Marcus Battle lives an isolated life on his ranch in Texas five years after a plague has devastated humanity. Despite his painstaking efforts to prep for just such a scenario, the plague claims the lives of his wife and son. Anyone who has ever come near his property in the days after the plague hasn’t lived to tell anyone about it. One day a woman approaches, screaming for help, and being chased by a group of men, leaving Marcus with a choice of whether or not to intervene or continue with his past practice of leaving no one alive to speak of his presence.
The main character is an Army war veteran and expert marksman who served in the Middle East. As a prepper, he was ready for the plague with a significant stockpile of food and collection of guns, each of which he has named. The story shifts back and forth between the present moment and the days leading up to, and immediately after, the plague reaches his family. His character is pretty well-developed as a result. However, the remaining characters are not fleshed out.
The book is fairly short, so the story moves along steadily but it just wasn’t a very captivating story. The book was written using plain and direct language so there wasn’t much enjoyment gleaned from the writing. I felt the narrator did little to adequately accentuate the book’s action-packed and tense moments. The narrator also sounded like an older gentleman, which confused me about the age of the main character, who son was only about 10 years old when the plague hit. An adversary referred to him as “old man” at one point, but yet he successfully find his way out of a few physical altercations with seemingly younger men.
This the the first of a 5-part series, and is not a standalone novel. I see no reason to continue.