Fans pick 72 books like Return of the Living Dead

By John Russo,

Here are 72 books that Return of the Living Dead fans have personally recommended if you like Return of the Living Dead. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Chris Kempshall Author Of Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire

From my list on fictional non-fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a historian, and while I have a great deal of experience producing straight ‘nonfiction’ work, the idea of reading something ‘non-fictional;’ within a fictional world has always excited me because it allows many opportunities to talk about us while framing it as them. They also play into what I call the ‘Rutger Hauer Effect,’ where his character in Blade Runner mentions the wonderous things he’s seen in passing. I want to see those things too! Fictional nonfiction books provide a fantastic opportunity to tease the readers with things that their author knows and has seen but exist just beyond the reach of our own imaginations.

Chris' book list on fictional non-fiction

Chris Kempshall Why did Chris love this book?

This is an absolute classic of the genre. Brooks draws in various ‘accounts’ of a recent zombie outbreak and structures them as if the broad details are common knowledge to his in-universe audience.

This approach means the real-world reader is always discovering new details and nuggets of information in a way that really whets the appetite while increasing the sense of horror at the way events unfolded in a world that isn’t quite our own.

By Max Brooks,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked World War Z as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginning of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse.

Faced with a future of mindless man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the ten-year fight against the horde, World War Z brings the finest traditions of journalism to bear on what is…


Book cover of 1984

Nina Burleigh Author Of Zero Visibility Possible

From my list on helping you survive and even laugh at our dystopian times.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about words and reading, and I love books that examine and record the chaos and mayhem of human existence. When I think about why I don’t want to die, it’s mainly because I can't bear the thought of missing out on what happens next. I feel privileged to be alive during this strange, fraught time of epochal change and to be able to use my skills as a writer to record not just the facts of what happens but how it feels to witness it all, the sensibility of our time, the recording of which is, I believe, the essence of great literature.

Nina's book list on helping you survive and even laugh at our dystopian times

Nina Burleigh Why did Nina love this book?

The ultimate dystopia survival story .. if you can call it survival. Although its title is only 10 years after Francine Prose’s book, it was, of course, written decades earlier by Orwell, who was looking across Europe at the totalitarian Soviet Union for his inspiration.

I read this book in junior high and have returned to it many times; contemplating Orwell’s insights about the ways authoritarian politics infect societies and destroy souls is more urgent and relevant now than ever.

By George Orwell,

Why should I read it?

52 authors picked 1984 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU . . .

1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three superstates. In Oceania, the Party's power is absolute. Every action, word, gesture and thought is monitored under the watchful eye of Big Brother and the Thought Police. In the Ministry of Truth, the Party's department for propaganda, Winston Smith's job is to edit the past. Over time, the impulse to escape the machine and live independently takes hold of him and he embarks on a secret and forbidden love affair. As he writes the words 'DOWN WITH BIG…


Book cover of I Am Legend

C.L. Lauder Author Of The Quelling

From my list on dystopian novels to make you cling to your duvet and worship your walls.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a young adult fantasy author and paranoid survivalist. I have spent years curating items for my end-of-days go-bag, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than hanging out in universes that are about to go bang! 

C.L.'s book list on dystopian novels to make you cling to your duvet and worship your walls

C.L. Lauder Why did C.L. love this book?

Legends are made of powerful stuff, and nothing has greater power than a total flip in perspective. I still recall the gut-punch end to this book, though it’s been decades since I read it. 

Robert Neville is a vampire hunter by day and a tormented man by night. As seemingly the only living human in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Robert faces depression, isolation, alcoholism, and his undead neighbor, Ben Cortman, who appears outside Robert’s front door each night chanting, "Come out, Neville."

But when Robert is finally captured, and the truth of his situation is revealed, he gets a good look at the world through the eyes of the undead and is forced to ask himself, who am I? What have I become? 

By Richard Matheson,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked I Am Legend as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An acclaimed SF novel about vampires. The last man on earth is not alone ...Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth ...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive like this?


Book cover of The Living Dead

Ralph Robert Moore Author Of As Dead As Me

From my list on things ending badly—really badly.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a novelist, short story writer, and essayist who has been fascinated by the idea of a zombie apocalypse since my teenage experience of seeing Night of the Living Dead in a noisy movie theater in mid-town Manhattan. My fiction has been nominated twice for Best Story of the Year by the British Fantasy Society. The critic A.J. Kirby called my writings, "Disturbing. Nightmarish. Terrifying. And above all original...we have a genre-storytelling giant in our midst." My fiction has been described as ‘graphically morbid’. Is it for you? Find out.   

Ralph's book list on things ending badly—really badly

Ralph Robert Moore Why did Ralph love this book?

