Doom: Knee-Deep in the Dead
Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweaver · 1995
Corporal Flynn "Fly" Taggart's Marine company is sent to Phobos after the UAC base there goes silent. Fly ends up fighting his way through the base against zombies made from his own comrades and worse, alongside fellow Marine Arlene Sanders. The first of four novels by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver, published less than two years after the original game.
What this adds if you've played the games
This is the one people mean when they say the Doom novels are worth a laugh, and PC Gamer singled it out as the only one worth bothering with. It follows the first game's shape, Phobos first and then Deimos, with the weapons and monsters you remember turned into a Marine's-eye action story. Fly gives the silent marine a voice and a running internal commentary. It's pulpy, very 1995 and fast to read. The later books drift away from the games, so if you only read one, read this.
Where it fits
- Adaptation ofDoom
A loose novel of the first game, from Phobos to Deimos, with the marine named Flynn Taggart. It's the same basic story told differently, so play Doom first.
- Comes beforeDoom: Hell on Earth
Starts the moment the first book ends, with Fly and Arlene still on Deimos, so read Knee-Deep in the Dead first.
Editions
Simon and Schuster paperback
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