I listened to the whole book and I’ve got to say Jennifer Pickens did a great job with what she was given. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by her.
The content of the book itself is… not great. I found myself cringing a few times per chapter. I knew nothing about the author going in, but just a few chapters of reading his fiction and you’ve got a great insight into his political ideology.
The main character “Bunny” is immensely difficult to relate to as her perspective and reactions to situations repetitively shattered my suspension of disbelief. She is an Ex-cop, queer, stripper, pro cop/conservative all in one package. And of course she’s got to reference her cop background at least 8 times each chapter. During these reflections she’s often in immediate danger while pondering the symbols of police and how they impacted society (which shouldn’t be relevant since everything is on fire).
Bunny frequently internally argues that her cop background (a career which seems to have lasted between 1-5 years?) makes her a super human and a supremely qualified leader in such a crisis. Her motivation as a protagonist bounces between saving everyone because she was once a cop and abandoning everyone except for her friends because… I guess she forgot she used to be a cop?
Dialogue between survivors also seemed robotic and unrealistic. I found myself having a difficult time paying attention when everyone was chatting and had to go back a few times to make certain I didn’t miss anything important. But since little dialogue actually moved the plot along missing huge chunks of conversation was not an issue.
We are introduced to a female support character with tattoos who is most frequently referred to as “former gang member” when the reader is given her name long before.
The female protagonist experiences assault and I can’t help but feel icky with how the author uses this to try to give the character depth. She’s two dimensional and this really didn’t help that plot or character development in any way.
The plot also ended rather abruptly as the author seemed not to have an idea how to wrap up the story. I’m not complaining, as I was glad to be finished with it.
But… maybe you’ll like it?