What Lies Beneath the Fallout

The Last Safe Place Chronicles, Book 1

By: Tanner J Reed

Narrated by: Joe Mick

The blast was just the beginning.

When the sky turned to fire, Matt had one job: protect his family at all costs. A former Marine with a plan—and a hidden cave system buried deep beneath Missouri—he thought they were ready.

He was wrong.

Radiation. Panic. Ruthless survivors. What’s left of his group barely escapes the fallout—but what they find underground is worse than anything above.

Something’s buried deeper. Something watching. Something not quite human.

As trust fractures and supplies dwindle, Matt must lead his family and neighbors through the darkness. But the real threat isn't the war…

It’s what lies beneath.

Perfect for fans of The Road and The Walking Dead, this gritty post-apocalyptic survival thriller blends tense realism, emotional grit, and slow-burning dread.

Don’t wait. Scroll up and grab your copy now.

The end of the world wasn’t the worst part. Surviving it is.

©2025 Tanner J Reed (P)2025 Tanner J Reed

Excellent Narration, Story a bit flat

Joe Mick did a phenomenal job narrating this story. He accurately conveyed emotion and consistency among the various characters, and added a significant amount of substance to the story through his performance.

The story itself had a lot of potential, but fell a bit short for me. The first chapter drew me in with action, adrenaline and the gripping urgency of the situation the characters were facing. Beyond that, I was disappointed with the lack of character development. Everyone was just too perfect. Not a single flawed character among them. There were times when it would have been good to dive into the emotional turmoil that this situation would have stimulated, but it was never explored or simply brushed over. Like the main character acknowledging that his oldest son was left behind, not with them, and left to likely die in the fallout, but no one else talked about it, grieved, or had to deal with it. They all just soldered on like the oldest brother never existed. Missed opportunities for deep character development and connecting to the reader on an emotional level.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook and would gladly listen to other performances by this narrator.

Interesting story

Definitely a different take on a survival story. I like the twist, but not sure where it's going. Looking forward to continuing the story.

Plays like it was both written, and read, by AI.

Could have been an interesting premise, a couple of families holed up during a nuclear war in a underground mine, that is also a secret government research facility, but unfortunately it was written with a strange blandness and odd language style that feels to me like it was written mostly by AI, and the reader has a perfect, flat affect, that also sounds like an AI voice.

One of the oddest quirks of this book is that we get constant phrases like "finally", "at last" "for once" and so one....seemingly indicating a break from a long stretch of hardship....but the entire book takes place over less than a week. It's like the characters are all expressing expected emotions, but after sometimes just a few hours since the last 'normal' thing they did. It makes everything feel unearned and just strange for a story that takes place over such a short time.

Really, I can't imagine this book was actually written by a human being, I think it is a ChatGTP or similar experiment.

Post- apocalyptic

What Lies Beneath the Fallout by Tanner J. Reed is an amazing post-apocalyptic survival thriller. Joe Mick did an incredible job with the narration. The story is entertaining, thrilling, interesting, and more. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. Highly recommend.