JL Bourne brings a nice twist with the first person account of this end of the world scenario. This allows for characters to be developed over time instead of feeling like every aspect of the story is forced upon you. Also, the medium to long entries made it perfect for stopping and starting during my commute vs. long chapters.

Rather that sitting on the sidelines reading a book, you feel like you're a part of the story because of the journal style. With each entry there is a sense of anticipation since the narrative is happening in a delay since because the journal is a day behind the action.

This is my first book with Jay, although I've already downloaded the next in the series.

Actually, no. This book is great to enjoy over the course of days. The format is well suited to this and it gave me time to think about, process and anticipate the next part of the story.

I didn't learn that author J.L. Bourne was an active military serviceman and wrote the books while deployed, but after i did, I appreciated the stories even more. Thank you J.L for your service.

This is a series that won't disappoint you unless you need tons of gore.
I can't think of anything I didn't like about this book and narration.

Why was this written?

NOTE - My comments are about the writing, and I see from other reviews I'm in the way, way, way minority. I have nothing bad to say about the Audible narrator, though. He did great with less than great material.

It’s quite literally a (nearly) day-by-day account of a pandemic that turns everyone into undead zombies who ravage the planet, told from the perspective of a fairly bland lead character, an American soldier/deserter originally from who gives a s**t now holed up in who cares Texas.

The timeline is January through April, and we get to hear about each day -especially technical bits about solenoids and aelerons- in a detail that I wish was lavished on the characters, the plot, or the imagination.

It’s told as journal entries and you know the protagonist wrote each entry you’re reading so…there can only be so much suspense.

I wonder if this is some kind of sub-genre I don’t know about, like Survivalist Porn or something. Especial in all the details about militaria and munitions and equipment. It’s all VERY flat.

Ultimately, this made me think of (how I imagine) the Romance pulps my sisters read when I was a kid. Everything according to plan and formula. Brief character outlines. Lots of going through paces. No surprises. No joy. At least the pulps had some sex (I presume).

There’s an interesting concept I hadn’t seen before in Zombie fiction —radiation from nuclear bombs killing the bacteria that would otherwise speed up the decomposition of the walking dead— but it’s tossed in along with a few other things and never spoken of again. The way this story is told, none of it really means much.

Towards the end, there is enough plot variety (not twists) to barely hold your interest, but by then I was listening at 3X speed.

When it ends, it just ends. Not even with a thud. More like an afterthought.

It’s not terrible or poorly written (excepting for the plot. I mean —what actually happens?!) but I finished it and the next second thought, ‘Why was this written?!’

The book may be the first in a series being set up, but if it’s more of the same voice and format, why bother?

Save your cash/credits. If you want some popcorn Zombie tales, try Peter Clines’ Ex Heroes and Ex Patriots. And if you want the best of them all (holding aside the upcoming movie which I fear will be weak and at best merely 'inspired' by the source material), get World War Z.

beleivable has far has it goes

pilot

taste of panic

when the marines came in to picture

good story

This is my second favorite audio book so far.

The main character had the spotlight most of the time, and was the most developed zombie battler I've heard of.

This was my first Jay Snyder performance.

Yes, although I couldn't listen to it all at once, I found myself looking forward to the rest of the book.

An incredible apocalyptic display of cunning, and survival in an environment of disaster and dread. The cold calculating logic of the main hero was offset by the depressing yet realistic truth.

Yes, this book as a great story line and gives a realistic view of the trials and tribulations of the characters. This is not one of those, I have 1,000,000 rounds of ammo and can take on anything books. Very real approach makes you think and shows a grim side of what a person would do if this happened tomorrow.

A lot of them... I do not want to spoil anything!

All of them. Mr. Snyder did a very good job with this narration. Gave me the perfect feeling of how the characters might have been actually feeling.

Please, please, please come out with book 3 and have Mr. Snyder do the performance. Please! I can hardly wait!

There really wasn't anything to this audiobook that would have me raving about it to friends unless they had some time to kill on a commute and liked the genre. That was me. I've been spoiled with some of the best listens since I started Audible so my expectations may be set pretty high, but this didn't knock my socks off. I was thoroughly entertained while I was driving, but not sitting in the car once I got where I was going.

One thing of note that you might find interesting or off-putting is that it's written in the form of a journal. I wasn't totally sold on that style because it had more detail than a person might write in their own personal journal, but would cut off when I wanted a little more detail. It is an easy enough style to write though and if that's what gets the content out there, then all the better.

If anyone expressed interest in it off of the description, title and cover, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to them. If this is you, give it a listen.

Comparing with other zombie books I've read.

THE MORNINGSTAR STRAIN

* Best story in regards to realism. You can even believe it could be. Great characters but too nice with them. Only a few die and mostly in the end.
* Good descriptions about the infection.
* The most infectant zombies.


ZOMBIE FALLOUT

* Funniest character ever to exist in a zombie novel. At least until book 4.
* Good descriptions of the guns.
* Nastiest and most gruesome description of the zombies.
* Too many things mixed in the same story, like vampires and supernatural beings.


THIS BOOK

* Written as a journal.
* Zombie Fallout is also written as a diary /journal but some chapters focus on other characters.
* This book focus only on the main character.
* Good descriptions of places and planes not the guns.
* Other characters seem one dimensional.
* Does not go into the mental confusion that is very characteristic of the genre.


If you like zombies get it but you won't fell the tension as other books of the same genre.

After finishing the Zombie Fallout books I started looking for more material to satisfy my Zombie craving. This series more than did the trick, although the first book was a bit short. The second book was satisfyingly longer, and to-date there isn’t a third book, yet. But I’m waiting…

A solid, believable story with good characters and situations. The military and aviation slants were easily supported with solid details that helped bring the story to life (pun committed with no malice aforethought).

The narrator felt a little stiff, but not so much that he was hard to listen to.

I really enjoyed both of these.

This book jumped around so much, I didn't know what was going on half the time.
The Narrator was very good, he's the only reason I lasted 4 hours.

No, not at all. Love UF, dystopian and zombie books. This one just really sucked.

NONE

There's only 2 characters, neither did much for me. Oh wait, there's 2 more. They just suddenly were there, he just started talking about them like they've been in the book the whole time, no back ground on them nothing. Just all the sudden there they were.

Can I have my credit back?. I wasted 4 hours of my life. Couldn't finish it.