Chaos

A New World #1

by John O'Brien

There is no sanctuary.

That was taken away in the blink of an eye. Humanity went out not with a whimper, but a bang.

Jack, a sometimes humorous, sometimes philosophical ex-special operations pilot and soldier is one of the few left to struggle through the desolation left in the aftermath; seeking to survive as a new ferocious species emerges from the rubble, hungry and unrelenting. Will his special forces training be enough? Will he be able to keep his children safe and guide the few survivors through perils that now roam the world they once knew? Or will the hordes that now own the night prevail, forever removing the last of mankind from existence? Humankind was once at the top of the food chain. But that has now changed.

This hard-hitting, action-packed series begins with Jack Walker being suddenly thrust into a world where the infrastructure which cherished Armani suits, night clubs, fast and expensive cars and watching the daily stock market are gone. Left in its place is the material world mankind built but a majority of the population has vanished; replaced by a new, savage, unrelenting, cunning, animalistic species which hunts and operates at night.

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

John O'Brien is a former Air Force fighter instructor pilot who transitioned to Special Operations for the latter part of his career gathering his campaign ribbon for Desert Storm. Immediately following his military service, John became a firefighter/EMT with a local department. Along with becoming a firefighter, he fell into the Information Technology industry in corporate management. Currently, John is writing full-time.

As a former marathon runner, John lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and can now be found kayaking out in the waters of Puget Sound, mountain biking in the Capital Forest, hiking in the Olympic Peninsula, or pedaling his road bike along the many scenic roads.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chaos is the first novel in A New World zombie apocalypse series written by John O'Brien. This is a slow-burn, bore of a novel written by an obsessive compulsive, former pilot who must have at some point taught non-pilot, civilians by taking the concept of "dumbing down the process," and transforming it to mean "detail the $#!+ out of the process." OMG! I figuratively wanted to stab myself in the eye with how many times I wanted to shout at my Kindle "Get on with the story!" Don't get me wrong. The story, when told, is interesting. In the midst of the apocalypse, a former pilot grabs his children and flies them with him to Kuwait for his soldier fiancee. The problem lies in the fact that the story is so bogged down in minutiae that it kills suspense and makes you feel like skipping pages or skipping the entire book. I don't want to rage on the guy, but I will honestly say that O'Brien takes the concept of exposition to the Nth degree and makes it needless. I think the author is new, and he has spent a great deal of time in public service (the military and as an EMT.) Both, are laudable pursuits, but knowing how to do stuff doesn't make you capable of communicating the skill with words. This serves as the 13th book of 50 from my Over 5 yrs TBR. (It probably should have stayed there.)

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

People either liked this Zombie horror book or they didn't. I actually found it kind of humorous and enjoyable. I was so tired at work and this booked helped keep me awake. I first tried The Magician's Assistant, but the narration was like a lullaby, gently lulling me sleep. So I switched to this one. There was no sleeping with this one....I think it had something to do with the Zombie sound effects. I'm a sucker for sound effects in audios.

This was very very cheesy. The MC was portrayed as 'walking perfection' along with his girlfriend. And all the other characters, including the zombies, were only in the story to make these two glow with glittery perfection. But I still liked this. It was kind of funny. I'm actually looking forward to the next one.

This book was a little too simplistic in writing and story line. But it moved along very well. The narration was awful, but again, I found it all amusing and not annoying. I wish I could pin point why exactly this gets 4 stars, especially with all my complaints, but it was 4 stars. Now I need to log on to my library and see if they have the next one.

[Tristan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very seldomly rate a book this low and also don't tend to write reviews often, however I wanted to do this so anyone thinking of trying this series or reading this because they saw I picked it, PLEASE DON'T. While the story itself became somewhat engaging as it dragged along, I cant get over how incredibly over the top the author detailed simple things like opening a door or entering a small convenience store. I have never found any distopian book I've attempted so far to be SOO disappointing. I give props for the fact that the author had this much story to write but my god man the HORROR of forcing myself to the end of this book was horrible! And its a real shame because there are quite a few more and while I'm moderately curious what happens I know I couldn't read all of these unless I had NO other option. To Mr. O'Brien, I'm sorry to be so harsh man but I have to speak my mind on this one so as to not let anyone I care about find themselves recommended this series so often by Amazon that they give in and try it. I suggest reading DJ Molles or James N Cook for anyone into zombie books who hasn't checked those authors out. They are both excellent series without this book's level of CRAZY, over the top detail that bored me to hope for my own dystopia just to get away from it.

