Zombie Road

Convoy of Carnage

By: David A. Simpson

Narrated by: Eric A. Shelman

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

The people that killed the world were fiendishly clever.

After decades of planning, the contagion was unleashed, and overnight hundreds of millions died and came back as rampaging, undead monsters. The living that had been lucky enough to survive the first day of carnage, lucky enough to be in the right place, and lucky enough that some of them had the skills to survive soon found out there was much more to worry about than just zombies.

In the high desert on the outskirts of Reno, there is an old truck stop frequented by a mix of hard caliber truckers, day tourists, musicians, and travelers. They have survived the chaotic first hours of contact with the undead and now must make their way across the country to a location they believe is safe. Zombies are only the beginning of their troubles as they try to cover the thousands of miles of open road with their hastily armored 18-wheelers. Gunny, a long haul trucker doing one of the few jobs available to him as a disgraced soldier, is unwillingly saddled with the job of getting these survivors to the safe zone. With a motley crew of truck drivers, college kids, veterans, a drug dealer, and a rock star, they are racing the clock to make it before time runs out. The last text he had received from his wife before the cell towers went down told him she was trapped in a high-rise in downtown Atlanta and their son was in detention, stranded in the basement of the school he attended. Gunny just wanted to drop the hammer, steal some guns, and blast his way in to rescue them, but duty called. He had to get these people to safety first, then he could recruit the best of this crew to help him save his family. If they survived the journey.

©2017 David Rine (P)2017 David Rine

Well that was a suprise!

If you are like me you have a strange addiction to zombie, apocalyptic, and dystopian books. While I make myself leave the genre, I have a wish list full of books. Also if you are like me, you have read the easy titles like all of Mark Tufo (more than once). Often I try a new author and I get a lukewarm book or more infrequently a terrible title that I return. But occasionally a book surprises me. I have to admit the character premise in this book was not that appealing to me and I had left it in my wish list for a while. But after my last two very forgettable reads I said what the heck. What a Great Surprise this book turned out to be. It was fun, believable in a fun fiction kind of way, and I like the characters. I only gave it a 4 on story, because I am a character development junkie (Tufo, Stephen King etc). I am hoping that Mr Simpson fleshes out the personality of his characters more in the next book. He has an excellent base with this book, and touches on some military humor and relationships, but I crave more to really become invested with the characters in a story. But if you like the genre this is a fun romp. Just purchased the next book in the series and I am looking forward to starting it now. On a side note the epilogue made me chuckle.

UNIQUE

I love the zombie genre and listen to series from Tufo, Shelman, O'Brien and it was Eric A. Shelman narrating that brought me here. The set up for this zombie event goes a totally different direction then any other books. It taps into current events to a certain extent and is by no means PC ( which I appreciate).
Gunny, the primary character, draws you in quick. It is an average working man who has a past that holds a few skeletons (whose doesn't). He is honorable and speaks his mind. As I listened, the dialogue in the book is what the average American would be thinking and saying. If you are one of the gun loving NRA members, you'll appreciate this.
The BA truck idea, while not new, is definitely amped up in this book. Eric A. Shelman is a great narrator. Keep on truckin' into the series (okay, really bad pun) :)

WHAT A MINDTRIP

Trucks, terror and tons of undead...im telling all my coworkers about this book. (im a truck driver) Its incredible to hear a new angle on the uprising of dark times but with a ray of hope in the form of a modified badass convoy of peple from all backgrounds. You even have the different have the cultural speech to reflect the characters personalities, without them becoming stereotypes.Narrator did an excellent job of showing the struggle, day to day.Great series! KEEP EM COMING

Although I love the genre, this book wasn’t for me

I enjoy the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, but not this book. I’m currently wondering whether it’s worth finishing. The performance is pretty good, but the story relies too-heavily on a variety of stereotyped characters that aren’t developed into much of anything. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Zombie Road is good drive thru fare

Told with a straight face but silly, funny, and VERY politically incorrect Zombie Road is good drive thru fare. Its like a double cheeseburger with large fries. You know you shouldn't be enjoying it but as long as no one is looking, what the heck! An engaging and entertaining listen if you don't expect deep meaning and it doesn't bother you to have our current western boogie men (Islam) blamed for ending the world with a zombie plague. Its like an episode of BJ and the Bear, but with zombies. The characters are cartoonish but in a good natured way, like the Dukes of Hazard, and the story has enough twists and turns to keep the plot moving and fun. I listened to all three in the series. If you like the genre you will like this.

