From the start, you know things are about to take a very wrong turn, especially with the closing paragraph of the prologue. Linville excels in pacing, being able to set an emotionally charged scene without the story getting bogged down with superfluous prose. That's not say the text is devoid of description, because it's not. The author probes the reader's imagination and encourages your mind's eyes to fill in the blanks. There's plenty of cringeworthy moments as well as those softer moments that cause one to reflect on times when they may have felt something akin to what the characters are going though. Deadland is full of vigor, despite it being a story about the undead.