If on the other hand you want a fun adventure yarn with good characterization, a tightly scripted plot, and perhaps a bit of well considered analysis of the fragility of our current economic system, look elsewhere.
I struggled with how to review this book without just bashing it’s poorly thought out, perhaps even nonsensical political world view, but there is nothing else to review. I almost returned it in the first hour due to the author bashing me over the head with that worldview, but I decided to see how far down the rabbit hole it went. I think it was my first official hate-listen. A grudge-read, if you will.
I guess my politics are relevant here. I’m a moderate with libertarian tendencies who believes strongly in personal liberty, self-reliance, personal responsibility, and planning for a rainy day. I guess I wouldn’t be post-apocalyptic (financial crash) fiction if there wasn’t some appeal. But…
Imagine if your dumbest, infowars watching, cuck calling, RINO hating cousin decided to write a book based off of all of the conspiracy theories circulating around after the 2008 election. And it was REAL BAD. Then bit by bit, all the stuff that his “book” was based on was proved to be utter nonsense. It, to put it mildly, it hasn’t aged well. How was this published in 2013?
I think the only conspiracies not referenced were lizard people, black helicopters, and faked moon landings.
It’s only a bit racist (congrats, I guess?) with president “Al Mohammad” playing the part of the evil-for-no-reason puppeteer (false flags for everyone!) on the run-up to his outgoing election. Luckily, over the course of the book you get to meet the amoral democratic nominee in the upcoming election (who has a lovely megalomaniacal soliloquy about becoming king) as well as the statist Republican who only gets enough screen time to show how weak he is. Thank goodness there is a god-fearing libertarian to show us the true path of stopping abortions and SNAP benefits just like the founding fathers intended. *EYE ROLL of sufficient strength to injure*
The protagonists are paper thin projections of the author’s psyche. I had great difficulty telling them apart except by name. The female characters have zero agency, but then neither do most of the male characters, so yay for equality?
The total plot consists of 1) The economy collapsing due to one-dimensional villainy, 2) people do some light prepping, and 3) a guy takes a drive to the country. The scenes with the most dramatic tension consist of whether the main character will be able to successfully purchase another grocery cart of pasta. Oh, and smart phones and Google maps apparently don’t exist. Again, this hunk of crap hasn’t aged well.
The narration is fine. But much like Natalie Portman in her Star Wars roles, Kevin Pierce just isn’t given much to work with.
So why didn’t I just return it and get my credit back? I’m taking one for the team, folks. Can’t leave a review on returns. I’m almost curious enough to obtain the next one to see how bad it gets, but I don’t want to further incentive such paranoid drivel. Please don’t buy this book.