The Scattered and the Dead Series: The First Four Books

By: Tim McBain, L.T. Vargus

Narrated by: Christopher Boucher

Length: 37 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

More than 37 hours of post-apocalyptic survival.

With 99.7 percent of the Earth's population dead and gone, the few who remain struggle to survive in an empty world. The scattered. The leftovers. These are their stories.

This collection contains the first four volumes of the Scattered and the Dead series, audiobooks 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0.

Meet Mitch, a father infected with the zombie virus. His wife is gone. He has 24 hours until he turns. Can he make sure his kids are taken care of before time runs out?

Meet Travis, a 23-year-old wimp who ran away as his parents were murdered by raiders. Surrounded by towers of scavenged booze and pills, he only wants to numb the pain...until he happens upon the men who killed his family. Now, he has a choice.

Meet Erin. She's 16. Six months ago, she was worried about prom. Now, she worries about zombies and raiders and feeding an eight-year-old orphan.

Meet Baghead. Meet Ray and Lorraine. Meet Decker and Teddy and Fiona.

Meet the utterly lost who look for meaning in humanity's fading glow. Meet the scattered and the dead. Grab the audiobook bundle today.

©2017 L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain (P)2018 L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain

Tense, thrilling apocalyptic series

This is a great post-apocalyptic zombie survival series! I usually stick to authors that I know because I hate bad writing, so it took some convincing for me to try these new authors I had never heard of. I'm so glad I gave them a chance! I love their books and it's really cool how prolific they are, because I regularly have a new book to read. This series is deeply disturbing, complex, scary, exciting - everything you want in a story about the end of the world. I love the characters, and I love seeing them develop over time. This series has kept me up late on many nights already and I'm looking forward to more sleepless nights with them. I've started listening to the audio books now after already reading the books, and I love the narrators and the experience of getting the story in this format! And I'm getting more out of the story that I missed on my first reading. Great series!

20 people found this helpful

Weird

This series seems really all over the place. Maybe the original book flowed together better but the box set is weird. I paid for it so I listened to it all, but not sure if I’ll get the second box set.

7 people found this helpful

very relatable somehow

I love it. I'm not finished yet. I don't care for all the parts of the story, like, I could do without baghead. maybe I just need more back story on him. but I love Mitch. I really connected with him when he said he was having an existential crisis while ordering a big Mac. he really started as a sad man and through his struggle he became so relatable, as if he woke up and saw the hand behind the curtain. I loved the idea that it was all too little too late. there's the perfect amount of prose in here too which I was surprised to find in a zombie/apocalypse book. these books are stuffed full of excellent descriptive snippets akin to some really noteworthy writers like Gillian Flynn. the tone of the story sets the lighting for how dark and dirty the adjectives get. just enough metaphors. I'd love to hear more from both of these guys. typically, I just accept crappy writing smattered with personal opinions in these types of books because they're still great stories and something to distract me from the constant crushing of our garbage society, but these books are different. thoughtful. the various perspectives really lend a hand to feeling that these aren't just words splattered onto paper from one writers point of view and opinions and an easy story that goes where you want it to, it shows that these guys are writers in the truest sense of the word. to be thrust from rural Michigan in the shoes of a chip on his shoulder teenager spiraling into intentional addiction, to Pennsylvania where a father's Love and a ticking clock transforms him from an American to a human. a teenage girl- thrust into responsibility and motherhood, knowing she isn't ready and questioning her morality during difficult situations, all while actually doing the right thing. I really liked decker too, I didn't find him creepy, I found him lonely but so so likeable. as if his own crushing isolation had manifested the destruction of the world, not just as he knew it. that even staring death in the face, he couldn't work up the courage to approach the girl he liked. he was funny too. I guess what I'm saying is- these writers have serious range! excellent excellent excellent. can't wait for more.

6 people found this helpful

WOW!

The narration was stupendous. The words paint a picture of things you don't want to imagine but can't help but to see. The character interactions had me cringing, crying out and laughing. Since I listen during my commute I'm sure I looked the fool as I couldn't help but react physically to some of the scenarios. Once again, Tim and L.T have created a world I cannot wait to re-visit!

