Hellifax

Mountain Man #3

by Keith C. Blackmore, R.C. Bray (Narrator)

Listening Length: 12 hours and 13 minutes

A serial killer stalks the ice-glazed streets.

Half-frozen deadheads choke the avenues.

Infected vermin rise from the labyrinth of sewer systems, hungry for warm flesh.

And a handful of survivors struggle to escape and find someplace safe. In his hunt for Tenner, Scott discovers he must contend with all of this, before things truly get worse.

Welcome.

To Hellifax.

Genres: Zombies, Horror, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Audiobook, Apocalyptic, Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published December 26, 2012

About the author

Books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and others.

Reviews

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite one so far! While I did miss Gus, I absolutely love Scott, can't get enough of him.
And MAN there are so many antagonists in this story, it really gave it a new level of depth and depravity.
Can't wait to see how this series unfolds and if Scott and Gus will meet again.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keith C Blackmore has exceeded my expectations with this 3rd installment of the Mountain Man series, excellent read and at the back of the book Keith mentions that he has a plot outlined for book 4 but only if enough interest is generated from readers.

May I say, get on board and read this fantastic series and let Keith know that he has a hit here, I would love to know how Scott and Gus get back together and how that intertwines with Scott's new family.

Please Mr Blackmore let us readers at the very least see the 4th book, if not more.

[11811 (Eleven) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I enjoyed the first two in this series but I burned out about halfway through this one. It felt like the author was burning out on the idea too. I may read the final entry, book 4, sometime in the distant future but probably not. For now, I need another vacation from all things zombie.

[Miriam still reading! HIATUS from GR · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars audio
5 cringy gruesome stars story!!!!

[Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zombies plus cannibal gangs of Norsemen equals a fun, bloody post apoc tale.

Still loving this series, on to book four!

[Timothy Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I liked book three as much as book one, but it was still an outstanding zombie read. It picks up with some more character interaction after book two was mostly one person, so that was good, and we got to see more through the pov of some super baddies. Blackmore is highlighting one of the less obvious fears of a zombie apocalypse: those who survive into stage two may more likely be twisted than trustworthy. How long would you give a new acquaintance before letting down your guard? Blackmore is doing a good job building character engagement with an expanded cast. He's also finding new ways in each book to show us the terrors of surviving in the zombie apocalypse. Finished this and immediately bought book four, which I'm glad to see is 16 hours of narration (after the book 1-3 omnibus was 22 hours). R.C. Bray is one of the best narrators, and that makes this series that much better. Keep them coming Podium Publishing and Keith Blackmore!

Reviewed Mountain Man Omnibus edition (Books 1-3) at timothycward.com

[Glinda Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

No time right now for a long review, but enjoyed finally reading the rest of Scott's story. Would love a MM 4 - I have a wish list of things I would like to see.... :)

[Leather · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 50 % or 60 %
Boring to death.

[David Veith · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 I do hope they make another one! So Scott is still on the hunt for Tenner and comes into fun along the way. The Norsemen were a fun twist for sure! And many rats again (I do have to say, they made a point to mention how after 2 years after the outbreak started, the Moes are starting to decompose. They are wearing their feet right off in some cases. If so how come not so with the rats?) Over all very well written, keeps you glued and asking what comes next.

[Joe Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great finale to the series. Well paced and emotionally charged along with the gore that one expects from the MM books. New characters join familiar faces in this showdown of good and evil. Fun and fast paced ride!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

3rd book in this series, it's a good one. Bloody and a little more action oriented and twisted than the others. If you're squeamish, I'm sure you'll love the Norsemen. Fair warning: There are a couple curse words in here, but don't worry, they don't detract from the story one bit.

[Susu · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a while for this series to grow on me but I love the anti-hero Gus. This book and the first are the best so far. I loved seeing the story from Scott's POV. I really hope Scott and Gus reconnect later in the series.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little torn on this one.

