Book Review: Countdown to Armageddon by Darrell Maloney (Countdown #1)

Scott Harter was an average man. He wasn't dumb, but he'd never be invited to join Mensa either. He'd liked to have married a beauty queen, but his average looks certainly did nothing to attract any. Neither did his vanilla personality. No, Scott was average in every way, except when it came to luck. He was a very lucky man. And that's how he managed to discover what the Mayans really meant about the world ending on December 21st, 2012. 

Scott learned that the Mayans never said the world was going to end that day. What they said was that day marked the beginning of a period that would see the end of civilization as we know it. Scott knew that big changes were coming. The Mayans left several clues about the pending disaster. He just didn't know when. He didn't know if he had two days to prepare, or two years.
 
To protect his family, Scott threw every resource he had into preparing for the end. And some resources he didn't have. This is Scott's story.

My Review: 
I love what I've read of this author so I'm going to do some gushing and I'm not ashamed of it! I've read the first book in his 'Alone' and 'Final Dawn' series as well as this one 'Countdown to Armageddon' and I've enjoyed each one. I can't tell you how much I want to complete each series now but you know what it's like when you have sooo many tbr books!

Scott runs a chain of storage facilities and when one is abandoned by the owner, he looks through it for useful stuff for himself before auctioning the rest of the contents. Not strictly legal but you can imagine a lot of people doing the same in his position. It is in one of these lockers that he finds the details about the Mayan prophecy for the end of the world due to a solar flare taking out the grid. His own research leads Scott to believe that this is going to happen in the near future and he decides he must be ready to save his family. I've also read up on things like solar flares so I was able to put myself firmly in Scott's position and imagine what I would do if I was him.

I also love to read about the various different types of preppers and I enjoy following their journey from living in blissful ignorance, so to speak, to starting to prepare for the unexpected. I enjoyed watching Scott purchase a rural property to use as a bug out location when trouble comes, and start to solve all the problems of power, food, water, working vehicles and security. The tension is ramped up with each passing chapter as you KNOW the disaster is coming but not when, and you are urging Scott and his family to move faster to be ready in time! I find this kind of book exciting and it is also educational if you are interested in prepping. 

This author is really good at making you care about all the characters. I liked Scott and for me, liking the MC in a book is so important to my enjoyment of the story, especially in disaster fiction. If I hate the MC I won't care what happens to him/her. Scott's new girlfriend is Joyce, the estate agent who sold him the house and she is an amateur prepper so he feels able to share his plans with her. He is still friends with his ex-wife Linda, who is currently in an abusive relationship with a violent man. Scott wants to include Linda in the plans but does not want her boyfriend to be involved in any way. I liked that we had a couple who were able to stay friends after the divorce, and that Linda and Joyce quickly became friends too. It was nice not to have fights and angst, just three people working happily together. Scott and Linda have two sons Jordan and Zachary who also get on well with Joyce. The other character was Tom, who owns a neighbouring property and helps Scott get a few projects up and running. He is a really nice guy, the kind you want as a neighbour. And lets not forget the family dog Duke!

The dramatic bit of the story is when the solar flare hits. You know it is coming and Scott has set up a plan for what they are to do if they are not together when it happens. Joyce is at work, thirty minutes from Scott's family home which is the meeting place. Jordan and Zachary are both at their schools. Scott is asleep in bed at the compound and Linda is twenty miles away in a traffic jam. The story switches now to each of the characters as they face different challenges on their way to the meeting place. I loved this part of the book. If the tension was building before the flare, it was nothing compared to when the flare actually arrives! People are confused, and some quickly become violent as our heroes put their plans into action. It was pretty exciting stuff! You are willing them all to make good choices and get home safely.

How quickly would society break down? Imagine you are at work miles from home with a car that no longer works and a long walk ahead. If it happens in the morning, you might get home well ahead of dark but in this case the flare hits later and each member struggles to get home before it gets dark. Scary huh! This book is set in America so armed people wanting to steal your bike or food is a very real issue...and this series has society falling apart almost instantly. It is a pretty unnerving scenario!

