The Harbinger

By: Bryan Patrick Wolfe

Narrated by: Michael Ahr

Length: 29 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

It starts as a whisper, barely audible.

Rumors. Paranoia. Conspiracy theories. Subterfuge.

Like lightning, the plague moves across the globe, spreading out in all directions and leaving few alive. But the end is only the beginning.

Discovered in the Alaskan permafrost, the ancient virus was reanimated and genetically altered. The new strain showed great promise in curing many of mankind's afflictions. When the specimen fell into the hands of the Russian theocracy, their inept scientists attempted to create a biological weapon - a weapon that outsmarted them. Now, the androvirus is a deadly airborne plague, conquering the world in a matter of days. With a communicability of 100% and a mortality rate of over 90%, there is no immunity. For the survivors, who can suppress the virus, there is only change. A few adapt, but most become walking, talking gray horrors with an appetite for flesh.

Primarily set in the American city of Memphis, four loosely-connected strangers, caught up in their lives, find their worlds annihilated by the swiftly-moving plague. Alex Connelly is a wealthy young executive, living an idyllic life with his pregnant wife, Madison. Kirk Foster is a self-absorbed aging gay man, desperate to hang onto his youth and sex appeal. Meredith Brinkley's ongoing war with breast cancer takes a turn for the worse, and she faces an impending double mastectomy. Logan King is a closeted baseball jock, playing for a minor league team while coming to terms with his true identity. And only together will they survive....

Includes Book 1: Pathogen, Book 2: The Curtain Falls, Book 3: Creepers, and Book 4: Numbers.

Please note: There are straight and gay characters and a few that exist somewhere in between. There are characters of different races and religious backgrounds. There are opinionated characters. There is profanity. There is intimacy and clipped love scenes, some being of the male-for-male variety. There are also guns and graphic violence.

©2016 Keegan Kennedy (P)2017 Keegan Kennedy

Enjoyable EOTWAWKI tale featuring LGBT characters

What made the experience of listening to The Harbinger the most enjoyable?

It was a very well written post apocalyptic story featuring a large ensemble cast including many LGBT main characters. The premise of a lab generated super-flu was realistically told, and the group of people that made up the prominent roles was very diverse and all of them were interesting. I liked the slow build up and the way each main figures personality was gradually fleshed out and revealed.The various side effects of the drugs was engrossing with the future potential for all kinds of good and bad super powers to be revealed. I am truly hoping that future installments will soon be available on audio.

What did you like best about this story?

That the "zombies"; weren't really zombies, the people were still alive, thinking, functioning base beings that somehow were even creepier than zombies. Also I really liked the any of the storylines with Kirk, Lauren and Aries, or Alex, Beulah and Amon the best.

What about Michael Ahr’s performance did you like?

I thought his performance was great, very nice distinction between each character and there were a lot!!!Being able to tell and distinguish between each person is a deal breaker for me. I will generally not finish a book were I am just being read to. Michael Ahr did a great job.

If you could take any character from The Harbinger out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Umm, no. I love an author who spins a tale that is vivid, descriptive and allows me to fall into the story and lose track of time. This book did that. I don't care about taking them to dinner. That is a dumb question.

Any additional comments?

I am very very hopeful that future installments will be available in audio soon.

Was ineresting,until

The "Brad Shapiro" part took me right out of the story. Unnecessary and petty. Had enjoyed it prior.

Caught Off Guard

Ok, I am a zombie book fan, I loved the zombie part of of the story, but I think that some of the sex part caught me off guard. and the way that black women are viewed in this book is not the complete black women. I hope that in future stories like this, the authors will not write as much negative things about black women.. In most zombie books that I have listen too there was not so much focus on sexuality. Yes, people had sex but that was not presented as equal part to the zombie story like this this one.
With that being said I did like the series.

Boooooooore

The dialog was written by a 4yo. I just couldn't get over it and quit a few hours in..

a lot of unnecessary sex , both straight and gay

the sex was unnecessary to the story and the characters development. the story was great and the building of the characters was fantastic but WHY SO MUCH SEX. The author literally makes it seem like all gay ppl do is think about sex , even in the apocalypse.