[Riayl]

I can't keep going. This is written in first person and the narrator's voice, and the story in general, are boring me to tears. Zombies just shouldn't be boring. *whine*

(But the cover is rather shiny. *pets*)

[Netanella · Rating 1 out of 5]

First paragraph:
Picking Up The Kids
I step outside sliding my Beretta 9mm into the speed draw holster at my side and carrying my 12 gauge pump shotgun. To the animals around, it is just another day. The doves and blue jay that are sitting on the feeder, eyeballing the seeds scattered on the ground, along with several crows sitting on the various branches of the tall fir and cedar trees, take flight at my approach. One crow, taking up station on the tallest branch of a tree where the driveway meets the road, calls out its warning. A squirrel sits on the rock wall picking up sunflower seeds, holds them between its hands, and watches me.

"A New World: Chaos" starts with our military hero Jack picking up the kids in a zombified world. Vaccinations for the flu-epidemic that swept the world have caused most of humanity to turn into sun-avoiding, screeching cannibals. After Jack rescues the kids, one painstaking detail at a time, he is off on a quest to rescue his wife/girlfriend, who is stationed on the other side of the world in Kuwait. And bring her a cold beer.

I found little enjoyment in this book and found myself skimming whole sections of Jack's recollections, Jack's perfect actions, Jack's perfect teenagers. Unfortunately, not only did I not enjoy Jack's godhood, I also didn't enjoy the writing style - dry, humorless, detail-oriented descriptions of opening windows and snipping fences and powering up C130s. I really wanted to like this book, I really truly did.

[Amanda Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book mainly because I was fresh from reading Mark Tufo's Zombie Fallout series which were just fantastic. I needed a new series to keep me until his latest came out and found John O'Brien. The book took me by surprise as the action began pretty fast without knowing what the protagonist, Jack Walker was getting into other than he was preparing to 'go get his kids' and the world seems to have gone quiet. Okay, got my attention... and O'Brien kept it going. If you're looking for another Zombie series this is not it. If you're looking for fast paced action and something other than zombies this is the book(series) for you. Jack Walker and his girlfriend, Sgt. Lynn Connell who happens to be somewhere in the Mideast, talked about end of the world scenarios and what they would do to find the other no matter where in the world they happened to be. Jack has every intention of keeping that promise( gotta love the man for that alone) especially since he's lost contact with her and just about the entire world. He sets off to find her. What neither expected in their end of the world scenario was the transformation of humans into creatures with a taste for human flesh and they are Legion! No Zombie's here but perhaps worse because they have a rudimentary thinking process and they learn quickly. It's fast paced and scary because the reason for what is happening could very well happen.

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I applaud any published author for getting that far, I found this book terribly boring and LONG winded. How does one accomplish that in such a short book?

I have no idea.

1. There was not a zombie encounter, action till over a quarter of the way through the book. WTF?!? Yet, I was treated to pages of a back story involving the protagonist’s excellent decision making and flying skills from his military heyday. Again….really?!?

2. The protagonist is simply without flaw. He makes awesome decisions from start-to-finish, and everyone he encounters…from his children to high ranking military personnel…just listen to him.

3. His girlfriend is equally as awesome. She simply takes the wheel under the gun, and executes without a problem. Continued Awesomeness.

4. Oh, just so you know, the protagonist and his girlfriend have apparently had numerous conversations about what they would do, if they ever encountered a global zombie breakout. You know…just for fun. Thank God…because it happened, and they were SOOOO ready for it!! Phew! These details go all the way down to him bring her a beer…from the other side of the globe.

I wish I was kidding.

Yikes.

[Kenny Bellew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chaos is book 1 of 10 in O'Brien's New World series. It involves a zombie-like outbreak (details unknown). The main character is a pilot in the military who needs to fly from USA to the middle east to rescue a friend in the midst of being overrun by zombies.
This is a short book (less than 300 pages). It's okay. It keeps your attention for the most part, but the story is a little weak. It's fight zombies, move to a new location, find resources, fight more zombies make it to your destination. The End. There was little about the characters that made me want to read the next book in the series, but I still enjoyed the read okay.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see why people do not like this book. The first part explains everything ad nauseam. Is this how teens and preteens would act? No! Can I completely suspend my beliefs? Oddly enough for this read, Yes! I am glad I soldiered on. I was engaged and ultimately enjoy the read. It is written in the Mike Talbot, Mark Tufo style. (Tufo is still my fav. Sorry O'Brien)

