Black Knight Squadron: Book 1: Foundations

By: John Chapman

Narrated by: John H Fehskens

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Foundations is the story of a group of like-minded police officers, SWAT officers, armed citizens, and military veterans who happen to be training together when the lights go out. Like most of you would, they quickly know what's up. Unlike most people, the Black Knight Squadron has the training and resources to do something about it on a large scale. Caught in the friction between the emergency measures necessary to maintain order and their deep belief in the Constitution, the Black Knight Squadron must navigate the murky ethical and constitutional waters of a postapocalyptic world using only their faith, trust in one another, and the skills born of years of hard work and training. Can they keep a midsize city from ripping itself apart? They don't know, but they're going to try.

We live in a time when our inner-city culture teeters on the edge of savagery. When the lights go out in America's ghettos, it will be a short descent from the rule of law to the law of the jungle.

The Black Knight Squadron saga of books are unique in that all of the capabilities and equipment, and most of the people, are real. While the Black Knight Squadron saga is primarily intended as an enjoyable work of fiction, it also serves as the author's pregame exercise for the apocalypse.

©2018 John Chapman (P)2018 John Chapman

Slow starter

I almost gave up on the book. It started really slow and uninteresting. Somewhere about the halfway point it picked up a bit and got a little better. I’m am undecided about finishing the series. I guess that I will depend on the reviews to weather I continue or not.

A great Read.

I enjoyed greatly the the story line as well as the technical knowledge of the writer.

A gear nerds dream

Great story and a fun ride. Can't wait till the next book comes out. Highly recommend

Outstanding Addition to the Genre

I listen to books in this genre for edification as well as entertainment. Chapman nails it on both counts. This book will force you to think in a more comprehensive strategic manner. The big takeaway is that unless you have trained for this you're going to die. If you've only trained alone, you're going to die. If you rely on myriad medications or a CPAP or insulin to maintain 98.6, you're going to die. If you haven't developed strong bonds within your community, well, you get it. When the SHTF, people will automatically revert to their base, primitive natures. Good old Bob down the street will suddenly appear to you as a fat, useless eating machine. You're going to judge him (and everyone else) on a calories to production ratio. We should all be asking ourselves what we could contribute to our communities if we were transported back to the 1880s. Because if you're not useful, you will not last very long. So, great book with substandard delivery. Fehskens reads the narrative in an acceptable, albeit dry, Joe Friday-like manner. The dialogue is a different tin of sardines. It is delivered sans contractions and nuance. It has a machine voice quality but with less humanity. I..need..to..talk..to..Fred..about..that. We..will..need..more..ammo..to..grease..more..skells. We..do..not..want..to..be..caught..short. It's like a robot talking to a water-head. See if Kevin Pierce is available. He's the gold-standard for this type of fare. Even if they keep the same reader it won't stop me from getting Book 2. Great job Chappy!

Worth the credit!

I liked this book. Great technical explanation & believable villain. A few more name brand products than was needful but still a good book. I want to read more!

Finally

Here is a book about an EMP where there is an organized skilled fighting team, pooling resources, that refuses to relinquish there neighbor to the creeps! Love the military lingo. Lot of weapon talk, but hey, now I’m interested in researching that bad a*$ equipment.

Boring slow could not finish slow book

Slow to start narration is boring could not finish could not get to this book

Flat narration w/ unacceptable recording errors

I only got about 90 minutes in. Maybe I'm spoiled by the great narrators here on Audible, but the narration here is lifeless and there are unacceptable recording errors (mistakes, false starts, etc). On top of that, I find the brand name dropping and mentioning specs as if just to prove the author is knowledgeable on this equipment or that annoying.

It improves as you go

I have completed confidence that the tactics and gear described in this book are 100% accurate. I feel this is a functional shopping list for anyone considering training. concerning the story: it was very linear. no complex plots, no depth, no surprising turns. The human moments felt contrived and the characters where under developed. The bad guys were bad and the good guys were good, except when they were obviously bad guys. The premise was accurate and didn't stretch belief. I am reasonable sure the author directly quoted the Department of Energy's EMP Resilience Action Plan.

The production quality is severely lacking to the point of being distracting. If you’re confident this book is for you, you may prefer the print version because of the poor production and narration.

Really? I give this 2 stars.

I really think the book needs a new narrator and released a second time. It was pretty bad.