So do they all get home safe? Do they make it out to the compound? Read for yourself and find out! I seriously cannot wait to read on in this series and find out what happens to everyone. I rate this author as one of my top five disaster authors. I recommend this book to prepper enthusiasts, disaster/apocalypse fans.
   

Book Review: Afraid by Jack Kilborn

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? YOU WILL BE . . .

Welcome to Safe Haven, Wisconsin. Miles from everything, with one road in and out, this peaceful town has never needed a full-time police force. Until now . . .

A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven's only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. And each will have this harrowing thought: Maybe death hasn't come to their town by accident . . .

My Review: 
A helicopter explodes one night in the town of Safe Haven, and a team of deadly modified assassins are searching the town for somebody called Warren-torturing and killing every citizen that they find. A handful of survivors are trying to find a safe place to hide, led by the town Sheriff but these assassins will not stop until the mission is complete and everyone is dead, and they find their target. Who is Warren and why do they want him so badly?

This is one of the best horror/thrillers that I've read in the genre. It is scary, gory, tension filled, brutal, exciting and full of well written characters that you are rooting for. The bad guys really are plain evil and you don't want them to win, but they seem to know everything about everyone in town and use that to their advantage in murdering the civilians. There are scenes of torture and violence and it is adult content. It is also one of these fast paced rollercoaster rides where you really don't know what is coming next or who might make it out alive.

We follow quite a few characters through the book. The Sheriff knows who they are looking for but is determined not to tell. Fran is frantic to escape from the diner and get home to her son Duncan and his beloved beagle Woof. Duncan and Woof are alone and afraid when the assassin comes after them. Erwin is trying to get to his girlfriend Jessie Lee, who is one of many to arrive at the school after hearing that each person in town is to receive a cheque for a lottery win. Jessie Lee is sure one of the men she sees is a well known serial killer. Josh is determined to get Fran and her family safely out of town. There are others in the book as well and although it seems like a lot of people, you don't get confused as they are in pairs or groups at different parts of town and the author jumps back and forward between them, keeping everything fast paced.

The assassins are a team of Red Ops-Bernie, Santiago, Taylor and Ajax, mind modified by Dr Ralph, who heads to the town with his monkey Mathison and a Green Beret team who want to find the team. The entire town is quarantined so the innocent survivors are finding themselves trapped and trying to evade the killers. It's funny how small the town feels when our survivors are trying to evade highly trained psychos!

I was so concerned about poor Woof and the trouble that was following him and Duncan! I always get very anxious about a dog in any kind of book like this and I admit that this was one of the most nerve jangling examples of dog worry that I've ever been through. I love Woof and he features heavily in the plot. Beagles are my favourite dog breed which makes it worse! I also loved the intelligent monkey Mathison, who also features heavily in the plot. That gave me a second animal to worry about, as if I needed that!

The events in the book take place over a short period of time of a day or so which keeps things moving fast throughout. There really are no dull moments in this book. People are having to keep moving to stay alive as there seems to be no safe place in town and the hunters are also moving constantly so you never know which group are going to run into a psycho at some point! It was a book that I didn't want to put down for a minute and I'll be very keen to look at other books by this author.

*NB* I heard that some survivors of his first three books Afraid, Trapped and Endurance appear again in the fourth book Haunted House in a fear experiment...now I'm quite excited at seeing someone from this book again! Read 2015.

Chuckles Does DIY!

Today is going to be a day from Hell...yes it's Chuckles Does DIY!!! Urgghh! I am giving my bedroom an overhaul and getting it tidied as it has been a mess for months with stuff all over the floor. I decided to start by getting a new bed. I like metal frame beds as they are strong, long lasting and I can fit junk under it! So I bought one yesterday, moved half of my room last night and today is Moving Day.

