Instorting: Een Post-apocalyptische EMP-overlevingsreeks

Dark Road #1

by Bruno Miller

Heb jij wat nodig is om te overleven?

Ben Davis was voorbereid op een ramp. Hij wist alleen niet dat het zo snel zou komen.

Hij en zijn tienerzoon Joel zijn kilometers diep in de wildernis van de San Juan-bergen wanneer elektromagnetische kernexplosies op grote hoogte de hemel voor de dageraad verlichten. Ben, Joel en hun hond Gunner moeten te voet de weg naar huis zien te vinden - of naar wat er nog van over is.

Zonder mogelijkheid om contact op te nemen met zijn ex-vrouw in Maryland, heeft Ben geen idee of Joels broer en zus in orde zijn. De twee besluiten dat ze geen andere keuze hebben dan naar het oosten te trekken. Voordat hun reis begint, gaan ze naar het dorp om in Bens outdoorwinkel voorraden te checken en ontdekken ze een van Joels klasgenoten, Allie, die alleen is en dringend hulp nodig heeft.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Fiction, Apocalyptic, Audiobook, Fantasy, Amazon

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2018

Reviews

[TP · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is simple and average.
The characters are average and one dimensional in their world view.
The culprit behind the attack is early on determined, but without backing it up with any proof or clues along the way. It just is, based on the few subjective presumptions of the main character Ben. All other natural or artificial sources causing an EMP are not even mentioned or compared. It is pretty bold to just determine things without giving the reader good evidence and not just simply dead cell phones. This falls in my category of substandard writing and lack for detail. The character Allie didn’t even once talk with Ben and Joel what could have happened or what this will all entail. They just know and assume all planes were affected. Simple as that.
Small odd and inconsistent things that piled up are repetitions like Joel wants to join the military after school. The characters not calling their own dog by his name but simply dog. Who would do such a thing? Ben is blaming the distance to his two children solely on their mother, without backing that claim up properly. His given reasons are immature and egoistical. By accusing her of things he didn’t do as well. Every conflict has two sides and almost every time both parties carry some blame. The character Ben is small minded, when he judges people that their tattoos are meaningless because they are thugs, but because he knows the story behind his own tattoos they are meaningful. That makes no sense.
Joel for example has an inner monologue worrying about his friend Allie and how long she must have hidden in the Attic all alone. That left me with an astonishing disbelief because a couple of sentences before she bloody told him. And the whole incident happened a day earlier.
Some thought processes didn’t make any sense at all or were only info dumbs through a first person.
Then there were those chapters the author seemed to use to introduce some background info, sadly it didn’t work. It felt unnatural for people to think like that. Some knowledge would have better been introduced through actions or interactions with one another or other side characters instead of inner monologues that aren’t authentic.
There is no suspension, just a boring simple minded short story.

[Lucas Hamasaki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waaayyy too generic. Perfect military dad with perfect teen son. They’re both so good and mature and communicate well and are protectors of women, who are weak and need help.

Also, nothing really happened? Now that the story was about to actually begin… book was over. I love trilogies, I love series, but this isn’t book #1, this is just part of a book.

I’ll continue reading, but I’m not too optimistic.

[John Podlaski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was engaged in Breakdown from the start and then felt bogged down in all the planning. Father and son on a camping trip in the mountains witnessed an explosion in the sky that was thought to be an EMP; no electronics worked afterward. Although the news reports cited bad blood between the US and North Korea in the days preceding the event, the attacker was never identified . The father, a former Army Ranger, stocks a basement vault with various weapons and ammunition and sorts through the lot to decide what to take and what to leave behind...my problem was that every time a weapon was mentioned, the author had to go into great detail with the nomenclature and other specifics about them - be it a rifle, knife, scope or other. Another fallacy to contend with throughout the short story was to believe the amount and level of ransacking that had taken place to date...every business and house was virtually destroyed...all within 48 hours and with only a handful of people seen on the street or elsewhere. Come on...! The twosome end up rescuing the sons' potential girlfriend and then return home in the mountains to gather supplies and plan a trip from CO to Maryland to check on both families who live in out east.