In 1968 I was a seventeen-year-old kid working in Manhattan. Getting off work each evening, I’d wander around the city. Can you imagine how much fun that would be for a young boy? One night, on 42nd Street, I found a movie theater showing an obscure, black-and-white movie called, Night of the Living Dead. The first thirty minutes, the audience laughed at the film, but as the movie rolled on, and the sense of dread about this group of strangers trapped together in a farmhouse, zombies outside trying to get inside, increased, the theater went silent. The director, George Romero, admitted in interviews his movie was inspired by I Am Legend. Near the end of his life, Romero, with Krauss, wrote this comprehensive history of the zombie apocalypse.

By George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Living Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A horror landmark and a work of gory genius.”—Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death!

George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned…


Book cover of The Rising

Stacy Kingsley Author Of Zombies Are People Too!

From my list on zombies that stick with you and give you nightmares.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have read over 50 zombie novels and watched pretty much every zombie movie available to me. I write horror and a lot doesn’t really scare me anymore. The books I’ve listed are some of the ones that have stuck with me and gave me nightmares. My favorite zombie movies are the Norwegian film Dead Snow, Train to Busan, and REC (so scary as it added religion to the mix). I read a lot of zombie novels as research for my own zombie novels as I want my books to present new ideas that aren’t readily available, or overused.

Stacy's book list on zombies that stick with you and give you nightmares

Stacy Kingsley Why did Stacy love this book?

The Rising was one of the first zombie books I read after a while and it was interesting. It went beyond what people expected or thought they wanted from zombie novels. It was less Night of the Living Dead and more Day of the Dead with killing, and mutilations, and suspenseful expectations that no one really thought could be met. 

By Brian Keene,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Rising as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic that helped start a pop culture phenomenon - back in print and UNCUT!

Since it's 2003 debut, Brian Keene's THE RISING is one of the best-selling zombie novels of all-time. It has been translated into over a dozen languages, inspired the works of other authors and filmmakers, and has become a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of horror fans.

THE RISING is the story of Jim Thurmond, a determined father battling his way across a post-apocalyptic zombie landscape, to find his young son. Accompanied by Martin, a preacher still holding to his faith, and Frankie, a recovering…


Book cover of Dead City

Taylor Ellwood Author Of The Zombie Apocalypse Call Center

From my list on if you want to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love zombie apocalypse fiction and movies and games. There’s something fascinating about survival and post-apocalyptic fiction, where you see the real character and desire of humanity to survive no matter what. I also like the morbid humor that shows up. I started writing the zombie apocalypse call center series as a way to poke fun at my customer support center experiences and mix it in with my own fascination with zombie apocalypses.

Taylor's book list on if you want to survive a zombie apocalypse

Taylor Ellwood Why did Taylor love this book?

In Dead City, Ian Keys created a drug that stopped the ravages of the zombie infection and allowed infected to live alongside humans again…or did he?

The cure he’s developed may not be a cure afterall and the company that hired him is keeping dangerous secrets from the world, with a secret agenda that threatens all of humanity.

If Ian can’t find out the truth in time, the world as he knows it may be destroyed.

I got caught up in the suspense, wondering what would happen next and if Ian would survive or get caught by the company or the zombies.

Book cover of Broken

Katarina Vance Author Of Dead Heat

From my list on zombie apocalypse romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved zombie movies since I was a kid and first saw Return of the Living Dead during a slumber party. Since then I’ve watched as many as I could, along with shows like The Walking Dead and Z Nation. The changes in the publishing industry over the past few years have given me something even better – hundreds of amazing books about romance and survival in the zombie apocalypse to read. The five books on my list are the very best of those that eventually inspired me to write my own books. I hope you like them!

Katarina's book list on zombie apocalypse romance

Katarina Vance Why did Katarina love this book?

These are short, but the author crams so much into each book it feels like they’re twice as long. Frankie and Yorke are seriously flawed as characters, but their flaws tend to complement one another’s. It’s those flaws that drive most of their actions in the book, so even when they do something stupid you know exactly why they did them, and it’s not just a random TSTL thing thrown in to move the story along. The chemistry is hot but the romance is a slow burn because they’ve got so many issues to work out. There’s gripping action to keep things moving, plenty of zombie fighting, and psycho survivors trying to ruin the apocalypse for everyone.

By Imogen Keeper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Broken as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A deadly flu raging across the planet. A woman with zero intention of surviving the apocalypse. A man who will never let her die.

When 99% of the population dies of an ungodly flu, those who survived are desperate, capable of anything, plunged into a world without laws, and no one to enforce them anyway.

Frankie has zero survival skills, but with the world burning around her, she discovers an untapped well of hope inside herself, and the strength to find other survivors. For good or bad, they must now rebuild.

