Audible Book Review: Lost Valley by Walt Browning

I thought this was post-apocalyptic (which it is) but it is zombie type horror and survival.
Lost Valley
By: Walt Browning
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Series: Extinction Survival, Book 1
Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
Release date: 04-09-19
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Military Sci Fi, Post-Apocalyptic
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Content 4.0; Narration 4.0.

Publisher's Summary
War has a way of following some people....
John Eric Carver and Shrek are a retired Navy SEAL war dog team, now living in the mountains outside of San Diego. Both man and dog thought their life was now settled, finding peace on the 40-acre ranch they had moved to. But life, and a mutated virus, changed all that.
Now, they have to survive a worldwide pandemic. Taking refuge in a nearby Boy Scout camp, he leads a group of teens and their parents as they are forced to deal with infected creatures that are rapidly consuming the world. Will John and Shrek survive another war, or will this be the end of the line for the SEAL team?
©2019 Walt Browning (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Review:
John Carver and his war dog Shrek have settled into a peaceful life after retiring from the Navy. He volunteers at a Boy Scout camp near his ranch. When an infection that turns people into ravenous cannibals strikes worldwide, John and Shrek are asked to help protect a group at the camp. The mutated virus is spreading quickly, and John is almost caught as he seeks to gather friends to take them to the camp.

The camp leaders are careful to inspect teens and parents as they seek refuge but they are still learning how the virus spreads… and how fast it works! A native teen from the reservation arrives on a motorbike only steps in front of an infected creature. She is able to join the camp and informs them that the infection is active in the coyotes as well as the humans. John and Shrek have been hunting a murderous coyote and now they know they will have to be even more careful.

John, another leader and a handful of teens have to make a run to a hospital to pick up medication. The risks are high but it is a necessary trip. Will they be successful to escape the infected and return to camp?

Browning is a new to me author and I found his writing direct with an easy flow. The plot and characters are well developed and the pacing worked well for a quick read. I likeed John and his dog Shrek, and also liked how the author shared a few chapters from Shrek’s view and the view of the rogue coyote. There is action as they face the infected and fight to escape from the mobs.

When I picked this out, I was looking more for a post-apocalyptic story rather than a zombie story. This would be a good story and series to read in October if, like me, you like your horror in that month. The story is entertaining, and I will likely listen to book two in October. I recommend this to fans of quick zombie-type survival tales.

Audio Notes: Bronson Pinchot is an effective narrator. He captures the voices of the characters (including the canines) and he shares appropriate emotions of fear and despair. I appreciate this was a free audio.

Source: September 2020 Audible Plus Catalog. This qualifies for 2021TBR and 2021Audiobook goals.

Audible Book Review: The Extinction Cycle Boxed Set, Books 1 - 3, by Nicolas Sansbury Smith

This is a solid zombie action sci fi with characters I liked.
The Extinction Cycle Boxed Set
Extinction Horizon, Extinction Edge, and Extinction Age (The Extinction Cycle, Books 1 - 3)
By: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Series: The Extinction Cycle, Book 1-3
Length: 25 hrs and 31 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 04-26-16
Language: English
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Sci Fi, Zombies
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0 Overall, Story and Audio.

Publisher's Summary
Here are the first three books of the best-selling, award-winning, and top-rated Extinction Cycle series.
Extinction Horizon
The worst of nature and the worst of science will bring the human race to the brink of extinction.
Master Sergeant Reed Beckham has led his Delta Force team, code named Ghost, through every kind of hell imaginable and never lost a man. When a top secret medical corps research facility goes dark, Team Ghost is called in to face their deadliest enemy yet - a variant strain of Ebola that turns men into monsters.
After barely escaping with his life, Beckham returns to Fort Bragg in the midst of a new type of war. The virus is already spreading. As cities fall, Team Ghost is ordered to keep CDC virologist Dr. Kate Lovato alive long enough to find a cure. What she uncovers will change everything.
Total extinction is just on the horizon, but will the cure be worse than the virus?

