guild and World Fantasy Awards. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Coldbrook is a secret laboratory located deep in Appalachian Mountains. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were about to unleash.With their breakthrough comes disease and now it is out and ravaging the human population. The only hope is a cure and the only cure is genetic resistance: an uninfected person amongst the billions dead.In the chaos of destruction there is only one person that can save the human race.But will they find her in time?

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(123)
★★★★
25%
(103)
★★★
15%
(62)
★★
7%
(29)
★
23%
(93)

Most Helpful Reviews

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A Fantastic Voyage into Horror!

If you think that Coldbrook as simply a zombie apocalypse novel then you’re in for a very nice surprise. I purchased Lebbon’s novel only because it was featured on Facebook in a “Zombie Novels that Should be Made into Television Series” featurette; many of the books shown were ones I’d already read and appreciated, but Coldbrook was (for me) an unknown, so after a quick search on Amazon I found and read the synopsis…needless to say that my interest was piqued and a purchase made.

Now, the reason I say that Coldbrook isn’t simply a zombie apocalypse novel is because the whole of the story relies upon science fiction. See, Coldbrook is the name of a facility located in the Appalachian Mountains where a group of scientist have been tasked with punching a hole into a parallel Earth…and what wanders through that doorway signals the extinction of man.

At every turn I expected this novel to lose some of its momentum while eventually grounding down into the familiar pacing of your average undead tale; zombies attack, chaos ensues and those who have managed to survive degenerate into savages (or battle savages) in a tired bid to secure what resources are available…well, that’s not Coldbrook!

No, instead we see all the ingredients being laid out for the reader to assemble and just when you think “I’ve been down this road before” the story takes an amazing leap into uncharted territory with one of the leads escaping death by finding refuge in that alternate Earth. I did not see that coming and the payoff is what makes Coldbrook work! By introducing the reader to characters from a parallel Earth (one which suffered its own zombie epidemic 40 years prior) the author is able to introduce an even grander concept that gives origin to the plague with a sinister plot that unfolds beautifully. Honestly, with everything that transpires throughout the novel I truly thought that there was no way Lebbon could bring about a conclusion without the story being continued in a sequel, but he manages to pull it off while at the same time satisfying the reader with all loose threads neatly tied up.

I highly recommend for any zombie aficionado!
15 people found this helpful
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STARGATE vs WORLD WAR Z

This was an ambitious undertaking by author Tim Lebbon, a zombie fest that spans an infinite number of worlds.

Deep in the Appalachian mountains a secret lab is set up underground and the scientists working there proclaim success in their quest to breach the fabric dividing Earth from its other parallel worlds.

They have all kinds of safeguards set up to protect an unsuspecting humanity above ground but fail to take into consideration that their barriers won't stop dead objects aka zombies from coming through the breach from the other side. Their other failure: not taking into consideration human nature.

I thought this was a compelling read. I do wish the characters had been a bit more reachable and sympathetic; they all seemed rather distant.

The author did do a good job in explaining the "science" in how this all was possible. No, I guess that's not what I mean. What I do mean, at least in my case, is that I was able to visualize the breach and the other worlds with a few simple explanations. So, clear without having to be an physicist to understand.

I also like that it's a self-contained book. I get very tired of series books - my memory just isn't what it used to be and waiting months between books, especially if you're in this middle of quite a few different series can be difficult to keep track of.

But it was definitely a different, enjoyable spin on the zombie tale and I will be keeping it for my library.
8 people found this helpful
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Not what you might expect

It kills me to rate this book only 2 stars. I am a big fan of Tim Lebbon, but I could not get through this book. I stopped reading just a little more than half way through. The book did not read like a zombie apocalyptic novel in the least bit. I was thrown off by the parallel universe concept and was not pleased with the zombie scenes. Sorry Tim....but still a big fan!
4 people found this helpful
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Rubbish

Rubbish.If this is what Science Fiction is now, I give up.
Spoilers ahead:

He could have taken the many worlds idea to an interesting level, they discover access to another earth!
But no....zombies invade.
They go back and forth, working on the zombie issue.
The end.