Honestly, I only read this book (okay, listened to it) because I bought the box set. It was the last one in the set and so I decided to listen to it in order to cross if off and move on to another series the next time I get the zombie itch.

The series has been pretty hit or miss so far, with a couple memorable scenes and a few chuckles here and there, but a lot of forced metaphors and some frankly not very good lines. Hellifax started off as no exception. I actually laughed out loud at some of the lines, especially the overly-tough dialogue from some of the villains. Maybe that was the intent, I don't know. but I was ready to cross off this book as another mediocre zombie thriller.

But it seems like Blackmore really hit his stride once he got the story of Hellifax off the ground. He showed me just how cruel and sadistic Tenor can be and it actually disturbed me and made me hate the guy. I wanted to see what happened to him. The showdown between him and Fist was pretty electrifying and I'm sure will stick with me for years.

I ended up enjoying Hellifax a lot more than I thought I would.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the last installment of this apocalyptic zombie series I thought I was out. The rats!!! But I already had this one so I figured why not, if it was all about rats then I could just move on. So glad I didn't give up. This book focused on Scott who we met in the first book as he continues his hunt for Tenner, the murdering sociopath, in Halifax. Lots of action, new characters you'll love and others you'll hate, and of course zombies everywhere, and yes, there were rats but they weren't as bad this time. I still can't believe I'm into a zombie series (I was intrigued by the name "Mountain Man") but then I said the same thing when I became obsessed with Walking Dead. And that I'm okay with the zombies but the rats freak me out. Here I go to get installment #4.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Boy, did it take me a while until I got back into this world, but when I did, it refused to let me go.
The second half if the book is the best. My man Scott can be quite stupid at times, but he makes up for with his heart. No wonder he and Gus get along so well!
My heart broke when at the end Scott went to Gus' place and found that mess... But at least he found some good people and Amy. She's awesome. Let's have some more female characters like her, please. Good and strong willed and skilled.

[mel toland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[John Kehoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Single greatest zombie story I've ever read.

[Liz Mandeville · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Don't read this book if you want everything in it to correspond to the laws of science. It's Zombie Fiction so you must allow for some unrealistic invention on the authors part.
2. Don't read it if you're about to walk your dog on a moonless night alone. You will be too terrified to let Fido do his thing.
But if you read the first two volumes of Keith C. Blackmore's Post-Apocalyptic Zombies taking over the world (and especially Canada) you MUST read Hellifax! This is the climax we've been waiting for. Scott's journey to find Tenner and get revenge for his two friends leads him to Halifax NS where there are so many undead former people it's astonishing! His story of survival against the odds, the bitter cold, the blinding blizzards, the army of dead things, will keep you nail biting and thin lipped to the last word.
We are introduced to new characters, find that those who survive are not those you might imagine, and resolve several plot lines with stupendous fights and visceral brutality. Blackmore's ability to paint pictures of gore and depravity made his Mountain Man series addictive. I'm seriously considering going for a 4th helping.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while but I finally finished the 3rd Mountain Man book (I borrowed the book from another Goodreads poster and only got to the 81% mark (tried to read too many books at one time), and just this week another poster came thru for me).

The book could have stood by itself as a stand-alone as it does not have much of a connection to the Mountain Man (Gus) except with the lead character (Scott) of this story being featured in the 1st Mountain Man book.

I thought this was a very good zombie thriller. I enjoyed the new characters introduced in this story, the good and the bad. I liked the ending where Scott & Amy were going after Tenner as well as Fist (leader of the Norsemen). Remind me to never pi*s off Amy!

In this story the zombies were not really the central factor to the story, oh they were there and still munching and chewing on the regular humans, but they were more of a side bar to the villainous killer Tenner (and what a freak he was) and the cannibalistic hoard called the Norsemen. What a group of sick puppies! So, even if you have not either of the first two Mountain Man books (where are pretty good as well), you can still enjoy this thriller.

