The Grey Zone

The Global Federation of Nations Series

By: Jason McMillan

Narrated by: Cheryl May

Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

For most of the world life had improved after the implementation of the Basic Human Standard and the formation of The Global Federation of Nations. However, after 15 years, there are some who still fight against the principles of the organization.

Natalie Kelley is a journalist for the Chicago Tribune whose reporting focuses on American terrorist groups in opposition to the GFN. When an Oklahoma City restaurant is attacked, Natalie travels to investigate the incident, but soon begins to question whether the assault was an amateur action or part of a larger conspiracy.

The Grey Zone follows Natalie and a cast of characters from both sides of the battle and explores the ramifications of an exceedingly globalized planet as conflicting ideologies clash across the United States.

©2018 Jason McMillan (P)2019 Jason McMillan

The Grey Zone

Very intriguing story of world politics in the near future (2072). The author does a great job of world building and character development. The narration by Cheryl May is excellent. I would recommend this book to readers that like political thrillers and dystopian stories.

Very well written- and eerily believable!

I don’t read or listen to a lot of fiction but I will say I very much enjoyed this book. Action packed, suspenseful and surprisingly thought provoking—due to the realistic nature of the plot and characters. My favorite aspect is how the author masterfully converged the 3 main storylines. Highly recommend!

What lengths some people will go to

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author and I would listen to another. I loved the ending. I like the way we see both sides- those for and those against the BHS. The way some people attempt to use it to their advantage, how it helps some and not others, how some people try to sabotage it for personal gain, and others think they are right that there’s another way, and inappropriate political actions. All so realistic (pathetically).
I agree with another reviewer- I’d love a prequel to explain events prior to this book. Then again, I kinda feel this book is more about building to the the end and the realization of what lengths people will go to to try to get their ‘ending’, instead of the details of all their actions.

This is the second book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Cheryl May ) and I would listen to another. She has great use of accents, and to my untrained ear, does very well with the Spanish dialogue. Good character differentiation, great pacing.

There are no explicit sex scenes, or excessive violence. There is some swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Leaves me begging for a Prequel

I'd love a prequel to see just how everything went down that lead up to the GFN. It's covered in broad strokes in this book, but it wasn't enough, if anything it got my more curious. Wonderful book and I look forward to more in the series.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Even better on audio!

Kyle
I read this book and enjoyed it but needed an audio book to listen to on a recent business trip. Decided to give it a listen and I enjoyed it tremendously the second time around. I stayed up listening till 3:00 am and it was worth dragging my tail through countless speakers the next day. Highly recommend .

Is this the future?

The Grey Zone.
It's a complex plot and world , and it starts slow for the first couple of hours - then the fuse ignites and the action really begins.
It is a very good book that keeps you turning pages right up to the end. Characters are very believable.
Narration is good .
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review.

Good story excellent voice work

I was given a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

I struggled with how to rate this book. On the one hand I feel it is very well written and has a lot of insight into the human condition. However, I also didn't feel connected to the characters or events of the book and it failed to leave an impact on me.

The book takes place about 50 years in the future, where a global government has taken root as kind of a useful UN, to unify the country's around the world to have the same rights and freedoms for all people. Of course, not all people want rights for everyone and therefore there are places that haven't joined. It has also lead to terrorism and death in the name of religion and freedom as the non-joined places attack the global government.

The story is viewed through 3 characters, a journalist, the vice head of security for the US portion of the global gov, and a person living outside the global government in an area known as the Grey Zone (roll credits!).

There is a LOT of narration in this book. The bulk of the book is narration. It is not internal dialog, or insight into the characters, it is just narration to build the world and establish the events. The first chapter has about a dozen acronyms that are going to be explained once, and you need to remember them cause they will be used constantly but never again explained. It is a very richly built world with a lot of nuance and detail. But the level of detail leaves it fairly dry.

This was my overall issue with this book. It is dry, it lacks emotion connection. The 3 main characters are explained well, and their motivations are fully explored and are complex. The characters are deep with complicated emotions and feel like real people. But the author fails to make me care about these people. I actually felt more of a connection with seldom heard secondary characters rather than main characters.

Ultimately that's what did it for me. I didn't care about the characters, so their struggles are meaningless. A 12 hour book about 3 lives that I was indifferent about. I didn't dislike the book, I just had little interest in the story.

However, the story is very good. It is grand overall, but comes down to a small but significant event. The lore of the world is incredibly detailed and carefully thought out. It is believable and realistic in its depiction of its religious zealots.

The technology is an extention of current tech and isn't pushed to the point of unbelievability. There is little that I didn't recognize as just an evolved version of what we have now, which I felt was a mistake for 50 years advancement. Not a big deal but a little unambitious.

The plot is a little straight forward and is fairly predictable. It didn't have may surprises for me, but at the same time it was believable so I didn't mind.

The voice narration by Cheryl May is amazing. Her voices are varied and she has a great range. More importantly her female voices sound like females and her male voices sound convincingly enough male. She has done an excellent job with this book.

All in all, a very good book (with some amazing voice work), that just couldn't connect with me. The writing is very well done, the world is incredibly detailed and thought out, the plot is realistic and has great insight into the human condition. However, it lacked an emotional connection with me and I struggled to maintain interest in characters that I didn't care about.

I don't think I will continue with this series, but I may. Time will tell.