Mid-Wake

The Survivalist #28

by Jerry Ahern

John Rourke, CIA-trained weapons and survival expert, was fighting for his life—underwater!

There had been other survivors of the nuclear nightmare that had devastated the world generations before. Far beneath the ocean's surface, a hidden war was raging between Russians operating from their huge, multi-domed sea-bed city and the Americans of Mid-Wake: their secret sub-Pacific military complex.

But now the Russians, realising that earth's surface was habitable, had begun to emerge. Only John Rourke, escaping from his captors, armed with a pair of the enemy's Sty-20 dart-firing sedative guns, could warn his allies that an evil underwater empire was about to rise up out of the waters...

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

476 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1988

About the author

Jerry Ahern (born Jerome Morrell Ahern) was a science fiction and action novel author best known for his post apocalyptic survivalist series The Survivalist. The books in this series are heavy with descriptions of the weapons the protagonists use to survive and prosecute a seemingly never-ending war amongst the remnants of the superpowers from pre-apocalypse times.

Ahern was also a firearms writer, who published numerous articles in magazines such as Guns & Ammo, Handguns and Gun World.

Jerry Ahern passed away on July 24, 2012 after a long struggle with cancer.

Ahern also released books under pseudonym Axel Kilgore.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciąg dalszy Przywódcy, obie części tworzą jedną całość.

[Joseph B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mid-Wake is a special entry in the Survivalist series; taking place between Overlord and The Aresenal being the 15th and 16th entries in this series respectively. It's a double length book 15.5 essentially. And a must read if you plan on continuing on with the series.

Mid-Wake is a celebration of John Rourke's story so far and the core themes of Survivalist; ramping up the action and drama to maximum. The story primarily revolves around underwater cities, one American and one Russian, waging undersea warfare for centuries. New characters and factions come into play, Vladmir Karamatsov's plans put the entire world at risk once more, and the characters get put in genuinely tense situations where I didn't know what would happen.

Mid-Wake is full of action, retrospection, ruminations on the future, and a satisfying plotline that surprisingly doesn't feel drawn out. There is quite a bit of submarine battles; which I'd never read before but enjoyed. The characters also had room to breath in this book, feeling more fleshed out than ever before. I'd give this novel a 3.5/5, and for post-apocalyptic pulp fans a genuine 5/5.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is where I started with the series as a teenager. It was some truck stop between New Mexico and Kansas and they had this on the old spinner rack, so I picked it up. I then spent many years finding the rest of the series, and now have pretty much all of Ahern's books. I just found out this week that he passed away about a year ago. But he had started a new book in the Survivalist series, and his wife passed it on to a new writer. I will have to re-read the whole thing again (did the first three books a year or two ago) and read the new one on my kindle.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Post-apocalyptic pulp goodness.

[John Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great special

This series is just the best what more can I say

Another great book in the series better and better love it

[Andy]

THIS IS A SURVIVALIST SPECIAL, LINKING OTHERS IN THE SERIES. OTHER BOOKS ARE: 1: TOTAL WAR 2: THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS 3: THE QUEST 4: THE DOOMSAYER 5: THE WEB 6: THE SAVAGE HORDE 7: THE PROPHET 8: THE END IS COMING 9: EARTH FIRE 10: THE AWAKENING 11: THE REPRISAL 12: THE REBELLION 13: PURSUIT 14: THE TERROR 15: OVERLORD 16: THE ARSENAL

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite adventure series. Dr John Thomas Rourke leads his family and friends through a post apocalyptic world fighting ever step if the way. Fantastic characters and plots. Very detailed weapon descriptions. Excellent series. My highest recommendation

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost three times as thick as the other survivalist books, and with a bigger story. I liked this a lot. It stands sort of outside the mainstream of the series.

[Nick Grayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very cool characters get introduced into the series with this book. And they are an exceptional addition to the story line.