When I finished, I found the next book in the series to be included in Kindle lending and thought I'd have nothing to lose and downloaded it for free...it, too, is only 160 pages, but so are the rest of the books in the series and all of them are priced at $2.99 ea. After seeing where this current book goes, I don't plan on purchasing any of the other novella's.

Authors using this strategy to split up 800 pages - including all the repetition - into a five-book series and then pricing each as stand-alone novels don't realize that they are losing many potential customers who stop reading after the 1st or 2nd book because of this ploy. I'd be more apt to spend $.99 each or purchase the series in a two-book set for under $5.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben and his son Joel live on a mountainside overlooking a Colorado town, enjoying camping whenever they can while Ben runs an outdoor supplies shop. They have just started a camping trip when a nuclear attack hits nearby cities and they have to quickly hike home to secure their house and take everything not looted from the store. Joel is anxious about the safety of the girl he is interested and they go to try and find Allie who is trapped in a house on her own with violent looters stripping everything of value in the street. It is also in Ben's mind that he needs to get to Joel's siblings who are living with their mother after the divorce but it is a long dangerous trip to Maryland.

This was a decent first offering in an apocalypse series. It isn't as high octane as some of the books like this that I've read and it doesn't have the same tension level compared to other books. It focuses on Ben who is a prepper and he knows exactly what he is doing when the bombs go off and gets Joel organised for the trip home. The trip back is pretty uneventful though I'd like to have seen more of cowboy Dale in the story as he interested me. Maybe they could have had him and his family joining Ben in some way. The only real action in the book is when they go into the town looking for Allie and more supplies and bump into the looters but even that lacks the tension that I expect in these books. It is not an all action book with death and murder as everyone seems to be in hiding or gone except those looters. It did lack that extra interest and everything seemed a bit too easy for our heroes. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more meat on the bones of the story. If you want a lighter look at the apocalypse, this one might be a good starting point for you but fans of prepper fiction might find it lacking a bit. I'm not sure I'll continue with the series, at least not at the moment though it is a decent enough read.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I’m mad. I read all 14, and you’d think that means it would rate higher. Why read 14 books of a 2000+ page series? Here’s why. I skimmed them. I read the first two entirely. The next two, most of them. The rest, I was skimming through for the most part.

What’s good: Biggie for me is so simple but many authors miss it—editing—and this book is well-written and edited. Also, the characters are decent. I liked them for the most part. I was definitely interested enough in their story to try and see it through. Which brings me to the biggest bad. How the hell do you do 14 books and just stop the story up short with no ending? You couldn’t be bothered to do a quick wrap-up? After making me read over 2600 pages? And you do a spin-off instead? Why would I start that knowing it might just not end, either? It’s like I just watched a 14-part miniseries but stopped halfway through the last episode. Well, at least I know not to trust this author to give me a complete story.

There are other problems with the books. These 14 books could have easily been 6 decent books that didn’t make me skip dozens of pages at a time because I’d just read the same thing with not even much variation in the previous books (thoughts about how well the kids adapted to the world they were growing up in and how sad/proud he was, about how the country was going to shit before the shtf, etc.).

But none of it matters, because this story isn’t over; it just stopped at the 90% mark, and the author started writing his new spinoff series instead. It’s been 5 years. He obviously plans to leave us hanging. I’m not even marking this as a spoiler. I didn’t tell you how it ends. No one could. It doesn’t. And writing that just made me decide a 3-star rating is not deserved.

[Dani (criesinanxiety) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s only book one so I’m giving it a lot of grace with all the constant planning but I won’t lie it’s getting a little bit annoying

But omg a dog! I’m hoping it joins them in their next adventure and not left behind again 💀💀

This book was definitely short and leaves off on a cliffhanger and sometimes…everything feels a little too perfect…if you know what I mean?

But overall I like the idea and story but sometimes the information can be too much especially if you know NOTHING about what they are talking about

I will be continuing this series!

Update: I will NOT continue this series LOL

I realized I gave this book too much grace and adjust my rating 👍

[Bruce Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than most

This is a relatively non-macho post-apocalypse story set in Durango, Colorado. It has engaging characters and, for the most part, realistic situations. Its only flaw is a bit of stereotyping of people, but not nearly as much as I’ve seen in similar tales by other authors.

