The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume One

At the Edge of Empire

By: Daniel Kraus

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

From the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling The Shape of Water comes the “utterly riveting” (Entertainment Weekly) tale of a murdered teen who is resurrected to walk the earth for more than a century.

May 7, 1896.

Dusk. A swaggering seventeen-year-old gangster named Zebulon Finch is gunned down by the shores of Lake Michigan. But after mere minutes in the void, he is mysteriously resurrected.

His second life will be nothing like his first.

Zebulon’s new existence begins as a sideshow attraction in a traveling medicine show. From there he will be poked and prodded by a scientist obsessed with mastering the secrets of death. He will fight in the trenches of World War I. He will run from his nightmares—and from poverty—in Depression-era New York City. And he will become the companion of the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.

Love, hate, hope, and horror—Zebulon finds them. But will he ever find redemption?

“Fearlessly weaving gore, love, philosophy, and social justice issues into one sharp whole” (BCCB), The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume One: At the Edge of Empire is the epic saga of what it means to be human in a world so often lacking in humanity.

Something really different

I really enjoyed this book. The story turns in many directions through a well-painted changing world. And the way the protagonist speaks! What an artfully crafted vocabulary. I cared about him even though he's no hero. I'm looking forward to book 2!

A dark tale composed of rich language; captivatin.

Born in a the prison of a statis starved mother ad boy flees too young into the mean streets of the city of the middle 1800s American East. Bitter with his life young Zebulon Finch is sucked into an underworld lifestyle that leads to the violent death of the life he's living.
Dead on a lake bottom his body is dragged up on a dock. He's cold, feels no pain, and a dead body; only he isn't. Zebulon sees, hears, feels touch, his mind works as if he were a living 17 year old...
At first he just goes along as a speachless victim living his almost life in a cage trying to get ahold of his new reality as not living person. In slow measures his almost life adventures unfolds, a dark yet fastenating tale. 17 years old forever unkillably cursed to live; almost worth it as he tries to set his world aright from his beginnings before his murder.

Amazing and Original

Among the most unique, imaginative, epic, darkly humorous books I've ever read. Great narrator too. Moving on to the second book immediately.

Hothead teen zombie captivates and revolts me

Expertly narrated sweeping tale of a hothead teenage boy who returns from the dead and shares his deprivation, brutal honesty, and serious lapses in character. Finch is a most eloquent zombie, but I don't know if I'm up for volume two now or ever.

Great story lnes

You were never really sure where the story would go next but you knew you wanted to be there when it happened.