Zombies are OK....but as 2 things:

1)Comedy - Shaun of the Dead for instance
2)Action - 28 Days Later

As Science Fiction? NO...

The nearest anyone came was Tom Bakers Outpost. Excellent. But it was an action novel....with an unhappy ending.

This....don't bother
4 people found this helpful
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Just Fuggin' WOW!

This is an awesome spin on the "zombie apocalypse!" I love the way the writer had created this si-fi meets science to create this amazing end of the world tale... mixed with string theory. A total book nerd's escape from reality!! I am not one to give away spoiler alerts... but if you like reading horror/zombie/apocalypse/si-fi type books, then this sis a must have read for your list!!
1 people found this helpful
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Interesting concept - Good Read

I thoroughly enjoyed this original take on the zombie novel. Its well written and the characters are flawed and interesting. i'm a particular fan of novels / films that are a blend of sci-fi and horror.

The horror elements were pretty good, What you would expect from a zombie novel but with some good, scary, gory set pieces. Especially the scene where the hordes are trying to get onto a downed passenger plane. You really felt the claustrophobia and rising sense of panic.

What initially attracted me to this was that it seemed a different take on an very saturated genre (albeit one i'm a fan of!)

This was definitely one of the better zombie offerings i have read over the last few years. I would recommend for readers who are looking for something a little bit different, and like that kind of cinematic, involved multi-character novels

I gave it four rather than stars as I felt it maybe flagged a bit in the middle
1 people found this helpful
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Not your average zombie book

Tim Lebbon started drifting more into what would be termed dark fantasy for a while, after writing a lot of brilliant horror fiction that had a unique voice, great atmosphere, and 3-dimensional characters. His dark fantasy stuff was realy good as well, though not as much my kind of thing from a plot standpoint.

This is definitely a horror book, and it mostly lives up to what I've come to expect from Tim. It was a pretty unique take on the zombie mythology, though there was a lot of handwaving and glossing over of the science (which is fine, though I also wouldn't have minded if it had been explored more fully). It take the more realistic approach of a single-source beginning that spreads like a disease rather than the approach that many zombie books take of a mysterious plague hitting everywhere at once without explanation. All the background on hot virus spreading and the natural human response to the situation felt very real and plausible to me. While most zombie fiction doesn't have the characters recognize zombies as a popular fictional phenomenon, this one did, and I felt it added something.

The pacing was perfect, keeping all of the different story lines moving along and converging, and the atmosphere of suspense and hopelessness was oppressive and very well done.

The thing that kept me from rating this 5 stars was the characters, which for the first time in a Tim Lebbon work disappointed me. It's not that they weren't fleshed out, but many of them felt pretty cliched, and I just couldn't buy the actions of some of them. There was a love triangle involving 3 of the central characters that just felt awkward and forced to me, and the character of Vic just never really rang true for me. The character of Jayne was one exception - she felt very real to me, and was not predictable or easily categorized.

Overall I still really enjoyed this. Don't write it off as "just another zombie book", because there's a lot more going on here, and aside from the characters, it is exceptionally well-written (and I would expect nothing less from Tim Lebbon).
1 people found this helpful
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I love a book that has a lot of pages and ...

This is the first book I've read by Tim Lebbon...I haven't finished it yet, but am enjoying it so much!!! I love a book that has a lot of pages and keeps getting better and better the more I read it...it is a different type of zombie book and that is what I have enjoyed the most...thank you Tim Lebbon...
1 people found this helpful
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NEW APPROACH

Well written book and I particularly enjoyed the different approach to a zombie apocalypse
1 people found this helpful
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Nice read

Great premise and we'll written, though the story was a little long. I enjoyed the characters--they were flushed out and acted accordingly.
1 people found this helpful

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