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an entertaining read. The world is going down due to a flu virus, and the vaccine turns out to be worse than the disease. My one big issue was that it seemed to easy for the main character, Jack. He flies an C-130, there just happens to be one with extra internal fuel tanks. The only person he encounters in the sky is his girlfriends brother? Yeah, I want to be this guys friend since he appears to be the luckiest guy alive (and of course his GF is one of the few survivors at the military base in Kuwait she is at). I will definitely read (listen to) the next book to see where this goes.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

3.5/5
Good writing, but too much info dumped too many times.
We don't need to see every single step in every single action every single time.
I'll be reading more, in the hope the author gets more fluent.
Great world-building.
And I'm pretty sure that a three-round burst of 5.56 bullets from an M4 or M16 won't knock someone backwards hard enough to send them flying with their feet over their head, especially when they're running full-on toward the rifle, yet it happened often.

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chaos is the first book in the New World series written by John O’Brien. The premise is that some sort of ‘Super Flu’ has swept the world after originating at Cape Town. The story follows the adventures of Jack Walker, a former USAF pilot and US Army Special Operator. And yes, you can have both of those specialties only not at the same time.

Book 1 opens with Walker attempting to come to terms with what has happened and rescue his son and daughters from the house they’ve taken refuge in which turns out to be his ex-wife’s. The plot it tight, concise and cohesive and doesn’t waste time wandering around. The reader is sent into the thick of the action as the steps that Walker takes are deliberate and professional, exactly like one would expect from a former SOF operator.

O’Brien’s description of the changed world is excellent in every little detail. From small towns to large cities, he hits it spot on.

Moving back to the overall plot of the novel, Walker’s goal after being reunited with his family is to somehow find a way to get to his girlfriend who is currently deployed to Kuwait. As the setting for the story is primarily in the Pacific Northwest, this creates a logistical and transportation problem that must be overcome. Walker realizes that his only chance to find his girlfriend within a reasonably time frame is to ‘borrow’ an aircraft from JBLM (Joint Base Lewis/McChord). As he’s a former C130 pilot that shouldn’t be a problem, but locating a plane could be. As luck would have it, he locates a HC130 at McChord and using his family as flight crew, heads off to SWA.

Bluffing his way past one of the few remaining military installations enroute to get more fuel for his plane, he finally lands in Kuwait. In the meantime, his girlfriend has had her hands full dealing with the infected.

The reader gets their first glimpse of the infected when Walker enters McChord’s hospital to gather medical supplies. Inside is a charnel house of gore, bodies and other detritus items left over from the infected’s assault on the uninfected.

Walker’s plan comes to fruition when he successfully rescues his girlfriend Lynn and the remaining personnel on the installation then begins his return to the states and specifically the Pacific Northwest.

Overall, this was an excellent book with a well developed set of characters. The primary character, Jack Walker, is exceptionally well detailed with a believable background not just a one dimensional finger puppet that has the ability to perform high speed procedures. O’Brien’s details of the aircraft, flight characteristics and handling are a wonder to enjoy. His version of the infected don’t quite fall into the canon of zombie lore as they are not reanimated dead but cannibalistic predators that have evolved due to their exposure to the ‘Cape Town Flu’. A New World: Chaos falls into the apocalyptic/horror genre more than the zombie genre but it’s still an extremely enjoyable read.

Within the entire novel, I was only able to find a few minor things that appeared odd to me. One was when Walker is on his way to rescue his kids and he places his handgun on the passenger seat. That struck me as odd due to the fact that if he had to stop quickly or make any kind of avoidance maneuver, that weapon would leave the seat and most likely end up on the floor. In a potentially hostile environment this is not something you want to happen. In one other scene, he checks an S&W .38 revolver and then flicks on the safety. Revolvers don’t have a safety mechanism like semi-automatics do. The only ‘safety’ a revolver has would be to leave one chamber in the cylinder empty. In a later scene, Walker enters a building to clear it and has to rack the slide on his Beretta once he’s inside. This struck me as very out of character as it’s already established that he’s a former SF operator so making that kind of rookie mistake appeared out of context.

