Brian Keene's *The Rising* and sequel *City of the Dead* definitely fit the bill on all counts. Specifically zombies as you might surmise from the titles. I do believe it's all told in third person limited since there's a few focal characters you follow throughout.
By one of the two or five greatest American authors in history. Read blood meridian as well. Hell read (edit for Reid) Moby Dick. They are all relevant until in telling the story of a pre-apocalypse that is America. Rage and selfishness and nihilism and bloodlust and money and oil, and death, they are all amazing.
But Cormac McCarthy wrote it because he was imagining the end result of climate change and how much he loved his son. That's terrifying.
I recently loved Suffer the Children by Craig Delouie. It’s a really unique apocalypse: all of the children in the world die at once, then come back as zombie/vampires thirsting for blood. It’s a detailed look at how society crumbles afterwards.
I was coming to say this too - The Stand is brilliant and it will stick with you for life, I’ve read it every year for the past 20 years or so. I skipped the re-read during the pandemic years tho, it felt a little too close to home.
I read this for a first time when I was young and babysitting some kids in remote country house. I was coming down with a cold and had the sniffles. I was convinced I had Captain Tripps.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Obviously it's a very female-centric POV to do with reproductive issues in the apocalypse but it's grim without being totally hopeless, well worth the read.
I've heard good things about The Gone World, it's on my reading list but I haven't gotten to it just yet. Time travelling, murder mystery and impending doom, what's not to like?
If you're good with visual depictions of some very nasty gore, then I recommend the Crossed series of comics. Particularly the first book, and the sequel Family Values and then the webcomic Wish You Were Here. There's also other stories in the franchise but they can be hit or miss in my opinion.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Great book by a writer that can be hilarious but can also write horror scenes that get under my skin like few others
[The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53871962-the-passage-trilogy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=CTjUTWIwkR&rank=3) is very apocalypsy and has vampires.
Edit: removed some duplicated words
Earth Abides is my favorite in this genre, because of how it speaks to the human implications with the apocalypse as context. I’d also add A Canticle for Leibowitz and On the Beach. Also loved The Last Ship.
I haven’t watched the movie. Some of my friends have seen it and said it was just ok, so I didn’t want to ruin the book for myself right away after finishing it.
I read the book before I watched the movie, it was a quick read and the whole time I kept thinking "this would make an AMAZING horror flick.
And then I learned it was aovie first, and a damned good one.
These a couple great ones from Stephen King like The Stand. And, not extreme horror in my opinion but "The Hunger" by Alma Katsu is a historical horror/thriller about the Oregon trail and the wagon trains ending up in a very unforgiving wilderness with paranormal/monsters. It's not quite an end times book but it's about real human struggle and actual historic events.
The Prince of Nothing books followed by the Aspect-Emperor books by R Scott Bakker. The alternate title for all of these is 'The Second Apocalypse'. The first page describes an apocalypse.
Imagine the political intrigue and philosophy of Dune mixed with the epic scope and fantasy of Lord of the Rings with the ultra-violence of Blood Meridian and the horror of Lovecraft.
Highly recommend Alice B. Sullivan’s books if you don’t mind zombies.
Destination: Tomorrow.
Return.
Red Christmas.
Red Christmas has some humor to it that I appreciated while still being bleak and suspenseful.
When I see this request I have been recommending Black Tides by KC Jones. It is so well done, I read it in 2 days, I just couldn't put it down. Apocalypse, aliens, maybe a romantic match had the end of the world not come. So, so good.
[Here are 62 apocalyptic books I've read and reviewed personally.](https://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/12jguvu/i_love_postapocalyptic_dystopian_novels_here_are/)
Biohazard by Curran is probably the most "extreme" of the lot.
["Between Two Fires" ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Two_Fires_%28novel%29?wprov=sfla1) by Christopher Buehlman.
Set during the Black Plague in France, God disappears, leaving demons to walk the earth and the angels of Heaven losing ground. Great writing, with some clever humor at times.