So we need to take apart the old frame which will be easier said that done as the screws holding it together have split heads and are a bit wonky! When we get it out of the room and to the dump, we need to construct the new one, wrestle with the darn duvet cover, change and make the bed, add the mattress topper, hoover and dust, move everything back into place, wash the sheets and FINALLY have a shower! It is going to be a LONG day!!!

I see your backache and raise you painkillers and arms ripped out of their sockets... 

1.30pm update-we got the bed dismantled in an hour but the motor on the hoover blew up when we switched it on so that meant off to the bank and Argos to buy a new one. We still need to hoover, put stuff under bed back in place, assemble new bed frame, build a hardwood layer on top to stop the slats rubbing on the mattress, put mattess and fitted sheet on, add mattess topper for back support, add duvet and make bed, move all stuff in room back to position...oh feck it, it'll be midnight before I get to bloody bed tonight!!!! 

1930pm update-We hit 100 problems putting the new bed together and have just got it done and put the stuff under the bed. We are both sore, knackered, dehydrated and a bit sick. I'll be sleeping in a chair tonight and everything else will wait until tomorrow. I HATE DIY!!!!!

Book Review: After the Blast by TL Knighton

Jason wasn't having a bad day, but all that changed with a blinding flash of light and a mushroom cloud on the horizon. Overweight and out of shape, Jason must struggle home, only to learn that finding his family would be more of a challenge.

Along the way, he transforms into someone different. Is he the kind of man that is the problem with this new world, or the kind of man this new world needs?

My Review: 

Jason is normal, a bit fat and out of shape, and miles from home when the nuclear blast hits nearby. He grimly sets about walking home but on arrival finds a note from his wife saying she took their son to her mother's cabin in the mountain. Jason has to prepare for a long journey to be reunited with his family.

Firstly, I liked the fact that the MC was a fat guy instead of a superfit prepper or ex military person. It was good to see an ordinary guy having to walk miles to rescue himself and find his family. Jason was a guy you could like, who has to deal with a very tough journey, starting by having to kill a man who attacks him to steal his supplies. This for me was believable. Food is in short supply and cruel people will kill you for what you have if you don't defend yourself. Jason also reacts to this setback in a normal way.

However, from this point on, the plot starts to stretch realism to the extreme. Jason's next heroic event is saving a family from a group of bandits who are preparing to rape the mother and daughter. Jason manages to trick the bandits and save everyone despite having no training or experience in such a thing. I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt as everyone can get lucky sometimes.

Jason reaches his mother-in-laws cabin to find their son safe but Angie tells him that his wife Jesse has been taken away to join the harem of women being held by the local warlord Maximillion. Jason decides that he is going to become Rambo and go into the compound, kill all the men guarding, kill the warlord and rescue the prisoners. OK I draw the line at that one. Jason is just a normal guy who would die in ten seconds if he attempted a stunt like that! It might be interesting and entertaining to read but the plot is off into fantasy.

Yes he does manage to do his Rambo mission and is rewarded by grateful locals who set him up as the big Poobah to rule the area and run militias to keep them all safe. Oh please! And all this in 40 pages? Oh and don't forget he has lost all of his fat...

The basis for a good story is there. Had Jason met up with a military guy or mountain man prepper to help, I could have believed more in his Rambo mission but he was doing it alone which was not going to happen. It all felt rushed and underdeveloped and was better suited to a novella instead of a short story. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads because I actually liked the story in spite of the flaws and plot holes but really it is 2.5. 

 

Book Review: Draculas by Jack Kilborn and friends

A DYING MAN’S GREATEST TREASURE…

Mortimer Moorecook, retired Wall Street raider, avid collector, is losing his fight against cancer. With weeks to live, a package arrives at the door of his hillside mansion—an artifact he paid millions for…a hominoid skull with elongated teeth, discovered in a farmer’s field in the Romanian countryside. With Shanna, his beautiful research assistant looking on, he sinks the skull’s razor sharp fangs into his neck, and immediately goes into convulsions.