[Melanie's · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the debut novel from Bruno Miller and if you are looking for some realistic (read sometimes a bit TOO real for me) Post Apocalyptic fiction, then this should be your next read. Where are most of the books in this genre I have read tend to focus more on the distant future, or have an alien type element, this feels like it could happen at any moment and if it does PLEASE let me be even a fraction as prepared as Ben!

For a debut novel this author is coming out strong, but be warned it is part one in a series but from his Facebook page it looks like book 2 will be released in June so not too much of a wait.

Overall a solid 4 stars from me and a strong recommendation for those that like their disaster fiction REAL!

V""V

[JoAnn Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the numbers emp strike with the requisite military man and his son starting a journey across states and finding danger and chaos. Can someone write one with the neighborhood joe struggling to figure out what to do in an emp strike who doesn’t have a basement full of food and a locker full of weapons and a car from the 70s with no microchip? Does he learn to forage for food, hide from or outwit killers, use bikes or skateboards refurbished into something useable to travel. How about figuring ways to protect himself and others through useable everyday items? Ok I’m thinking mcgyver here of the post apocalyptic world. For goodness sakes show me how to survive instead of giving me a story of someone who already planned for it.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

Well written story about teotwawki & how quickly civilized behavior vanishes. I enjoyed this story very much & will definitely continue reading this author's work.

[Bryan Friddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty typical post EMP story of survival after societal collapse.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: it was fun to read an apocalypse drama where every detail was covered. Sometimes apocalypse stories skip over the logistics of how people are surviving (what are they eating? Where are they getting water? Etx). This series addresses EVERY detail.

Cons: This series is SO cheesy. Stereotyping left and right. (People with tattoos are “bad guys”; except for military, who are all “good guys” because they earned their tattoos).
Very pro-military, anti-government. Anyone who isn’t military or trained outdoors person is assumed to be inept and likely to die.
Another round of editing would have helped a lot. Characters have the same internal conversations over and over again. Level of detail was annoying at times, as it got quite repetitive.

Narration was mediocre. Too slow, and also conveyed the wrong sentiment much of the time. Based on the apocalyptic situation, you would think the tone of voice might be depressed or sad or upset. Often the tone just didn’t match the vibe of what was being described.

[Edwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

aardig verhaal, inleiding tot een serie.

later meer

[LeeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well structured, but the story gets bogged down in the minutiae of, well... EVERYTHING. Every weapon, and its ammo is described, ad infinitum. Every task, every plan, etc... It was just too much detailing. It got to the point where I simply skimmed to get to the actual story, until I got bogged down again.

I did read the entire series, and his handling of that aspect got minimally better, but that may be because he'd already described those things to death. As the series goes on he does the same with every plan and every decision. Some things really are just common sense and shouldn't have to be explained. If he were to edit his stories, he'd lose, at least, a quarter to a third, of the length. There IS a story in there, and it's worth reading IF you have KU and aren't purchasing it.

[Pam Shelton-Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this first book of a series. It uses current headlines to set up a not-too-unfamiliar formula. The writing style is good and flows well. It is descriptive without being too ornate and gets to the point. I like the main character Ben and his son, Joel. My main issue is that it is just too short. It is just starting to set up the characters and the plot and then it ends. Now the long wait to the next book.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good start to the series, the book held my attention and I like the characters.

[Rachael Ashak-Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Fun! Do it, take “the plunge!” Or are you a chicken.....?? ;)

This author is new to me. When I happened to stumble across this series, I was honestly shocked I had never heard of him or his work before - as I am a decade long reader of the genre, in all it’s manifestations.

So I “took the plunge,” ;) already knowing from the write-up that this would be my type of story.

And from the very first page it turned out to be exactly that! I abandoned another series I was giving a go, and dove in whole heartedly here.

The character development is smart. The world development is colorful. The action is just enough for a first book to wet the appetite. But don’t expect any glorious, lengthy gun battles (yet....??). Tension is present. Relationships feel honest and authentic.

And the real journey begins from here .....