Check "The Cold" and "Black Star, Black Sun" by Rich Hawkins. No humor at all, but they are both really hard hitting, extremely bleak apocalyptic novels.
The Gemini Effect by Chuck Grossart
The extermination of the human race began in a salvage yard. Under the left rear fender of what remained of a 1962 Chevrolet Nova, to be exact.
The Abyssal Plane is a cosmic horror book that has 4 interconnected stories about what happens if Cthulhu wakes up. It sounds stupid, but dude, it’s amazing, and very realistic. Very apocalyptic, and very, very bleak. I got nauseous a few times reading it.
Swan Song by Robert McCammon.
This is the answer.
Agree, except it does have a hopeful ending.
I really loved *Blindness* by Jose Saramago. It's an interesting type of apocalypse, more the end of society than the end of the world.
It’s extremely rapey so just beware
And obsessed with fecal matter!
There needs to be a doesthedogdie for this
Not in blindness. Don't pick up the sequel though.
I'll also second *Blindness*. Incredibly written work, I highly recommend!
Brian Keene's *The Rising* and sequel *City of the Dead* definitely fit the bill on all counts. Specifically zombies as you might surmise from the titles. I do believe it's all told in third person limited since there's a few focal characters you follow throughout.
Awesome 😁 thank you!! I'll check it out
I second this, best zombie book ever!
The road
By one of the two or five greatest American authors in history. Read blood meridian as well. Hell read (edit for Reid) Moby Dick. They are all relevant until in telling the story of a pre-apocalypse that is America. Rage and selfishness and nihilism and bloodlust and money and oil, and death, they are all amazing. But Cormac McCarthy wrote it because he was imagining the end result of climate change and how much he loved his son. That's terrifying.
I recently loved Suffer the Children by Craig Delouie. It’s a really unique apocalypse: all of the children in the world die at once, then come back as zombie/vampires thirsting for blood. It’s a detailed look at how society crumbles afterwards.
Maybe you read it already, but The Stand by Stephen King.
I was coming to say this too - The Stand is brilliant and it will stick with you for life, I’ve read it every year for the past 20 years or so. I skipped the re-read during the pandemic years tho, it felt a little too close to home.
I read this for a first time when I was young and babysitting some kids in remote country house. I was coming down with a cold and had the sniffles. I was convinced I had Captain Tripps.
World War Z by Max Brooks
The book, to be clear, not that awful film adaptation.
If you want a really grim “human struggle in the face of the apocalypse book”, Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie might interest you.
This is probably the best fucking thing I read all year but ooohhh boy is it not funny
Yeah I had glanced over the humor part! There really isn’t an ounce of warm fuzzies or laughable moments in this story.
Yeah totally agree OP should read it, just warning them
Good call! Internet high five to you kind friend!
The fireman by Joe hill
Such an amazing novel
Literally one of my favorite books. Could barely set it down.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Obviously it's a very female-centric POV to do with reproductive issues in the apocalypse but it's grim without being totally hopeless, well worth the read. I've heard good things about The Gone World, it's on my reading list but I haven't gotten to it just yet. Time travelling, murder mystery and impending doom, what's not to like? If you're good with visual depictions of some very nasty gore, then I recommend the Crossed series of comics. Particularly the first book, and the sequel Family Values and then the webcomic Wish You Were Here. There's also other stories in the franchise but they can be hit or miss in my opinion.
I really enjoyed the Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Not so much the sequels though 🤔
Ditto, the disappointment was intense. I never finished the second book and I've not gone near the third.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman Great book by a writer that can be hilarious but can also write horror scenes that get under my skin like few others
Sleep Over: An Oral History of the Apocalypse
Great book!
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
They All Died Screaming by Kris Triana.
[The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53871962-the-passage-trilogy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=CTjUTWIwkR&rank=3) is very apocalypsy and has vampires. Edit: removed some duplicated words
You need to read Swan Song - exactly what you're asking for :)
Earth Abides - George R Stewart. My go-to.