Yorke, a lone soldier, never needed anyone ... until…


Book cover of Love in an Undead Age

Taylor Ellwood Author Of The Zombie Apocalypse Call Center

From my list on if you want to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love zombie apocalypse fiction and movies and games. There’s something fascinating about survival and post-apocalyptic fiction, where you see the real character and desire of humanity to survive no matter what. I also like the morbid humor that shows up. I started writing the zombie apocalypse call center series as a way to poke fun at my customer support center experiences and mix it in with my own fascination with zombie apocalypses.

Taylor's book list on if you want to survive a zombie apocalypse

Taylor Ellwood Why did Taylor love this book?

Miranda Tucci is looking for love during a zombie apocalypse but finding love is hard when the majority of available partners are either zombies or psychopaths.

On top of that Miranda has a lead on a cure for the virus, but the government is trying to control it. Can she get the cure and save civilization?

I enjoyed the character development, especially around trying to find love and surviving the zombie apocalypse.

By A.M. Geever,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Love in an Undead Age as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Surviving the zombie apocalypse was hard…

...but finding true love might be fatal.

Urban farmer Miranda Tucci is lucky to be alive in what's left of California's Silicon Valley, despite a love life that's dead on arrival. Then an old flame turns up and she wonders…

...does her DOA love life have a pulse?

Or will the ghosts of her past collide with the present?

A ruthless governing council controls the cure for the zombie virus. If Miranda joins a plot to steal it, will the vaccine be used for political advantage, or can she survive long enough to usher…


Book cover of Bloody Sunrise

E.S. Luck Author Of The Wastelander

From my list on post-apocalyptic romances with end world love.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m E.S. Luck, author of The Wastelander, a post-apocalyptic romance that blends the grittiness of post-apocalyptic fiction with steamy romance. I’ve always had a deep interest in the idea of living after the apocalypse. Fundamentally, apocalypse narratives are about human resilience, a concept that’s rich with storytelling opportunities. I’m also an avid romance reader. I love the tension, buildup, and deep exploration of love's many forms. Post-apocalyptic romance ratchets that tension up to eleven and introduces the possibility of love that transcends even the end of the world…and if that’s not compelling and deeply desirable on a basic human level, I don’t know what is.

E.S.'s book list on post-apocalyptic romances with end world love

E.S. Luck Why did E.S. love this book?

We’ve somehow managed to make it to the end of a list of post-apocalyptic fiction without mentioning zombies, but I’m here to remedy that with this book. It has everything you love about zombie apocalypses but with the added element of a sweet, sizzling romance between a capable, kickass heroine and a dreamy former Marine.

This novel kicks off a series with plenty of zombies, spice, and even a mystery or two. Both main characters are compelling, and I enjoyed following their journey over the three books in this series.

By Gwendolyn Harper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bloody Sunrise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Caitlin Meadows thought the worst part of her business trip would be the airport hassles and her overly chatty seatmate.However, when her plane is shot down, and she finds herself in the middle of a zombie virus outbreak, she realizes she was never prepared for terrors like these.Lost, alone, and afraid, Caitlin can only focus on one thing-- survival.That is until she crosses paths with Jack Booker, an ex-Marine with a shadowy past and a penchant for pushing Caitlin's buttons.Under the looming threats of the undead walking the earth, corrupt government agencies, and the horrors encoded in humanity, can unlikely…


Book cover of The Turned

Katarina Vance Author Of Dead Heat

From my list on zombie apocalypse romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved zombie movies since I was a kid and first saw Return of the Living Dead during a slumber party. Since then I’ve watched as many as I could, along with shows like The Walking Dead and Z Nation. The changes in the publishing industry over the past few years have given me something even better – hundreds of amazing books about romance and survival in the zombie apocalypse to read. The five books on my list are the very best of those that eventually inspired me to write my own books. I hope you like them!

Katarina's book list on zombie apocalypse romance

Katarina Vance Why did Katarina love this book?

This is a slow-burn romance in the zombie apocalypse. It’s a story that’s really about learning to forgive the people you love when they hurt you, and forgiving yourself for your mistakes. There’s sizzling chemistry between Lola and Cole, a plot that blends romance with action to keep you turning the next page, and characters that you want to hug and strangle at the same time.

By Stella Craig,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Turned as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

She’s rebuilding her life. Duty flows through his veins. When the undead rise, can they survive long enough to take a risk on each other?

Phoenix, Arizona. Lola Jenkins chooses loneliness over being burned again. And after she alienated her secret crush years ago by betraying his sister, her self-loathing follows her everywhere… even into a chance encounter with the handsome man. But as his bitter words chase her out of a sandwich shop, her day gets a whole lot worse when she runs straight into a world gone mad.

Cole Beckett values courage and honor. So, although he’s still…


Book cover of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Book cover of 1984
Book cover of I Am Legend

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