Those minor issues aside, O’Brien’s writing far surpasses others that have attempted to use a military theme in their work. His writing is not by any means an attempt at writing a military apocalyptic novel, it is a winner that brings actual inside information to the novel that is realistic and authentic as only someone who has BTDT can do.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A New World: Chaos by John O’Brien is the book that started off my fascination with Post Apocalyptic and survivalist fiction. I read it in one sitting, logged on to Amazon and bought the rest of the series. I read them all – one after the other, far too quickly, as I then had the long, long wait for the next book.

The main character in the story is Jack Walker – a former United States Air Force pilot, and special operations soldier. He lives in a Post Apocalyptic world that was brought to its knees by a flu virus which originated in Cape Town.

A vaccine was then developed, fast tracked through the necessary channels, and distributed to the public, with disastrous consequences.

The result..... the Night Runners. They are not zombies as we know them; they are extremely aggressive, cannibalistic creatures. On the 'bright side', they avoid direct sunlight and are most active at night – which gives the survivors a chance to breathe, and plan, without the constant threat of the Night Runners trying to get to them.

The story starts with Jack setting out to rescue his three teenage children who are hiding out in the basement of the house they shared with their mother (his ex-wife). The suspense in the first few pages of the book is nail biting, the way the author details every step Jack takes, and every thought that he has, has you in Jack’s head, which makes for very, very intense reading. At one point Jack accidentally kicked a board, and it went skidding along the floor making a heck of a noise, I cringed.

Jack is a no nonsense type of guy, but he is a great Dad, and a caring partner so it was obvious that he would do whatever he could to rescue Lynn, his girlfriend who was stationed in Kuwait. He and his family then ‘borrow’ a military aircraft and set off to find her on an army base, on the other side of the world.

The author did a really great job in building the characters in the story. Each and every character was either someone you could relate to, or someone you hope you never get to meet, or more importantly, someone you hope to have in your corner when the ball drops.

What made this series really outstanding is that the story line is totally believable. It is told by someone who knows what he is talking about, and it showed. The details and the tactical and technical descriptions, for me, a non-military person, was extremely helpful and was told in a way that I could understand, without taking away from the story at all.

This was a really great book and the rest of the series was just as good – if not better. I highly recommend this book, and series, to anyone who enjoys this genre, and even to those who have never tried it before. I loved it.

[T.W. Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

John O'Brien has found a way to meld military knowledge and jargon into a story that anybody can pick up. Yes, it does go into technical explanation at times, however, that has to be seen as the strength to this series. So often, the military are either depicted as villains, or they are glossed over and ignored due to the lack of in depth knowledge a writer has on the subject.

Jack is not an "every man". He is a bona fide hero. He has a military past and history that puts him ahead of the game. His experience is needed to save those around him and he uses it. For once, we get a guy with "MacGiver" skills that are actually believable.

The zombies are O'Brien's own construct and they do not behave in typical fashion which makes this an even bigger thrill. If you want a series that takes the action fast and furious, this is your book. And perhaps keep it handy. It might make a great survival guide should the 2012 fanatics be right.

[Rolando Gill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please just stop talking. I really tried to finish it. I got 60% through the book but I could not finish. Long, boring, no passion, no energy please just stop. The first person story telling NEVER got better, I don't care what the other reviewers say. The story, what little of it there was, was unbelievable. I really tried to get through it but the main character would not stop talking.

Update: About 70% of the way through the book the setting and main character change and the author becomes much more readable. The perspective changes from first person to a third person limited omniscient. The writing flows and is not bogged down by the overly detailed descriptions of the first part of the book. It is almost like a totally different author. I will read the second book.

[Ling Yu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Felt like it was written by a 12 year old with an obsession for armoury. Beyond that, expect lengthy descriptions irrelevant to the plot points, and mind-numbingly boring details of everything the protaganist comes across. Do you have to describe every detail?? No wonder it ran to a 10-book series.

Gave it till 20% of the book before I decided to make better use of my time. Oh and by that 20% point, we haven't had a single zombie encounter. One of the rare 1 star reviews from me. I'm glad I didn't pay actual $ for this.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love love love zombie novels... this one was just terrible. The over-the-top details, wow, I just don't even know where to start.... I expected him to start describing his every breath. Description is very important to a story, but there is a line that should not be crossed (and with this book that line is a dot on the horizon) between showing and telling. Would not recommend to even the most hard-core zomble fans.