OPENS THE DOOR TO AN ANCIENT EVIL...

A rural hospital. A slow night in the ER. Until Moorecook arrives strapped to a gurney, where he promptly codes and dies.

WHERE DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

Four well-known horror authors(Jack Kilborn, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand and F Paul Wilson) pool their penchants for scares and thrills, and tackle one of the greatest of all legends, with each writer creating a unique character and following them through a vampire outbreak in a secluded hospital.

The goal was simple: write the most intense novel they possibly could. Which they did.

A Word of Warning:
Within these pages, you will find no black capes, no satin-lined coffins, no brooding heartthrobs who want to talk about your feelings. Forget sunlight and stakes. Throw out your garlic and your crosses. This is the Anti-TWILIGHT.

My Review:

I always get nervous when I see authors getting together to co-write a book, especially four! I always wonder if the styles and ideas of the authors are going to clash and turn it into a pure mess. But my fears were unfounded as soon as I got into this book.

It starts with a bang and goes on at breakneck speed in an orgy of violence and gore, with some pretty funny bits as well. Each author-Jack Kilborn, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand and F Paul Wilson, create characters who are inside the secluded hospital when a vampire outbreak begins. There are no fluffy bunny moments or a break in the action, no waffle or endless descriptions, no classic literature or critically acclaimed writing...this is just vampire action on speed. And I loved it!

Mortimor is a rich man who is dying of cancer and has an extreme idea to cure it. He purchases a vampire skull with horrific fangs and stabs himself in the neck with it, infecting himself. His collapse is immediate and his nurse Jenny and assistant Shanna have to get him to the hospital where he swiftly dies. But Mortimor is going to come back very quickly and is very hungry and eager to infect as many people as he can. Chaos and death are about to reign in the hospital as the uninfected try to escape or hide and the vampire hordes hunt them down.

We follow Jenny and her ex husband Randall who is in hospital after an unfortunate chainsaw accident, the obnoxious Dr Lanz who had Jenny fired from the hospital, Shanna and her redneck cop boyfriend Clay, Adam in the labour ward with wife Stacie, Benny the Clown at the ER after being bitten by a child at a birthday party who is stuck to him by the braces on her teeth and Carla the nurse on the labour ward. There are also a lot of people at the hospital for various reasons who are about to become a walking and screaming buffet!

It is Lanz who manages to get a call in to the police to alert them while all hell is breaking out around him. Victims are growing fangs as their own fall out, the sign of infection, and a full scale bitefest is under way. Hospital staff are trying to close wards and protect the vulnerable patients as monsters stalk the dark corridors. Shanna comes back from a coffee to find Mortimor had died, reanimated and is chewing on people. Benny the Clown discovers that being chomped by a child is going to be the start of a really bad day. Jenny begins to see the now sober Randall in a new light as the injured man uses his chainsaw to protect her and a ward full of kids. Oasis is discovering that being a child vampire makes it kinda tough to get a decent meal. Adam's wife needs blood after the delivery but does he really want to venture down to the basement to get it?

As well as the gore, then is some seriously inappropriate humour which I really enjoyed. Without a doubt, my favourite character was Benny the Clown with his squeaky shoes. As he arrives on the children's ward where others are hiding...

"Benny the Clown had torn open the man's abdominal cavity, his claws cradling several loops of glistening intestines. But rather than gorging on them, the clown was stretching and pulling the bloody loops, twisting the organ into knots. Familiar knots.
'Is that...a flamingo?' asked the old woman."

LOL! I was laughing when I read that! Comedy and horror are great when put together well, like in Evil Dead 2, and that was one of the highlights in this book. It was so refreshing to read a book where the death toll gives 24 a run for it's money, where the plot is just a crazy bloodbath and where you are totally entertained from start to finish.

If you like gory horror with a few chuckles in it which is not to be taken seriously, then Draculas is for you!