I enjoyed the first book. Some good action, an evil man it was easy to want to see lose and the usual preppier family that has loads of everything imaginable. That aspect usually bothers me, and relegates the book to primarily an entertainment exercise and not really combined with learning anything. In Book 2 we see the Mad Mick household taking on some new guests. I won’t give any spoilers so I’ll lesve it at that. I have to admit though the character Barb is nothing short of a huge pain. She’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas and seems to go out of her way to be rude. To EVERYONE. As I stand here writing this (even while listening to the book) I simply cannot recall Barb having a look for someone that isn’t withering, indifferent, icy, or her commentary just plain ol’ rude. If she’s trying to be some kind of a bad*** or what I do not know, I can just say I’m already I tired of her character. I’m sure that the end of the world will produce some bad attitudes, but a constant lashing out at people and the staring them down challenging the person to call her out on her rudeness just gets old – and I’m only on chapter 12. I started getting tired of the character by chapter 6.

That said Franklin weaves an interesting story, as always and I do not regret buying this audio book.