Ripped Road, Book 1

By: J.K. Rommel

Narrated by: Amanda Vargas

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Sergeant Chris Ward leads the Special Forward Intelligence Unit. The infected are coming north this year as the spring weather warms. The government has an idea of how to stop their minds from slipping. The line between right and wrong is blurring. But these are dark days, where survival is superseding orders. Things are about to get messy.

Prologue

There will be no happy ending here, Chris thought. He stood in front of the mirror in the gray stone bathroom. He stared at himself without really seeing himself, naked, still wet from the tub. He had lost weight. Still muscular, now. Short-cropped black hair and full of the tattoos of his youth. Thirty-six going on 85, he thought. He had done more damage to his body than most men in five lifetimes.

The women screaming outside would not stop. He had been hearing the succession of claymores exploding outside for the last hour. An old familiar sound, like an old friend still talking to him. Chris looked at the tub, still half-full, with hazy eyes. Half-drunk, half-high, he lit another cigarette. The tub was dirty with a mix of mud and blood.

He had prepared for this day for a year. There was no need to panic; it was in place. Everything was taken care of. The women screaming outside were starting to give him a headache, though. KERR would have to replace the claymores tomorrow. Then he remembered KERR was dead. How could he fucking forget?

Chris threw his cigarette into the toilet and pulled up his jeans, not bothering with underwear. He slid his Glock into the back of his pants and grabbed his M4. As he walked, the pistol felt cold - it was hot tonight, and the city was on fire. Dark had rolled in a long time ago, and there was no wind, just the screams of the city. Chris walked outside the compound and slowly climbed the watchtower with the M4 on his bare back. As he climbed, he wondered if he would kill the woman to put her out of her misery or stop his headache. Today it did not matter. He didn’t care.

©2021 Jeff More (P)2022 Jeff More

work on how you end a book

I did like this book. But it kind of fizzled out in the end. And I'm not into any series that doesn't end a book or movie with a good enough ending. to me it just seems like a quick money grab. like the writer took a book and split it in half. I am working on my own zombie series. I'm trying to listen to every zombie book I can. so that I could write ✍ the best zombie series ever.

Excellent Debut!

A promising start to a new series! Lots of fast paced action, solid characters and, of course, ZOMBIES! You will definitely be invested in the characters by the end of the book. Hopefully the second book is in the works. The narrator keeps the momentum going throughout the entire audiobook and is enjoyable to listen to.

A good listen!

This is a solid listen with a good twist on your average zombie book, I can’t wait to hear book two.

Start of a series

A good start to a series. Looking forward for book 2 to come out in the future

Ripped Road

This zombie apocalypse story starts during a long running battle with the dead. SPOILER ALERT.... Main male and female characters meet about half way into this audio book and become a good team in my opinion.

Gritty and dark

The story starts after the apocalypse is already deeply set in, the characters are already battling the horrors for years. I like the grittiness of the characters and the plot, there is enough action and tension that keeps the story flowing. The chapters from the POV of the dog were unexpected but brought a bit of softness to the story.

I enjoyed the narrator: was surprised that the author picked a female narrator, especially as I felt the majority of the book was from Chris' POV, but it works well nonetheless. I did feel like she could have emphasized some of the speech a little more.

The only constructive criticism that I would add, and why a star was dropped from the rating: I didn't connect very much with the characters (yet?) - maybe I would if I read the next books in the series. There is some depth to them, but I was still missing a connection. Plus Chris' very sexual descriptions of each and every female made him seem like a sleaze. The narration even covers this at some point, how men just cannot help themselves (bla bla), which is fine, we can imagine it, but the narration in those sections got somewhat repulsive. Even the female (forgot her name) describes herself in a very sexual way - either none of the women I have ever known have ever spoken about themselves the way that she describes herself in this book, or I am very secluded... Anyways, there are not a lot of sections in the book that are like this, but I just wish there weren't any.

More!

I really hope there isnt a long wait in between books. That always makes it hard. But this is good and I want to hear more.

Good Start for a Series...

3.5 stars
I'm undecided on this book. There are certain parts I really, really liked that would be 5 stars and then there are parts that I hated that took away from my overall enjoyment of the story. I listened to the story 3 different times and in the end my initial thoughts on the story stayed the same.

All in all an it's a good start to a potentially really great series and an entertaing listen with plenty of action, interesting characters and unexpected twists. The story pulled me in immediately but as the story went on it lost me , pulled me back in, lost me again and then pulled me back in. The story would pull me in then there would be something that happened and my reaction was .. WTH ..why? Example - The repeated sexual dreams turning into nightmares, the attempted sexual assault by an infected. The numerous descriptive sex fantasies/nightmares were unnecessary and all it did for me was make the MC seem creepy/sleezy and unhinged at times. Karle's thoughts about how her body looks in a descriptive sexual way also took away from the likability of the characters. If your in the middle of a Zombie apocalypse are you really going to be thinking about sex that much.

I did like the fact that Chris and Karle both for the most part seem to be smart and ruthless (especially Chris) enough to do what needs to be done to survive. If your in a SHTF situation Chris is the kind of guy you would want by your side. In a lot of stories the MC's are too stupid to live, that’s not the case here which is a huge bonus. Both Chris and Karle were great characters aside from the above mentioned issue.

Terrible way to end the book. The very last line wasn't needed at all.

Even though there were things I didn't like about the story I will most definitley listen to the next book in the series. I'm interested to see where the author takes the story and the characters. It has the potential to turn into a fantastic series.

My first reaction was hmm…odd choice to have a female narrator when most of the story is from a male point of view. This is the first time I have listened to a book narrated by Amanda Vargas and her narration was good. Pleasant voice, smooth flow and easy to listen to. She could use a little bit more distinction between the characters voices. I would definitley listen to other books narrated by her.
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I received a free copy of this audiobook at my request from the author and have voluntarily left this review.

... not bad.

Better than many, overall I'd say "meh"... but also not avoid authors work in future.

Great story !

A very exciting and interesting story from beginning to end. The main character, Chris is ruthless and does what needs to be done without question.I still find him very likeable. Well written and I look forward to reading more from Mr Rommel. Amanda Vargas narrated really well and was easy to listen to.