(No spoilers, anything specific that is mentioned, you can glean from the author’s write-up/back cover of the book. ;)

The storyline will not surprise you too much, however. It’s a general EMP tale that’s been told a zillion times. What does cause it to be captivating and fun, though, is the father-son team dynamic. Who are backcountry dudes. Ok, don’t *yawn* (did I mention dad is also ex special forces, naturally lol) - it all does come together in it’s own unique and individual way. I promise. A lot hinges on the personalities of the characters.

Definitely worth a read. Thus far... I’m hoping to continue on and read the entire series!

[Brittany Duszczyszyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a very short first book, it starts off with a father and son who live alone in a small rural town. The father is an ex soldier and he owns a fishing & survival store. He has an ex wife who has custody of their two younger children in a different state.

The son sounds like he was just finishing high school & he has a crush on the new girl in town.

Father and son go for an early morning hike and they guess an EMP from North Korea hits and makes all electronics stop working, a huge airplane crashes near them. Then they make the long trip back home, get the son’s old school truck working and head into town to check on the dad’s store.

Everything in it looks to be gone they somehow get the truck to fit in the back door to hide from potential bad guys and the dad unloads his good supply’s that were safely hidden in the back room that the bad guys couldn’t get into.

The dad hears the bad guys come back but they leave, then the son convinced his dad to let them check on the new girl. Of course she seems to live only a couple houses down from where the bad guys were parked. He finds her hiding in the attic she said her mom was a flight attendant and is probably dead so she can go with them. The dad shot and killed the two bad guys as they were coming back, were told they had friends but we don’t meet them.

They take her home and that’s the end of book 1.

They have been very lucky so far and the dads ex military background and the store he owned just happened to be the perfect things for this situation!

[Miranda Beazley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben and his son are faced with a post apocalyptic world after a camping trip.

First of all I have to stress I have based my review on the story idea behind this book. I loved the idea, I loved the main story line. For a debut book it full of depth and the world has been created wonderfully. However for the actual writing of the story I have to say it’s probably only a 3star. I say this because at times there was just an overload of information. The author has done some amazing research or has a very broad knowledge base themselves, however as someone who knows next to nothing about some of the information provided it very much went over my head. I found myself skimming at times because of the sheer overload of information.

I must stress though that I can see some amazing books in this authors future. His storyline ideas are creative and the world he’s built here is broad and realistic. I am looking forward to more in this series and finding out everything that Ben, Joel and Allie have to go through in this post apocalyptic world they’ve found themselves in.

[David A. Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK

Mildly interesting characters. But too much expository backstory: find a way to let readers know through the story rather than long time-out explanations.
Not much of a climax: we didn’t even see the shootout with the bad guys. The author should have spent a couple of pages where the action was with Ben while Joel was in the house. The end was disappointingly anticlimactic. Even in a series each book should follow an arc with a climax and denouement. This one doesn’t.
One final detail: brown trout don’t jump when they’re hooked, they lug the bottom and go for holes or the bank. It’s rainbows that jump. Cutthroats typically act in between. An experienced fly fisherman can usually tell what kind of trout he has on before getting a good look at the fish just by how it acts.

[Lynn Hallbrooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to this book/series by a friend. I honestly didn't know what to expect but by the time I finished I knew I had to continue reading until the author was finished with the series. With my crazy schedule this year I had not stopped to do book reviews on here until now.

Ben, Joel, and their dog head to their annual camping trip. While in the backcountry some strange things happen. As they are heading home, reality sets in and a new journey begins.

Reading this book made me realize just how unprepared I would be if I had to face the things these two men had to face.

If you don't mind violence in your apocalyptic world, then you should check this story out. If you enjoy it see about getting all of the other books and have a good binge-read.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books have an intense, adventure filled storyline of a man trying to get his son and friend across the country in a post nuclear/EMP attack on the country. There are gruesome descriptions along the way but the book is free from profanity.

The downside is it’s way too wordy and repetitive. Maybe because I listened to the series, 5 books in a row? So many thought processes were repeated over and over. I don’t need to hear again and again about the guys thoughts on his divorce or how proud he is of his son. And I really don’t need 85 retellings of the dog relieving itself and marking its territory every time they get out of the vehicle, just for examples.