Extinction Edge
A new threat that will bring humanity to the edge of extinction.
The dust from Dr. Kate Lovato's bioweapon has settled. Projections put death counts in the billions. Her weapon was supposed to be the endgame, but it turned a small percentage of those infected with the hemorrhage virus into something even worse.
Survivors call them Variants. Irreversible epigenetic changes have transformed them into predators unlike any the human race has ever seen. And they are evolving.
With the doomsday clock ticking, the fractured military plans Operation Liberty - a desperate mission designed to take back the cities and destroy the Variant threat. Master Sergeant Reed Beckham agrees to lead a strike team into New York City, but first he must return to Fort Bragg to search for the only family he has left.
At Plum Island, Kate discovers Central Command may have considerably underestimated the Variant population in New York. As Operation Liberty draws closer, Kate warns Beckham that Team Ghost won't just face their deadliest adversary yet, they may be heading into a trap.

Extinction Age
On the eve of extinction, all seems to be lost, but there is still one final hope.
Operation Liberty has failed. Humans are losing the war. With no other option, General Kennor decides to pull back the troops and give science a second chance.
Trapped in the extensive sewer system beneath New York, Master Sergeant Reed Beckham and the survivors of 1st Platoon must battle through the tunnels - where they make a grisly discovery in their attempt to escape.
At Plum Island, Dr. Kate Lovato is working on a new bioweapon to destroy the Variants. But when a derelict Navy destroyer crashes into the Connecticut shoreline, she is forced to deal with a nightmare she thought had ended.
As the doomsday clock ticks down and military bases fall across the country, the human race enters the age of extinction.
©2016 Nicholas Sansbury Smith (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Review:
Book 1, Extinction Horizon: A Delta Force team known as Ghost and lead by Master Sergeant Reed Beckham, is called in on a very secret mission. They are flying into a secret medical facility with a CDC doctor in order to determine the status of the scientists in the facility and, more importantly, to return with a sample of the virus. Reed prides himself on bringing his men home but this time that might be impossible when they discover that the virus is a variant strain of Ebola that turns men into monsters. Reed and some of his team escape and return to learn that the virus has already leaked and is spreading rapidly.

They are next deployed to secure the safe rescue of the doctors and researchers at CDC in Atlanta. Team Ghost is ordered to keep CDC virologist Dr. Kate Lovato alive long enough to find a cure. They are directed to take refuge on a secluded island base that has been built to protect certain powers in the event of this type of outbreak. As Kate and her team race to dissect the virus and find a cure, they discover more secrets about the origin of the virus that might make humans extinct. Although Kate is able to find a partial cure, it has unexpected side effects that place survivors in even more danger of extinction.

Book 2, Extinction Edge: Kate’s bio-weapon has killed many with the virus but has turned a percentage into super monsters who are even harder to kill. Although the percentage should be small, they have the potential to wipe out any ‘normal’ humans. The monsters are called Variants as they exhibit traits of natural predators – wild cats, bears, snakes and more. And they are evolving brain strategies that leave even Team Ghost frightened of the odds of survival.

Team Ghost travels from the dead streets of Fort Bragg to the sewers of New York hoping to rescue survivors. They are in a race against time to get out safely as the military leaders plan to annihilate the cities if they can’t be saved.

Book 3, Extinction Age: Kate is working on another weapon to kill the Variants, but the base is under attack and under pressure. Team Ghost tries to recover supplies from a derelict Navy destroyer that has crashed ashore but what appears to be an abandoned vessel may be another deadly trap. The number of normal humans are dwindling as the Variants are expanding their territories in terrifying ways.

There is plenty of battle action in this series even if the battles against ‘zombies’ get to be a bit repetitive. At least the evolving nature of the monsters keeps things intense. There are good character scenes that balance well with the action. I did like the mystery elements and the tensions regarding the secrets about who was involved in creating the problem. Then there are those superior officers who just won’t listen and contribute to the problems.