[Cherri Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starts hot and fast from page one then never slows down. Characters are well defined and so enjoyable. The descriptive manner in which the story is told allows a clear picture to form in your head. I actually felt like I was there. Great action, wicked spin on the zombie genre and gives a new standard for writers to reach when writing apocalyptic novels!

[Susu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok and I'm sure the series is good, I only read it because of the cross over of this series and Mark Tufo's Zombie Fallout. I wanted to get to know the character and monsters before I read Whistlers.

[Michael Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and laughable. Author wants to re-live his USAF days and as always the older we are, the better we were. Audiobook edition made it worse when the character Lynn got into the game. Zero voice inflection and monotone. I want my money back!

['stacey Palaszczuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good. skimmed a bit when he got too bogged down with flashbacks.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rate things pretty kindly most times because I don’t want to be mean about someone’s time and effort writing. I know how difficult it can be, and I’m not brave enough to put my writing out there for criticism. So I tend to be generous with my 4s and 5s. I don’t bother with an actual written review unless I give a 3 or less. I feel like a 4 or 5 rating says what I need to.

This time, I’m being generous with the 1. It’s long-winded and boring. You can stop there if you want a short version of what’s wrong. For the longer one, read on. I’ll try not to bore you 🤨.

I read the entire first book. I “flipped through” books 2 and 3 because I had them and wanted to see if things got better. Yet every time I skipped forward past the current long, boring explanation of an event to a level of minutia rarely seen, I would find myself just not giving a damn about the next long, boring explanation. To be fair, there were a few good sequences. They could have been great had they not been so overly drawn out.

I wanted to like the character because my hubby is retired USAF. But so much wrong. For example:

* This guy was a pilot AND special ops in the field? Not only that, this ex-pilot LED the teams? Right. Not buying it. With the problems retaining pilots as it is, I can’t even imagine the USAF training a pilot then sticking them out running a spec-ops team. And this guy being so good he did that and even was the team leader is beyond belief. Why make him ridiculously perfect? “I was a cop. SWAT. Team leader, too. But then I decided to be a detective. Homicide, of course. USA record for most cases solved in a year. Plus, I competed in the police olympics. I was their best guy. Yep, I was 42, but I out-ran those younger guys. Held the record for best shot, too. Rifle and pistol. Did I mention I did a long stint deep undercover, too? Took down two cartels. Oh, and hey, I was lead hostage negotiator for a couple years, too.”

Was that too long? I went too far? That’s this book. I’ll be quick about the rest of my problem examples:

* Stilted language. Too much “it is” — we say it’s. We all do. Use contractions. Your writing is hard to read.
—SPOILERS BELOW—
* A military unit takes a vote on who gets to be boss? A major and a colonel let the retired captain take the lead?
* The CDC thing? Give me a break. The entire team barely made it out, so he takes it on by himself? So far past “jumped the shark” it’s funny.
* This guy keeps getting asked how bad it is in the States, and his answer is “it’s bad”—but he never says “it’s gone, man, lights out, no one home, gone. Like ‘everyone you ever knew is dead’ type gone. But not everyone *I* know. Those guys all made it.” It takes a quarter of a book to clear a building, but we can’t have a normal sounding conversation where he tells these people overseas that the USA is beat to shit?

So many more issues. It’s no wonder it’s a ten-book series. It takes a book to explain a day in the life of Perfect Hero Jack.

[The Nerd Book Review · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minor Spoilers
First of all it's important to say that you're going to have to accept that even though only about 1% of the human population seems to be either alive, or still human, the main character and his entire family along with his girlfriend seem to have survived and he's going to attempt to fly from Washington to Kuwait to find his girlfriend who he hasn't had contact with since before the world went to hell. If you can get past that implausibility I found the book to be fairly enjoyable.
The author clearly has a military background and shows that he definitely knows his stuff. He can clearly describe how a plane is flown and the details of a house sweep. This is both a positive and a negative for me. I appreciated that he knew his stuff but struggled to keep my focus at times as he described in a very detailed way the interior of an airplane and the exact procedure to start it up. the writing style also seems to show a military background since the author does not use contractions and talks like a military man.
By far the best part of the book for me was the creatures. I find it hard to exactly classify them but the best way I'd describe them is as a mix between three different horror monsters. The alive style zombies of 28 Days Later with their hyper aggressive, fast, mindlessly attacking. Vampires, they can only come out at night as sunlight kills them. Wolves, they seem to hunt by scent and have some sort of pack mentality. O'Brien did a good job of not just recycling your average zombie or vampire.
I feel like with the .99 price of the books they are worth the time and investment if you enjoy a horror/survival style story. The books aren't going to knock most people's socks off but I found this, and the several others I have read as I found myself with free time in between other novels, to be a fun change up from my usual high fantasy novels.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a good story. Unusual, vivid, and with a different set of priorities than most zombie tales. It’s very detailed. The only problem is that the writing lingers over everything. At best it’s thoughtful; at worst it’s extremely slow except when winding up to action scenes (which compared to normal action scenes are also slow, but they seem fast compared to the rest of this book). It also sometimes makes the main character seem a little slow-witted, which doesn’t match his occasional very dry fits of humor.