But I felt very invested in the story and interesting to hear how people might survive in that situation.

[A Steven Bouchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on what I know I will read every single following book!

5 stars were chosen because this first book is GREAT!! Excellent and well defined characters and true to live emotion of the characters.

The story is great and I am pretty sure I found a new favorite author.

The author clearly knows what he is writing about and has exceptional knowledge of how people behave under the circumstances he is writing about! This is NOT a "ho-hum" story. It is great and starts great right from the beginning.

This story is very difficult to put down and I immediately will look to see if book 2 is out there!!

Excellent story!

[CM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it all the way to book #4 (Extraction) hoping it would get better. It didn't. Things bothered me the most:

1) Everything was dragged out longer than it needed to be.

2) Lack of people everywhere. Really? I'm supposed to believe people staying in their houses and let themselves starve to death?

3) Way too many convenient events - need a car part? Oh, look, there's an old man driving down the road with a truck full of car parts who turns out to be a master mechanic.

4) Cities get nuked and no mention of radioactive fallout.

The good:

1) I liked the dad (except for the "all politicians are bad" bit). He really cared about the people he was traveling with.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to write this review for all 14 of the books and this series, because the positives and negatives are the same for each book. Each book involves at least one major challenge while the characters fight their way to family and then back home cross country. The challenges are definitely page-turners and I often found myself wondering "how are they going to get out of THIS one?"
The main criticism I have is that the reader has to spend way too much time inside the minds of some of the characters, and these characters worry about the same things, time after time. There could easily have been less books in this series if all the re-hashing of anxieties were removed.

[Fayelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️½ This is only the very beginning of the story, of course, because there are multiple books in the series. But if the author didn't spend paragraphs describing so much stuff that didn't matter, it probably could have all fit here. And I would have loved that. The plot (so far) is very interesting.

The author seems to be a gun enthusiast or passionately into doomsday prepping. Loved to describe all those guns and weapons and other supplies. In extremely great detail.

This has so much potential, but I'd rather hear more of the story than the kickback of different kinds of guns, or the extensive variety of supplies needed when camping.

#FayelleReads2024

[Liz Mandeville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joel and his father, Ben, were on a hike in the mountains when America was attacked. An EMP took out civilization, no cars, planes falling from the sky, no satellites or cell phones, and everyone starting to behave badly.
Written like a Hardy Boys Mystery, the father (a former Army Ranger) takes a firm hand with his son. The two men rescue a classmate of Joel’s, named Ally, and the trio set out to deliver Ally to her father and Joel to his mother and siblings in Baltimore.
There’s lots of action but the writing is stilted and the characters awkward. It’s not a demanding story, but it will do.

[Myriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a solidly written story about survival in a post apocalyptic environment. The characters are well developed and the world is quite scary but realistic. The main characters are Ben, a retired Army Ranger and his teenage son Joel, both very likable.
The story itself has an open ending, as it is to be expected considering that a whole new unpleasant world is being formed and the whole lot of adventures are ahead of them.
Worry not, the next book Escape is already available for pre-order and will be out on 4 June. I enjoyed this story very much, and already bought the next book.

[Jay Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Beginning

This is the first book of this series, and it sets the stage for coming episodes. Most of the book is a great introduction to the characters. Towards the end the United States is hit with a devastating electromagnetic pulse attack that fries all devices using chips. This book covers the gathering of supplies and a new friend to survive the apocalypse and unite the family. It ends with the promise of more action to come. The characters are realistic and likeable, and the writing is suggestive of a young adult level.

[Bettie Toxic · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is so fucking funny, the military dad keeps talking about how fast things got bad, despite him not seeing any signs of societal collapse. The man and his son come down from a mountain trip after what is believed to be a nuclear attack, and he immediately goes into Rambo mode, mind you, with no actual confirmation of what has happened yet. Broken windows and empty streets? Mayhem! Funniest bit was him coming across two guys looting, and commenting on their tattoos. They didn’t “earn” their ink ! He has ink, but he EARNED it cuz he was in the army!!! Lmfaooooooo