Darkness: After the EMP

By: Harley Tate

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kevin Pierce, Gabra Zackman

Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

If the power grid fails, how far will you go to survive?

Madison spends her days tending plants as an agriculture student at the University of California, Davis. She plans to graduate and put those skills to work only a few hours from home in the Central Valley. The sun has always been her friend, until now.

When catastrophe strikes, how prepared will you be?

Tracy starts her morning like any other, kissing her husband Walter goodbye before heading off to work at the local public library. She never expects it to end fleeing for her life in a Suburban full of food and water. Tackling life's daily struggles is one thing, preparing to survive when it all crashes down is another.

The end of the world brings out the best and worst in all of us.

With no communication and no word from the government, the Sloanes find themselves grappling with the end of the modern world all on their own. Will Madison and her friends have what it takes to make it back to Sacramento and her family? Can Tracy fend off looters and thieves and help her friends and neighbors survive?

The EMP is only the beginning.

After the EMP: Darkness follows the Sloane family as they attempt to survive after a geomagnetic storm destroys the nation's power grid.

©2017 Harley Tate (P)2017 Podium Publishing

Finally a realistic story

Finally a book that doesn’t involve the main characters owning thousands of dollars worth of automatic weapons and hand grenades and a friend with a blackhawk helicopter. Realistic characters, who struggle with the inevitable moral decisions that will be encountered in a end of the world event. Very enjoyable story, well told and well written.

Very good with a couple of irritations

I enjoyed this book overall and I'm a big fan of authors that stay true their characters, but unfortunately this one doesn't quite do that. The majority of the characters do, but Madison most definitely does not. One minute she's resolute in her accepting the situation and what needs to be done (sometimes ugly things and sometimes selfish things) and the next minute she's whining about needing to divert to save a stranger even though the odds of success aren't good. She never manages to shake her 'people are actually all good if you just get to know them' and 'we have to help people even if it means one of us might die' notion. I understand people would definitely have an internal struggle with this, but her struggle is every chapter and just makes you wanna slap her.

If you get past that, like I said I enjoyed the book. It's nothing new along the lines of post apocalyptic, but I think it is a pretty accurate account of what life would be like within weeks of an event. The narration is awesome, switching between the 3 family members with 3 different readers. I would definitely recommend this book.

Strong story

An excellent post apocalyptic story.
Worth your time
I recommend it to all fans of this genre

great listen great narration. an enjoyable book.

loved the narrators - a dream team!! my only thought was that when Walter spoke he should have always been narrated by Kevin and the other narrators characters always have been voiced by them even when another narrator was reading the the chapter. then each charactor would have had one voice right through the book. other ther than that a really good book, well balanced, enjoyable with likeable characters well depicted by the narrators. reccommended

good book, excellent narration but maddison... ugh

pretty good series thus far, but I Can't Stand maddison 🙄 her naivety and idiocies got people killed. I really hope she grows in the next book because listening to her whine and fight to go out of their way and get her people injured or killed for someone she doesn't even know is like nails on a chalkboard... other than her, it's been pretty good so far.

confusing narration

good book but was very confusing when Pierce and a woman both narrated the same character.

I dislike the main characters.

I love the book, but some of the characters are down right dumb and childish. Everytime I would hear Madison talk I'd just cringe and wish she would just shut up and be like Briana... lol same with her dad. she's 19 for Pete's sake. Madison's parents are the definition of helicopter parents.

It kept me moderately interested till the end

At the end of the day, this is a story about what people with a lot of resources would do during an EMP strike. I guess it wasn’t all that it could be because it’s from the vantage point of an upscale middle-class college student, her learned farmer friend, and her soccer mom. I was left wondering about the untold story of people without resources who didn’t have a car full of food and water, firearms, and a daughter who understood exactly what was going on from the first paragraph. Apparently, the moral of the story is that if you can get to a far away, in the middle of nowhere house, you can grow your food and all will be well.

Good Listen

Not overly gear focused or too bubblegum. I liked all of the characters. Enjoyed it!

I grew up there

The California setting was appealing to me. The narrators did an amazing job, great performances. The story line only got 3 stars from me. I read a great deal of post apocalyptic fiction, and found the characters decision making unrealistic, bordering on the liberal slant. I did enjoy the read, but feel like “Darwin Awards” were handed out a plenty. “Madison” was a stereotypical privileged millennial, with a father “Walter” who was a career Marine Corp Officer ? With the heroine never having been raised to plan, improvise and adapt...To me that incongruity was glaring. Saving the world before herself ? It seems to me this group lacked far too much common sense. Thank you for the story, I just think this was more Brady bill minded than Col. Cooper.