There are places in this zombie world that don’t have hundreds of zombies crawling around (presumably due to the original high death rate from the flu itself). It’s a nice change from the standard story.

Especially considering the slow pace, there are far too many flashbacks in here, to things that are not necessary for us to know. (At some point I started going, “oh no, not another one!”)

I enjoyed the story enough to find it worth sitting through the slow parts, but only barely. If you have a short attention span, this isn’t the book for you.


Longer review posted on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2017/08/r...

[Rob Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I didnt finish it. I really, really want to read Jack Walker's adventures. In ASW collab with Tufo, Jack is a seasoned, intelligent warrior on par with MSGT Beckham from the Extinction cycle. But one hour in I had to turn it off and refund the audible credit. Mark Gagliardi sounds like he's doing a nonstop bad Duke Nukem impression and as a combat veteran myself, it sounds like a disrespectful parody of what a non soldier thinks a battlefield badass should sound like. No vocal range, even when talking about/to Jack's family, just full tilt Bad Nukem Impression.

If this book is out there somewhere with a different narrator, I'd rebuy it in a heartbeat. I'm very interested in getting to know Jacl's origins, the Nightrunners and the world. I know from ASW that John Obrien is not a bad writer. I cant stress that enough and the 4 stars are because I dont want anyone who reads paper copies to read this and be turned off from the writer. 100% would rebuy with a different narrator.

Really sorry John O'Brien. I'm stoked to see what happens in ASW 8 though!!

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zombies & Planes

The author writes the way I like when I'm reading survival books - which is heavy on the details of how and why they would be surviving. For example - after reading this book I feel like I could fly a plane.

I listened to this on an audiobook - and the production was very...different from the norm.
1) Sound effects
2) 3/4 narrators

At first, this was jarring but I actually grew on me and I enjoyed it a lot and don't understand why more productions don't use sound effects. (The 2/3 narrators was too much tho for a book of this size)

To be honest, I wonder about the rest of the story - the zombies here are overpowered this isn't a run and gun situation and I'm interested to see how humanity can survive.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A turbulently fun read !

A fun and clever rendition of your classical infection-based apocalypse. They’re not living, not dead, but somewhere in the middle!

This was an easy read, but had an enjoyable technical side with bites of philosophical beauty.

The pacing was good, I finished the book in just about one sitting. The overall flow of the narrative was a multifaceted and well organized conflict that intertwined humor, suspense, and empathy very fluently. It was a great cast of characters that delved into the complexities of parenthood while dealing with an apocalypse, all without a feeling of desperation.

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read : February 26, 2021
Rating : DNF (2 Stars)

I tried to get into this but the beginning is so dull and overly descriptive that I noticed myself losing attention and starting the same sentences over and over.

I like to, at least read the first ten pages of a book before I give up on it but I just couldn't do it.

Maybe it's not completely this books fault since I've been having a slew of terribly slow starting or overly misogynistic zombie tales so perhaps I'm just a little burned out from this genre.

[Lori Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't put it down!!! No Spoilers!

5 stars! This author grabs you with the first page. I love the main character Jack and his love for family. The action packed story kept me reading non-stop, and sooo happy THERE ARE MORE!
Mr O'Brien I also live in the PNW and can absolutely imagine your every step. It's funny, I see your characters living in my old home on 20 acres in Coupville.
I also read Red Team: Srigoi and can't wait for Book 2,3,4,5,6,......

[John Drawdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but three suggestions. One, main characters are too perfect and too in charge. Major Brenneman was unrealistically weak so that Lynn could show out unrealistic (when an officer is present) NCO leadership skills. Two, there was almost too much detail regarding room layout and actions taken. Third, the narrator was just too gruff sounding.