23 people found this helpful

Well written and great narrator

I really enjoyed this series (books 1-4). It is a series of multiple storylines temporally unrelated, which keeps it interesting. There is certainly much less zombie action than most books in this genre and they seemed more like an after thought. The series would have been better without because the character development was so good. By the end of book 4 it was if I knew each of them. The Erin, Izzy, Marcus storyline was definitely my favorite but all storylines were great and the narration was top notch.

4 people found this helpful

Just Okay

It definitely was not a favorite. I didn't love most of the characters, which was a major reason I just wasn't that interested in the book. I didn't return it mainly because it wasn't horrible and I wanted to have something to listen to.
The series is comprised of journal entries, books 1 & 3, and multi-character points of view, books 2&4. Traditional zombie book for the most part, but focuses more on the darkness of societal collapse.

9 people found this helpful

The beginning of a new world

These four books are the beginnings of a series of that tells the story of people rebuilding after an apocalyptic world. I really enjoy this wonderful series that takes us through the confusion and pain of people dealing with different stages of this disaster. We see and feel the emotions of different characters as this begins, a mother not wanting to infect her family, a father struggling to try to find a save place for his son's to live and hide during while he is dying. Most of all we hope with people learning to adjust to a new world. One where you don't know who you can trust anymore. And the strange new worlds we start building to reclaim our humanity.

9 people found this helpful

Like no other!

This “Zombpoc” is like no other I’ve read, and I’ve read dozens.
The characters are great to follow along with and there’s always a tiny cliffhanger as you go along. Can’t wait for the next installment.
Most books from this genre are chock full of gore and this offers something so different. Survival and hope, blended in with terror and the raw exposure of human nature.

9 people found this helpful

Mixed feelings

I really like the story when it's talking about izzy and Erin. I could really care less about the rest of them

3 people found this helpful

This is worth the wait

I have to say, I bought this book a while ago and returned it. The first chapter was a bit dry, but I need to tell you this is worth the wait. I love the story, I love the narration I can't get enough. The writer is brilliant. The first book kind of makes you think the entire story is from one man's perspective basically talking to himself, but it is so good once you get into it. I love, love, love this book.

2 people found this helpful

boring waste of a credit

this is just dozens of chapters of badly written descriptions of the same thing over and over. too boring for me to finish. i actually resent the time spent trying to get into this. there is no actual storyline and it feels like a unfocused mess.

6 people found this helpful

Just Couldn't Get in to this one

I love this genre and have had some great fun listening to many other stories of this kind .... however If I'm honest this story was hard to get in to. The Reader is good just the fragmented story lines just get tedious after a while

3 people found this helpful

Not for me

About 5 hours in and I'm afraid that it's not for me. \the 'dear diary' style means that there isn't really a storyline other than the over arching "It's the end of the world. There may (or may not) be zombies. Last man standing" story is a bit generic. I've got the point where I'm hoping someone will jump out and cave in Dekkers head just to instil some excitement and interest.

1 person found this helpful

The Best End of the World Ever

The first four books follow a series of people in their journey before, during and after the end of the world. Their struggles, joys, sadness, happiness, disasters and achievements along with more than a few zombies for good measure.
The books follow several characters in different locations throughout the United States as they live through an apocalypse, a virus has wiped out the majority of the population with a significant number returning from the dead to become flesh eating zombies, one bite and you are guaranteed to join their number.
We meet Decker, who is watching it all mapped from his window afraid to speak the woman in the apartment over the hall; Travis who saw things he can’t un-see and is blotting it all out; Erin and Izzy, two young orphans trying to survive alone; Mitch with a hard task he doesn’t know that he can complete; Ray a con man trying to lead an honest life; to name but a few.
The books were brilliantly read and I for one can’t wait for the next instalment of The Scattered and the Dead.
Give it a listen, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

2 people found this helpful

note to self - dont buy bargain bin books

it's quite difficult to describe how awful these books are - complete dribble.
37 hours of .
bla bla, I cant quite place it, bla bla, doctor pepper, bla bla cant quite put my finger on it, bla bla, doctor pepper.
if they removed all the references to doctor pepper and other soft drinks this book would be 10 minutes long.
just painful - ask yourself why it's in the bargain bin - I paid £3 for this book and I think it was overpriced.

Boring

It is soooooo slow. Everytime it becomes interesting it moves to a new storyline. The idea is interesting though.
Good it is boring!