Family Reunion: When the Apocalypse Happens Only One Thing Matters...Family

An Apocalypse Family, Book 1

By: P. Mark DeBryan

Narrated by: Joseph C. Wilson

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A trip to the Pacific Northwest is interrupted by a deadly virus. Fighting to survive, fighting to reunite, Ryan Brant hasn't seen some of his family for 18 years and is flying into Seattle Washington to attend the family reunion. The Brant family is spread out across the country and all are headed to the reunion; some travel by car, some by air, and one in a high-end luxury Motor Coach. The South African Flu has brought the world to its knees, and the vaccine the CDC created has just made the situation worse, much worse. Join them as they try to find each other in a world that has collapsed around them and millions die of the flu, or wish they had.

©2015 Phillip DeBruyn (P)2016 Phillip DeBruyn

great. book couldn't stop listening listening. can

great book couldn't stop listening.can't wait for book 2. hope it keeps track of all the characters from book 1.could use a little more romance

Poor reading/fair story

Many of the stories inconstancies could've been overlooked if the reader did not read in such a wooden fashion.


Dr A

Pretty good end of the world book

What made the experience of listening to Family Reunion: When the Apocalypse Happens Only One Thing Matters...Family the most enjoyable?

A large variety of characters approaching survival in a lot of different ways. Some are trained and adept at surviving. Some stumble through it all and some don't make it.

What did you like best about this story?

Fairly realistic reactions by well developed characters make this an enjoyable read. The family aspect is a nice touch.

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

I listened to this over the course of a couple of days and always wanted to continue the story.

Any additional comments?

This is setup for one or more sequels. They should be good if this book is any indication.

Big family zombie book . Nice story

What i great zombie read it was at times hard to keep up with everyone but that got better. The story is solid the zombies are pretty cool different then the normal. Seems everything got thrown at this group of people trying to survive

Some times the Narrator some times had the voice to him like he was trying to sale me something

Overall Great zombie story would recommend

Who reads like this ???

The story isn't bad, but I have never listened to a book with such a stiff and bad narration. I barely made it through this

A great fit to a great story!

The narrator reads at a slow pace. Normally this would bother me, but it really works well for this novel. And the novel? Whoa- GREAT, nonstop action. Definitely recommend this book/audible.

well-written telling of an apocalyptic situation.

A zombie-like virus that was the result of overzealous pharmaceutical companies is ripping through the United States. All of this is happening while the Bryant family are traveling from all over to get to the greater Seattle area to meet up for a family reunion. They are thrown into the mix of these “diseased/zombies” while they attempt to find each other, hoping that everyone makes it. Thankfully this family is incredibly adept at surviving.

Narration was done by Joseph C. Wilson who does a wonderful job with this story. Yes, I wish that there were more voices, but that’s nearly impossible to do with just how many characters there are within this story. The quality was perfect and his voice is wonderful to listen to.

So, I mentioned earlier that there are a lot of characters. There are so many characters that the author has a disclaimer at the intro of this book with a link to his website where you can read all of the character bios to hopefully help you keep up with all of them throughout the story.

Now, normally having this many people to follow and understand would take away from the story, but I think that DeBryan did a wonderful job pulling all of their stories together into this mosaic explaining what was going on with the outbreak throughout the United States. You get to see the outbreak from many different viewpoints and see how it affects different people differently.

Normally, with an apocalyptic tale like this, you get one (or maybe one small family) outlook on what is happening in the world around them. With Family Reunion, you get a ton! Which leads to an incredibly unique story.

Overall, once you wrap your brain around the different family members and each one of their stories, this is a well-written telling of an apocalyptic situation. The interweaving of the stories made this book for me.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

Sometimes all you need is family.

A deadly virus rips through the United States leaving members of the Bryant family stranded or looking for shelter. They were all attempting to get to a family reunion near Seattle, Washington. Thankfully, this family is incredibly adept at survival. Join each family member as they attempt to find safety in numbers and each other in Family Reunion.

The narration for this was done by Joseph C. Wilson -- while I've never listened to any other novels that he's voiced, I did enjoy his narration a lot. Wilson gives a nice edge to each character and my only complaint was that there wasn't enough differentiation between characters in his voices. Granted there are a TON of characters to voice, so I can't fault him that much.

Given the insane amount of characters (there are so many that the author has included a disclaimer at the beginning of the novel telling readers that he knows there are a lot), the book still has a pretty nice flow to it. Now, at times I found myself thinking "who am I following now?" or "wait, which person is this?" but the author does have a nice description of each character on his website.

Now I know that he was going for a family reunion feel - with lots of families from all over -- I just know a lot of people would find this to be extremely hard to follow, especially in audiobook form, because there is no way of telling who's who right away. Even with all of that I still found myself enjoying this book. The different family members from different areas with different background really helped to create a nice narrative of the disease/plague that was spreading across the US.

Overall, if you can wrap your head around the number of family members and each of their stories -- this was a really unique telling of an apocalyptic moment in time. DeBryan does a great job of interweaving their stories together and I'm glad that I was able to listen to this book.

Did this review help you out? Vote for it! Did you enjoy it and want to see more like it? Check out my blog at BriansBookBlog DOT com.

Large family well written.

Would you consider the audio edition of Family Reunion: When the Apocalypse Happens Only One Thing Matters...Family to be better than the print version?

No it is the same story,you know that right?

What other book might you compare Family Reunion: When the Apocalypse Happens Only One Thing Matters...Family to and why?

None it is in a class all it's own

Which character – as performed by Joseph C. Wilson – was your favorite?

39 characters. All of them were well written. There was a lot of characters, but the Author did a good job so you can keep them all straight.I like that even though this family of 7 kids and their separate families were pretty easy to follow. The sisters were for the most part just as outspoken as the boys and they were strong women.If I had to pick a fave it would be Ryan, Parker or Barb.

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

Well I was yelling at the family (Grandpa to watch out that his granddaughter was not herself anymore.) I felt bad for him. I was also glad that they were able to find each other. Though some family members died either from the flu shot or by the infected it was good to see the survivors find one another.

Any additional comments?

I will look for more of this Authors books. The Narrator did a good job with it as well.This was a good read. There were a lot of characters 39 but Mr.P Mark DeBryan did a good job to help you keep them straight. He lumped the 7 kids of the Brent family and their spouses, kids and grandkids into groups. You followed each family group and the events that impacted them along the way.

There were also a few cousins Maddie (Molly) & Harry, Thomas was with them at the Coach factory and is an engineer he became an important part of the group. One of the strays the Brent family took in was Deric ,Parker took him in after his family was dead to help keep this kid alive.

Not all of the family made it. Some died from the vaccine and others were taken out by the infected. When they worked together they succeeded. You follow them as they learn to survive. Not many of the Brent family were young chicks. Some were well past 60 yrs of age.

This was a well thought out story with believable struggles and realistic family dynamics. The characters were well rounded. This book makes you wonder how your family might do in a similar situation.

Even zombies like Reunions....

This is my first introduction to Mr. DeBryan's books. I love anything zombie and Family Reunion is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Yeah, okay, I agree there are a lot of characters but that isn't a bad thing. I've listened to Family Reunion 4 times already and love it more and more each time ( just restarted it again this morning ). This is also the first book on audible I have listened to without reading the dead tree version first ( audible, to me, is like a book that was turned into a movie but NOTHING is changed or cut out ). I am impressed with Mr. DeBryan's writing and he now has a new fan in me. I'm just sorry I haven't heard about Mr. DeBryan before this. I'm hooked !!!!