Over sexualized

I have a hard time finishing this book. It is very hypersexual and not well thought out. The author has not done his research in the world of firearms. The characters all seam to be very sexual cardboard cut outs of TV characters.

Alittle bit disappointing

So let me start out by saying I am a huge fan of horror/apocalypse books, especially Zombie books. Let me start by saying that I really liked the “story” I liked the twist on the Zombies It reminded me of a “The Stand” type of novel with the characters and details. However that’s where the similarities end.
The narrator was awful, it was at times way too detailed and repetitive. The worst part is that the author went way too overboard on the “gay” aspect. I understand that he wanted to do a novel with some of the lead characters being gay/bisexual...however it was total overkill and seemed as though he drove the gay aspect far far into the ground!! I mean it was ridiculous at some points! I would like a sequel..it seems as though it is set up for one. I won’t be waiting at the end of my seat for it tho.

There's a lot to unpack here ...

I both hated and enjoyed this book... it is, without a doubt, the poster child for the importance of a strong editor (or any editor). It reads like a first draft. Ànd the narration...oh my.

Having said that, there were some unusual premises that held my interest despite my intent to return the title for a refund after the first chapter. I was on a long drive though, and had nothing else to listen to, so I kept going and got drawn in enough that I eventually finished the entire book.

Here's the bad:
- It randomly switches between solid writing and cringy, clumsy scenes dreamed up by a 14 year old boy. This is not hyperbole...it actually feels like parts is this book came from the mind of a horny teen.
- I had no problem with the gay characters or sex scenes as some reviewers complained, except that they mainly felt gratuitous. I wouldn't label it as porn or erotica...just awkward.
-The lack of an editor....really. Why would you devote an ENTIRE chapter to listing random, filler characters (giving each one a brief backstory) that were never integrated into the main narrative? Seriously, an entire chapter.
-The narration really ramped up the cringe factor. The narrator read with all the emotional sincerity and authenticity of a librarian performing sock puppet theater to a group of Kindergartners. Again, this is not hyperbole. I was occasionally able to get past it but I just kept envisioning the puppet theater from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood...not kidding.

The good is that I felt the author had a new, intriguing twist on the pandemic/zombie apocalypse standard that I wanted to learn more about. And I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to see where they were headed and what they'd do next. Of course, what I'd like most is to give these ideas to a better writer and have the story read by a narrator with some depth and investment in the characters. Still, I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of purchasing the next book in the series.

I really wanted to like this but

What disappointed you about The Harbinger?

The biggest issue I have is the narrator. The reading did not seem to flow as it should but this may be due to the fact there are too many characters for one voice actor.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Use a full cast of voice actors.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Michael Ahr?

Again I would include other narrators in addition to Ahr. That said I don't think you can go wrong with Iggy Toma, Gomez Pugh, Greg Tremblay or Tristan James.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I found the story interesting and will read the paper version once I am able to forget the voices.

Any additional comments?

Not sure if Keegan Kennedy is friends with Manilla Luzon or wants to be but there seemed to me to be one too many name drops.

Decent book but not outstanding

It’s hard to find an apocalyptic story with gay characters. I primarily picked this book for those two things. The story, for the most part, was compelling and generally well written. The build up to the apocalypse kept you compelled to continue though obviously there was meant to be a next book. The characters spend the whole book apart only coming together at the very end. Also some of the writing pissed me off in that the end of the world takes place in a time frame of less than a week. Sometimes the characters would say or do things that weren’t realistic for that time frame. I.e. they’d fall in love, lover gets ate and then the “widow” grieves as though they were together with their dead lover for years.

I disliked the portrayal of gay characters in that it made it seem all modern gays are super masculine and I felt the idea of feminine gays was being put down. I think gender and gender identity is much more fluid. I appreciated a transgender character being represented.