I liked how the team members are developed so that I became invested in caring about Reed, Kate and others of the team. Some injured Vets, and even an adopted dog, are pulled into the team and become important players adding to the engagement level. The author does a good job of pulling at emotions as team members face danger and death. It is very likely I will pick up the next three books, also available in a boxed set, to continue the entertainment. I recommend this to fans of zombie and action genres.

Audio Notes: Bronson Pinchot is a reliable narrator. He sets out voices distinguishing the characters and his steady reading carries the story with good energy. I am glad I listened to this good bargain as a boxed set.

Source: Audible February, 2017 credit selection. This qualifies for 2018 TBR and Audiobook Challenge.

Audible Book Review: One Year After by William R. Forstchen

This was just so realistic. Great entertainment!

One Year After

By: William R. Forstchen

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Series: After (Forstchen), Book 2
Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
Unabridged
Release date: 09-15-15
Language: English
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary

The thrilling follow-up to the New York Times best-selling novel One Second After.

Months before publication, One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should have, a book discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at the dangers of EMPs. An EMP is a weapon with the power to destroy the entire United States in a single act of terrorism in a single second; Indeed, it is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. One Second After was a dire warning of what might be our future... and our end.

One Year After returns to the small town of Black Mountain and the man who struggled to rebuild it in the wake of devastation: John Matherson. It is a thrilling follow-up and should delight fans in every way.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks.

Review:
In the first book, One Second After, an EMP attack destroys the US infrastructure. Forstchen describes the devastation and struggles that result in 4 out of 5 Americans dying in the months after the detonation of just several small nuclear weapons.

This book picks up one year later, focusing on the town of Black Mountain. This community has pulled together to survive and rebuild without waiting for a government in chaos to rescue them. The town administrator, John Matherson, is a former military man whose decisive action has helped stabilize the town. He led the training of a group of college students into a local self-defense force when the town had to stop a brutal gang of border raiders. The town people have worked together to set up successful crop arrangements, medical facilities, schools and are on the verge of putting power back online, even if limited.

Unfortunately, the news of the successful defeat of the raiders and the regrowth of the town has reached the ears of political leaders. A pompous military man, Dale Fredericks, arrives as the Federal Administrator in Ashville. This ‘leader’ is a political hack, not a commander. He apparently is intent on getting control of Matherson and his resources. Fredericks begins by using flattery and bribery to try to gain Matherson’s cooperation. If that doesn’t work he is prepared to use force to manipulate Matherson, even if it means hurting innocent civilians and wreaking destruction on the community.

The ‘reestablished’ federal government has instituted a mandatory draft of able-bodied into the Army of National Recovery, ANR. The ANR is sending teenagers for minimal training before pushing them into dangerous, combative situations. Matherson has already lost his younger child and isn’t happy about the thought of his 18-year-old daughter, a mother of a 14-month-old, going off to fight for a tenuous, self-proclaimed government that has been cobbled together by old politicians.

While tensions and hostilities mount between the people of Black Mountain and the federal representatives, Matherson has to deal with community squabbles and border raids, including murder. His troubles include getting kidnapped by a group of independent raiders although he finds a way to escape. Then he has to help defend his town from an invasion by an ANR troop under the command of Fredericks.

This story is well told with non-stop action. I was totally invested in Matherson and his community who are faced with the choice of passively submitting to fascist rule or facing death as they fight other Americans. There are a lot of emotional pulls with anger, fear, love, pride, disgust and more. The characters and scenarios, including the politics, are strikingly realistic.

I listened to the first book a number of years ago and probably should have listened to this sooner. I will be getting the next book, The Final Day, to see what happens next. I think this series is a must read/listen for fans of the post-apocalyptic genre. However, I also recommend it to readers who have any interest in the impact that could result from an EMP strike.

Audio Notes: I was fine with the narration by Bronson Pinchot. He provided different accents for the characters. There were a few whose southern accent was over the edge hillbilly – but that also fit a few of the characters. I became immersed in the story which moved quickly. I appreciated the audio performance that contributed to the entertainment for me.

Source: Audible TBR/sale purchase from 2016. This qualifies for TBR, Audiobook and Alphabet Challenges.