77 Days in September

By: Ray Gorham

Narrated by: Joseph Morton

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

On a Friday afternoon before Labor Day, Americans are getting ready for the holiday weekend, completely unaware of a long-planned terrorist plot about to be launched against the country. Kyle Tait is settling in for his flight home to Montana when a single nuclear bomb is detonated 300 miles above the heart of America. The blast, an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP), destroys every electrical device in the country, and results in the crippling of the power grid, the shutting down of modern communications, and bringing to a halt most forms of transportation.

Kyle narrowly escapes when his airplane crashes on take-off, only to find himself stranded 2,000 miles from home in a country that has been forced, from a technological standpoint, back to the 19th century. Confused, hurt, scared, and alone, Kyle must make his way across a hostile continent to a family he's not even sure has survived the effects of the attack. As Kyle forges his way home, his frightened family faces their own struggles for survival in a community trying to halt its slow spiral into chaos and anarchy.

77 Days in September follows Kyle and his wife, Jennifer, as they are stretched past their breaking point, but find in their devotion to each other the strength to persevere.

What is an EMP?

An EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) is a magnetic pulse that overwhelms, and thus destroys, all electronic devices exposed to it. It is the most serious threat faced by a technologically advanced society. An EMP can be human caused, through the detonation of a nuclear bomb high above the atmosphere, or natural, through a severe geo-magnetic storm. In multiple reports prepared for Congress, scientists predict the complete destruction of modern American society and question our ability to ever recover if we are the target of an EMP attack. Further, some predict the death toll in America in the aftermath of such an event to be in excess of 200 million.

About the author: Ray Gorham lives in the small farming community of Shepherd, Montana with his wife and five children. He runs his log-home business by day and writes in the evenings, on weekends, and whenever the weather keeps him inside.

©2011 Ray Gorham (P)2012 Sunny Day Audiobooks

Very Enjoyable

Would you listen to 77 Days in September again? Why?

Yes, we would listen to this book again. Very entertaining.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was fiction but plausible in today's world.

What does Joseph Morton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator did a great job of expressing the writer's intended moods throughout the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, not at all.

Any additional comments?

The wife and I listen to audio books as we travel and I can tell you this book was one of the most enjoyable we have listened to lately. The story kept our interest and the reader did a fantastic job. We keep looking for Ray Gorham's next book but nothing yet on Audible.com

T&J in Tampa FL

Ok story made worse by less than good narrator

The book was ok but the narration was just bad. The cadence of the rise and falls, tonality of the voice were off and made the story line more difficult to follow. Just not a great performance.

Great story.

I loved the story. thought provoking and not chaotic like most post apocalyptic stories. celebrates values while showing how hard that can be sometimes. the narrator has a hitch in his speech that is hard to listen to. I found that slowing the speed down a little helped with this...some.

Good read

Where does 77 Days in September rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I regard it as top ten. If you have read One Second After and then read this you can put the two together, even though by different authors.

What did you like best about this story?

His tenacity

Have you listened to any of Joseph Morton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

havent listened to any other but he is a good narrator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

overall i thought the book was good

Any additional comments?

Being a keen cyclist I would have repaired the bike. Made it 17 days instead of 77. Joke

Good Stroy - If only it would turn out this well!

What did you love best about 77 Days in September?

1. A man's journey against all odds to get back to his family.

2. The both good and evil encountered along the way.

good writing, meager story

while the writing was good, I just found the poor choices made by Kyle to be infuriating, and really put my mood down, overall it was ik, just not worth my one point.

Great Story. Struggled with the narrator.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Based on the story I would recommend this to anyone that love a good societal collapse story. However the reader really killed it for me. Very little inflection and monotonous. Just stringing words together. No pauses where needed at times. He went from a straight deadpan dry read to a moment of excellence and them back to dry.

Nice change of pace from the typical prepper books

I enjoyed this book more than most post apocalyptic novels I've come across. Rather than the main character being a prepper who's preparations have finally became useful because of a disaster, he was just a regular guy. No special training, just determination and luck.

That's far more likely, and in this case more interesting.

I do have a couple of criticisms though:

1. The narrator had a bit of a monotone voice, and the switch between scenes had no delay so they all seemed to merge together.

2. The main characters were almost unbearably naive. Even after it was abundantly clear they were being attacked with lethal intent, they still pleaded with their attackers to stop rather than just fighting back.

Worth the buy IMHO.

Have read a lot of reviews and saw some negative reviews. I am glad I got it despite those reviews. I think that peepers expect an instruction book but it's nice to read a book that has unprepared characters. I recommend it. The reader reads a bit fast but that is about the worst thing I can say.

Gripping Disaster Tale

What did you like best about this story?

Unlike some novels about apocalyptic disaster, this one seemed more balanced and non-judgmental. It did not make me feel like a lazy fool because I don't have a basement bunker filled with MREs and automatic weapons. It also did not make the argument that every person affected by the disaster suddenly becomes either a pathetic victim (worthy of death), an evil villain or a properly armed and prepared survivalist (worthy of life).

What aspect of Joseph Morton’s performance would you have changed?

I would beg him to PLEASE take at least half a breath between paragraphs. His reading ran paragraphs and chapter endings into one sentence. So you have: Mary looked up at her daughter for the last time the next day was bright and sunny. Very annoying.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was hard to put it down for the night. It will definitely hold your attention.