[Lori Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

First... I read these books as part of a compilation called Mountain Man: Omnibus. The cover was like the Walking Dead in that it showed nothing but decay and an empty street. The covers on the Goodreads entries are way different and probably would have kept me from reading this story. Which would have been sad because these books were very good. As far as zombie books go. Creative and character driven (my favorite kind). I am not a fan of the zombie genre but I do like post apocalyptic books so zombies so often make an appearance these days. I do like a good scary story and zombies are one of the few horror elements I find scary. So... there you go.
This third book is not about the main “Mountain Man” Gus but instead about Scott. It doesn’t matter. It’s the writing that keeps me reading so I enjoyed this story as much as the others. If you enjoy a good zombie tale the Mountain Man Omnibus (or Mountain Man trilogy as shown on Goodreads) is worth picking up. It is not overly gory and is heavy on the lone character development. Good stuff.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rats, what a great book. This addition to the series really does deserve to be its own book as it follows Scott in pursuit of his attacker, instead of Gus, our title mountain man. I finished the first two books as well as the two prequels and a short story before this one and all are five star quality. I really love the Gus storyline and character but this book was incredibly good in and of itself. The antagonists were really scary, the characters were great, loved the good guys, and the writing is fantastic. This author is an expert at capturing the imagination and placing the reader in a very realistic dystopian reality with real people in real what if situations. I will definitely be moving forward in the series. I highly recommend this book. It's really that good.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

By this point, it's so overdone, and Blackmore has so run out of ideas, I don't know if I can bring myself to read the last one. It took 3 books to get to the serial killer storyline. He repeats his lines so often it becomes annoying (see: referring to Amy as Bruce Lee; commenting "There's a joke in there somewhere they're too tired to make..."). Not to mention the series appeals to a certain gruff patriarchal audience that I find somewhat sexist and offensive, when it could have easily been amended. Not a bad story, if you can get over the repetition and lack of originality, just not for everyone.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially disappointed this didn’t follow Gus’ story from books one and two, and initially unsure about the Norsemen characters, this turned into a pitch-perfect cross-genre action adventure novel, tying the storylines within ingeniously and seamlessly. Nicely drawn characters and many imaginative visual images. Great book!

[Roger Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

If you start the mountain man series you won’t be disappointed in this book I laid it down for a period of time due to some health issues picked if back up and it had me just as if I had just started it. It just like any other good book the closer to the end the harder it is to put down. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes the genre

[Art Griswold · Rating 4 out of 5]

The outcome of Scott's hunt for Tenner.
A new and intimidating group of marauders.
And a small band of survivors with a dream.

This marks the last book in the series and it satisfies on all ends save one, which you'll have to read to find out.

Nicely done again Mr. Blackmore.

[W. Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to see characters from the first book get addressed in this one. Keith Blackmore isn't writing literature, but it is clear from the beginning he isn't trying. He is spinning a yarn for us, and if you enjoy zombie books, you'll enjoy this one.

[Anisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're into post apocalyptic zombie literature Keith Blackmore is one of the best authors out there.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great zombie series and R. C. Bray was the perfect narrator for it.

[Deryk Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved these books, a very well written story, never once did the dialogue feel slow, the pace and content of the action was spot, superb.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a bold move, book three does not feature the highly relatable curmudgeon Gus and takes a detour to the city of Halifax, sorry HELLIFAX, as we catch up with Scott, from book one, on his quest for justice against a man who he only knows by voice. The title might sound a bit hyperbolic, but Hellifax truly lives up to its title. The third book showcases new heights, depths, post-apocalyptic barbarity as both men, and a cannibalistic biker gang, moving closer and closer to an epic and brutal confrontation. Blackmore reaches his stride here when it comes to creating truly frightening villains - it's hard to place bets on who's worse, the savage Norsemen or the cunningly sinister Tenner but either way, our brave, foolish hero Scott isn't in for a good time in the frozen streets of Halifax (not to mention the hordes of the undead or the sea of starving rats flooding out from below). And yet, despite the crucifixions and meat wagons, Blackmore's continuing tale of survival horror still feels real, grounded, and relatable.