Wow! Been a long time hearing a good zombie series

I have listened to many post-apocalyptic books and really like zombie books. However so many authors choose to focus on humanities negatives and terrible ways. These books had that, but not in the majority. It's been a while that I couldn't stop listening to a book when I was done driving, but that's how all these books were. I found myself wanting to do dishes so I could put my ear buds in and not deal with other parent duties like homework. :) Now that I finished the incredible series my family will be at a loss that I'm not making homemade dinner so often since I don't have an awesome book to listen to. I really tried not to listen too much so it would last longer, but it only took a couple weeks to get through the series. Bummer, back to the search... or may have to start it again. 😉

great read.

loved this book and the whole series. this series come at the zombie from a different angle and keeps you listening the whole time. It's also really well researched, lots of relivant details but not over the top. this checks all the intrest boxes, guns, trucks, hot rods, and of course zombies!

great start to a series

I really enjoyed this book the writing was awesome and the narration was impeccable thank you for hours of entertainment

Entertaining but..

It was entertaining, better than some z books, worse than others, but 7/10. The twist of having truckers away from home was nice. I get the impression the authors understanding of truck drivers and their life and job is limited to what he's seen in convoy.
Consistency was a bit hard for the author as well. A zombie is fast enough and strong enough to tackle a motorcycle rider doing 100+ mph, but later a teen is able to kill a few dozen while hanging upside down with a sharp stick. Another point that was difficult to believe was how the virus spread. This isnt a book that sweeps you up with it's believability but it is kinda fun and entertaining. I will buy the next when it comes out.

AMAZING

I absolutely love this book! It's one that I will read over and over again

Surprisingly good.

The title of this nearly put me off but as a die hard zombie fiction fan I gave it a go and actually really enjoyed it.Likeable characters you actually care about,the whole how the virus came about is not one I have come across before either.Give it a go.

WOW!!!

This is one of the best zombie books I've had the pleasure to listen to. It's up there with Mountain man and Dead drunk. Great characters and narration and super fast zombies arghhh scary!!!!

idiotic Racism

Some what surprised this has been published as it is rather racist towards Muslims. Not sure if its an attempt at satire but come over a racist, ignorant and stupid.

Avoid (would give zero stars if could for story)

I liked the premise, however I couldn't get past the rampant Islamaphobia, blatant misogyny, and general racism and homophobia. Written for Trump supporters maybe?

Not impressed

The level of the narrator is very poor and does not generate anything to make the reader have a connection with any of the characters in the story. The book is good but suffers from the unfortunate performance of the narrator.

Plowing the Road Through The Hordes of Zombies <3

I gotta say winning this here copy was my luck or good karma haha. Either way with the performance and need to keep me addicted to the read/narrator, then this book did wonders.
So here doing my deed with an honest review and hoping its as non bias as possible, You will be thrusted into a rough and tough world of Truckers who well you think are laid back big fellows just tryna get by and stay out of the spotlights of the world.

Overall you start off with a bit of a casual intro nothing too deep but like any other day and for me thats chill because not far off you start to feel the tension rising as you hit the initial climax <3 Them zombies. the world is falling apart bit by bit and no one really knows how it happened so quick. But these truckers are more than just drivers o.O They are all individuals from backgrounds involving lives from different war filled eras and they are ready even if they have come to enjoy a life of peace and quiet. It's in their blood and engraved in their bone deep within their soul.

Performance: The narrator did wonders and i have no beef or disappointment keeping up or getting bored let alone tryna keep up. from chapter 1 to the end i wanted more and i want more even now haha.

Story: For what this first book in the series offers you would think this is book 1 and 2 o.o. Hell You even get to meet the first trucker President. Whether you get that reference lmao well you'll know but the bad-assery involved within this story. I wont be one of the fellows to drop any spoilers. But if you're tired of instant heroes or almost repeated style of zombie books then here's one with a fresh breath of air. I will say it's a lot to take in with the turn of events but there are interesting moments where the MC and his or other fellow survivors really make due with what they have and overcome whatever they go through with sheer willpower imo. At the end of the book you do get a bit of a cliff hanger. It's not as hard core nor is it so abrupt that it leaves you lacking or wishing for better. No disappointment imo. But i wil say that personally wish to read book 2 all because it seems awesome from the get got.

Hope you enjoy and if you dont then either way i loved this book. This really kept me occupied during this covid 19. <3

Great Book

I really enjoyed it. Different take on zombies and enjoyed the storyline, onto the next one.

Truckers - Mad Max Style!

I loved this book, it tied current events and some fantastic imagination to produce a horrifying zombie appocalypse. It was particularly 'evil' in its use of bacon as the medium for spreading the contagion, bacon should not be treated so callously! I loved the regulars at the diner, they were all from the same ex-military mold, but each quirky in their own right and willing to lay down their lives for each other, as they come up with some original ideas to hit the road safely! I listened to this book in one day, and can't wait to start book 2!

Great story

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is an interesting mix of characters. Following 3 different strands also makes the story interesting.

Brilliant

I loved the storyline~really will not give too much away as I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun. I was hooked from the start, fast paced, great characters, loads of “oh my gosh” moments and the narrator did a fantastic job.

I am definitely going to listen to the rest of the series. Enjoy