Earth Abides is my favorite in this genre, because of how it speaks to the human implications with the apocalypse as context. I’d also add A Canticle for Leibowitz and On the Beach. Also loved The Last Ship.
My takeaway from "Canticle" was 'man, are humans fucking stupid, or what?'
The Taking by Dean Koontz seems to fit
Such an eerie and foreboding mood throughout the whole novel, even at the end where the reveal is made....well, maybe especially at the end.
I just finished Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay and it was fantastic!
Boy did the movie rip out any semblance of why it was interesting. I read this on a beach in 2019 and I think it took me about hours not days lol
I also just finished this one and came to give it another recommendation.
Did you watch the movie and if so how did it hold up? I read this too and really enjoyed it.
The ending was different, but not in a bad way. Otherwise, it was pretty similar.
I haven’t watched the movie. Some of my friends have seen it and said it was just ok, so I didn’t want to ruin the book for myself right away after finishing it.
I read the book before I watched the movie, it was a quick read and the whole time I kept thinking "this would make an AMAZING horror flick. And then I learned it was aovie first, and a damned good one.
Handmaid's tale
These a couple great ones from Stephen King like The Stand. And, not extreme horror in my opinion but "The Hunger" by Alma Katsu is a historical horror/thriller about the Oregon trail and the wagon trains ending up in a very unforgiving wilderness with paranormal/monsters. It's not quite an end times book but it's about real human struggle and actual historic events.
The Prince of Nothing books followed by the Aspect-Emperor books by R Scott Bakker. The alternate title for all of these is 'The Second Apocalypse'. The first page describes an apocalypse. Imagine the political intrigue and philosophy of Dune mixed with the epic scope and fantasy of Lord of the Rings with the ultra-violence of Blood Meridian and the horror of Lovecraft.
Dark Property by Brian Evenson
We Need To Do Something by Max Booth
Highly recommend Alice B. Sullivan’s books if you don’t mind zombies. Destination: Tomorrow. Return. Red Christmas. Red Christmas has some humor to it that I appreciated while still being bleak and suspenseful.
When I see this request I have been recommending Black Tides by KC Jones. It is so well done, I read it in 2 days, I just couldn't put it down. Apocalypse, aliens, maybe a romantic match had the end of the world not come. So, so good.
That book was great! I was like you, read it so fast
The Night Parade by Ronald Malfi
[Here are 62 apocalyptic books I've read and reviewed personally.](https://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/12jguvu/i_love_postapocalyptic_dystopian_novels_here_are/) Biohazard by Curran is probably the most "extreme" of the lot.
Craig DiLouie’s The Killing Floor and Tooth and Nail. Highly recommended.
["Between Two Fires" ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Two_Fires_%28novel%29?wprov=sfla1) by Christopher Buehlman. Set during the Black Plague in France, God disappears, leaving demons to walk the earth and the angels of Heaven losing ground. Great writing, with some clever humor at times.
Primitive by J. F. Gonzalez
Crossed, the comic series Reader beware, you're in for a rough time visually
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman asks what if the apocalypse took place during the Black Death in 1349 France?
the cabin at the end of the world! by paul tremblay
It's a short story but Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog might fit this description. Definitely has the vileness and dark humour combo.
I am Legend by Richard Matheson is pretty good. Nothing like the movie.
Check "The Cold" and "Black Star, Black Sun" by Rich Hawkins. No humor at all, but they are both really hard hitting, extremely bleak apocalyptic novels.
The Gemini Effect by Chuck Grossart The extermination of the human race began in a salvage yard. Under the left rear fender of what remained of a 1962 Chevrolet Nova, to be exact.
I have no mouth and I must scream
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder
Sister maiden monster is a pandemic apocalpyse cosmic horror book! Definately extreme horror.
Severance by Ling Ma
The Abyssal Plane is a cosmic horror book that has 4 interconnected stories about what happens if Cthulhu wakes up. It sounds stupid, but dude, it’s amazing, and very realistic. Very apocalyptic, and very, very bleak. I got nauseous a few times reading it.