Book Review: Days Of Panic by Jack Hunt (EMP Survival #1)

When the power grid fails, what will you do to survive?

After an EMP obliterates the nation's electrical grid on New Year's Eve, it's not long before society unravels and panic ensues. As the lights go out and silence spreads over the city that never sleeps, four ordinary strangers; a bike messenger, a homeless person, a support rep, and an ex-convict must forge a connection in order to stay alive.

When they realize the danger is far greater than they expected, they must embark on a perilous journey out of the city. Days of Panic is book 1 of an EMP, post-apocalyptic survival thriller series. It's a powerful, action-packed story about the ones we leave behind and the risks we must take to survive.

My Review: 
Four complete strangers find themselves arrested at Times Square on New Year's Eve at a big rally just as a huge EMP hits and throws the city into chaos. The group decide to stay together for safety and try to get out of the city to link up with the family of one of them in a nearby town, a woman and children already fearing for their safety as law and order breaks down and two local men take an unnatural interest in her property.

We start with an introduction to the four people we are going to be travelling with. Jesse works for bike courier companies but has just been fired for not delivering a package due to being viciously mugged. He is trying to find his way home through Times Square where there is a huge anti-war rally when he is arrested by mistake and thrown into a police van. Maggie, a call centre worker, is trying to evade her violent ex and has been dragged to the rally by the friend she was staying with, who abandoned her when the police started making arrests after the rally suddenly turned violent. She ends up in the police van with Jesse and the others. Her ex is still trying to find her in the city so having her new friends with her could be useful.

Damon has just been released from prison, taking the rap for his friend's drug running. He is angry that his friend can't even be bothered to come and get him and has been forced to start picking pockets in Times Square to get some money together. Of course he gets caught and arrested. His dubious friends live in the same area that Elliot's family are. Elliot is a homeless man gathering cans and bottles on the street, trying to live with the guilt of abandoning his family due to post traumatic stress from his military service. With the EMP hitting, and a plane crashing into the square, he decides that he cannot help everyone and must get to his family. He knows that the prepper bunker and supplies that he left to his family will keep them alive but knows he has to go and find them as soon as they can. 

His wife Rayna and kids Lily and Evan have the supplies that they need to get through the initial crisis, protected by the family dog Kong. Rayna is becoming unnerved by the behaviour of two men in the neighbourhood who have been prowling around her property in the dark, and she reluctantly reports it to the local police but they are too busy trying to keep control of the area without working cars to move around. There is the added complication that a married cop Gary, a former friend of Elliot, has been taking an interest in Rayna that is upsetting his wife Jill, so Rayna is unsure whether to ask for his help or not in case he gets the wrong idea.  

I'm a sucker for a good EMP adventure. I liked the characters of Elliot and Damon as they were sensible and capable, knowing how to look after themselves and adapting quickly to the danger of their situation. Maggie and Jesse were a bit whiny snowflake at times, questioning the decisions the others were making and just not getting what is going on around them. There were times where I liked them well enough and other times where I was frustrated and wanted to give them both a right shake. I can fully understand why Elliot and Damon seriously consider leaving the pair of them behind as they don't add anything to the group other than whining at regular intervals! I did like some of the adventures that they got involved in as they started to travel out of New York.

I was also very interested in everything that was happening to Rayna. She is trying to deal with being abandoned by her mentally damaged husband, trying to control her fears as she realises that it is an EMP and using the resources that Elliot prepared for her and dealing with Austin and Trent snooping around as she can only rely on herself and a few friends if trouble comes. I enjoyed her chapters, seeing how she deals with the stress and tension, trying to decide whether or not to retreat into the underground bunker. But it turns out that even that is not as safe as she hoped with two determined thieves chasing her. Her story was certainly full of tension though I was worrying a lot about the wonderful Kong! Dogs in apocalypse books always get my worry level up to critical! 

I'm not quite sure how to rate this book. I liked it enough and it entertained me for the most part. I love Kong and his family and hope he makes it through the series ok (he safely survives this book anyway). I liked most of the characters and plot moved at a decent pace. I'm just not sure if I want to read on with the series and I honestly can't decide! I think I'll leave it for now and think about it again when the new reading year begins. 

Read July 2019
3 stars/3.5 stars?