The Prepper, Part 1: The Collapse

by Karl A.D. Brown

Alfred and Samantha Aimes and their plucky family prepare and survive in a post-economic collapse world. As the world careens towards nuclear and economic disaster, Alfred, acting on his instincts, awakens and becomes a prepper. After four US cities are destroyed with nuclear weapons, the US economy crumbles and the family struggles to survive in a world where food shortages, looting, rioting, and a deadly breakdown of the social order has become the norm. In a time when there is no government, infrastructure, or friends to count on, the Aimes family realizes that all they have is each other.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

132 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2013

About the author

Hi everyone! My name is Karl. I am married with a lovely wife and daughter. I live in The Upstate New York area. I love the cities and towns of Upstate New York, and they will feature a lot in my stories. I have been writing for a long time, but I have recently decided to take the next step and have a little fun with it by sharing with everyone. I enjoy writing stories that involve the supernatural or dystopian societies.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This first book starts out really slow. The action starts about half way through.

The author includes some good, practical details, which I always like, like the use of a plant for medicinal purposes. I anticipate that the next volume will be better plotted because the family is in the thick of things, so I may buy that. Some of the long ruminations about bad govt could have been edited way down. I am not sure why so many post apoc writers introduce cannibals so early in the pandemic, but this is another one.

[Justin Feldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

Been waiting to read this for a while and was not disappointed. Liked how the story elaborated a realistic impression of how the world could collapse, and the suspense of the challenges that faced the Aimes Family. Definitely a page turner! Will surely be looking forward to reading Part 2.

[Hannah Eyerly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reading. A great story that seems to be more close to what would happen if it came to a SHTF scenario than other books I have read and I have read many.


A great story that felt could be real from what is happening in
Todays world. Good SHTF type book. Must read.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me reading

Good story. Makes you consider what could happen and how you would react. Am I ready? I look forward to the next installment.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and inciting.

A pretty good read. It was short but very exciting . I will look for more from this author. I would recommend.

[Vicky Rowe]

Too much political commentary, hardly any story

I like the middle ground of the protagonists, they don't have all the money in the world, and are mainly just a regular family just trying to survive. I was interested to see how they did it and what they would face.

However, more than half the book was long drawn out commentary about the banks, the 1%, the politicians and the government as a whole. Every other page seemed to have one, more or less the same rant worded a bit differently. As well, the government was portrayed as uniformly full of evil, self-serving mindless drones out to get the 'little guy'. It got old really fast. I found myself skipping pages because it was the same old rant over again.

The characters were actually given less airplay than the political commentary, which is sad, because it seems the author has an interesting story to tell otherwise. But, because there is no room for it, the characters are thin and undeveloped, lost in their constant reminiscing about the aforementioned pages and pages and pages of political views.

I read almost every book of this type I can find, and while this book has promise in the stated storyline, I am not willing to pay for the next one to discover that it's more of the same. I'm disappointed, I had hoped for a good story.

[Leanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a short book, and it's overpriced. It has a thin plot, it's presumably intended to demonstrate to potential preppers what to do in the case of societal breakdown, but pretty much sticks to "People get hungry. People start killing and eating each other." There is a lot of straight ideology where there is supposed to be a story. For once in my life with a trilogy, I am not going to bother with vols. 2 and 3. I refuse to pay $20 for each of them, and don't want to waste any more of my time reading bad writing.

[Judy Davis-smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow awaking

An ordinary family begins to be aware of the possibility of a world wide collapse, introducing them to the world of ptrppers. Over time their world changes and they realize their savings will not save them but being prepared will give them a better chance than money in the bank. The choices they make ensure their survival through the fist dangerous months but have they planned for everything they will face?

[Peggy Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great but too short!