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Collapse  By  cover art

Collapse

By: Richard Stephenson
Narrated by: David Gilmore
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Publisher's summary

America is falling, ready to join the Roman Empire as a distant memory in the annals of history. The year is 2027. Tired and desperate, the American people are deep in the middle of The Second Great Depression. The Florida coastline is in ruins from the most powerful hurricane on record; a second just like it is bearing down on the state of Texas. For the first time in history, the Middle East has united as one and amassed the most formidable army the world has seen since the Third Reich. A hidden army of terrorists is on American soil.

This is the story of three men: Howard Beck, the world's richest man, also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Richard Dupree, ex-Navy SEAL turned escaped convict. Maxwell Harris, a crippled, burned out Chief of Police of a small Texas town. At first they must fight for their own survival against impossible odds. Finally, the three men must band together to save their beloved country from collapse.

©2012 Richard Stephenson (P)2012 Richard Stephenson

What listeners say about Collapse

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Decent story, poor writing, horrible performance

Performer turned all women's voices into questions with an upward lilt at the end of each sentence regardless of punctuation. The story and ideas were decent but unfortunately the writing was of a high school level.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

interesting premise, terrible execution

this book was overtly politically slanted and hard to get through. recommended wmfor right wingers as a sweet wet dream. when it comes to politics in literature I like to with writers like Harry Turtledove who doesn't dream a political agenda down anyone's throat.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

The only issue I had is that some of the lines repeated as if it was a bad edit. Other than that it was a great lesson!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great read

I really enjoyed this book and the three main characters. Each were very different and you were able to be drawn to each on a very different level. I loved the way the writer used current situations and spun them into possible future scenarios for his book such as the current issues with Iran, global warming, political unrest and terrorism spreading into our nation, oil shortages and another Depression if we don't turn to alternative sources for fuel. Also the barely veiled discord between the government and our President, where our elected officials seem to want to get rid of the President altogether and make themselves and those they choose in charge of this country and force everyone to do as they please.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I was a little concerned at first

At first I didn't think I was going to like this book due to the introduction of Tank and his ilk. But after I got beyond that, the book really took off. I can't wait till next month so I can get resistance. I hope there will be others in this series as well.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Okay story with terrible narration.

Collapse has the seeds of a great story: WWIII with Iran, conspiracies, civil war,TEOTWAWKI, etc, but its flawed in its details at times. One example is centered around vehicles. The author sets up a world with the US in the "Second Great Depression" and often mentions very few people could afford cars and gas was over $15/gallon, yet in several places he talks about huge traffic jams in cities, and check points to stop all these cars, and none of the characters ever have a hard time finding a working vehicle as they cross the country when they need one. Things like this keep the story from being great.

Secondly and most important the narration was terrible. David Gilmore would do fine if he was narrating a book like "1776" or some other non fiction book, but when he tries to do character voices he is terrible. His flat British accent is fine for the AI computer in the story but everyone else male or female he is distracting from the story. I have a kindle copy of this book and I read a chapter and found it much more enjoyable than listening to David.

I don't think I'll listen to the next book in the series particularly since it is the same narrator.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book

Loved the characters as well as the plot! I already purchased #2 and pre-ordered #3! I felt the narrator did a great job! To be fair though, it was my first audio book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Seemed like a first attempt.

I couldn't tell if this was a first draft or a first novel. Either way, it could have used a much stronger editorial touch.

This is a novel of the Collapse of the USA due to a combination of bad weather, an evil foreign power, and corruption within. It is filled with super characters: the super soldier, the super cop, the super computer genius, and unsurprisingly, a super computer named after HAL from 2001, and nicknamed "old man" after a character from Star Trek's DS9.

There were many more Star Trek references, and what seemed like Star Trek Encyclopedia entries. There were also too many instances where we were in the mind of one character, listening to his thoughts, and then listened again as he told someone else a word for word reproduction of what he was thinking. If you missed the transition from "he thought" to "he said," you would think there was a loop in the audio.

Glad I got this one on sale. I won't be using a credit for the next installment.




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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

it is a very good book the caricatures are very well thought out and play off each other great

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting premise... Poorly narrated

I have recently started reading post apocalyptic novels and this one had the most realistic "apocalypse"... The characters are a little flimsy and the narrator is atrocious but overall a good book. I am about to start the sequel :)

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