This book follows the further adventures of Sidney Bannister, one of the main characters in the first book “Five Roads to Texas”. Sidney is 6 months pregnant and living in the severely overcrowded refugee camp near Fort Bliss, Texas. Sidney is alone (except for her intrepid cat, Rick James) because most in the camp think she is crazy (or just wildly antisocial). When she discovers that her pregnancy has left her with nothing to wear, she ventures to the edge of camp to try to find some clothes to cover her growing belly.
Fortunately for Sidney, she meets a sympathetic Army Sergeant and is able to get the supplies she needs. Unfortunately, a riot breaks out in the camp shortly after her return and the conditions become even more horrific. Caitlyn, the Sergeant, is able to get Sidney a job in the soldier’s part of the Fort and her lot greatly improves. The differences between the refugee’s situation and the soldier’s is very apparent to anybody who bothers to look.
Lt. Jake Murphy is your typical soldier, just doing his job in the SHTF days of this apocalypse. After a bad decision, he is punished by being sent to the refugee camp. Doesn’t that tell you something about the conditions in the camp? Soon, our main characters decide they have to get out of this situation, even if it means going out to fight the infected on their own.
There is also a side story of a Grandfather and his two granddaughters trying to survive on his farm in Kansas. Some truly unlikeable villains are introduced and the truth of trying to live in this post-apoc America is well described by the author. Once again, I realize that just when you really start to care about some of the characters, they die. I have come to expect this from the genre, but it is still heartbreaking.
The narrator, Andrew Wehrlen, is one of my favorites for this type of book. His pacing is perfect and keeps your attention throughout the book. The author, Brian Parker, does a great job with his descriptions of the conditions, the areas that the characters visit and the battles with the infected. But, he doesn’t go over the top with military descriptions or unnecessary blood and gore (but it is a zombie book, after all!).
Even though this is a continuation of the first book, you really don’t have to read it in that order. But, it is much more enjoyable if you do. I look forward to reading more books in this series because they are wildly entertaining. I was given the chance to listen to the audiobook version of this book through Audiobook Boom! and chose to review it.