The Arsenal

The Survivalist #16

by Jerry Ahern

Marshal Vladmir Karamatsov is dead, the victim of the fierce undersea battle for Mid-Wake. But with his arch enemy gone, John Thomas Rourke, the ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons specialist and survival expert, still lives, fighting the elements and the odds.

On an expedition to secure peaceful relations with the Far East, Rourke's son Michael and his ambassadors are imprisoned by the mysterious leader of the Second City of China, a sadistic madman intent on unleashing another nuclear holocaust on an already war-ravaged world.

With Russian Colonel Antonovich, Karamatosov's surviving second-in-command, preparing to mount his own assault on the Second City to gain control of the remainder of China's pre-war atomic arsenal, John Rourke finds himself trapped between two seemingly invincible enemies. And with precious time running out, he is the only man who can rescue his captured son and save what is left of civilization from total destruction. He is The Survivalist.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 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

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Arsenal is the seventeenth book in The Survivalist series. The Survivalist is John Thomas Rourke, a doctor and ex-CIA agent and weapons expert. Mid-Wake, the super-sized sixteenth volume in what was the longest and most successful series in Zebra's "Men's Adventure" line of the 1980s, finished wrapping up the arc that had been an amazing reboot to the series, and presented a whole new raft of challenges. In the first nine books, Rourke survived Armageddon when the Russians launched their nukes, searched for his family, fought the invading KGB, fought the surviving U.S. citizenry who had gone feral, helped set up a new U.S. government, fallen platonically in love with a beautiful Russian double-agent, lectured for pages on end about his gun collection, had amazing adventures with his new buddy Paul, and then, just when he'd been re-united with his wife Sara and their two kids, he learned that the world was going to end, for real this time, or so he believed at the time. So, always the survivor, he put Paul and Natalia and his family into cryogenic suspension chambers and woke up to a whole new world, five hundred years later. JTR catalogues his weapons collection quite frequently, which always seems to take too long; they're skimmable or skippable, like you'd ignore commercials on tv or skip over advertisements in comic books. Anyway, we learned that many other groups of people had survived, too, including some Russians and Nazis, so we had plenty more fighting, sex and violence. Too, there was the return from outer space of the Eden Project to Georgia, where the Rourke clan established their base. It set up another vast and glorious cartoon serial comic book story... Mid-Wake was the first book in the series to appear without a number and was two or three times longer than any of the preceding novels. In that volume we learned that both the U.S. and the Russians have undersea cities that survived, and they've been having undersea battles for the last five-hundred years. Rourke's nemesis, a mad Russian with a penchant for doomsday weapons, would have destroyed the planet if he linked up with the Russian undersea colony, so the Rourke extended family and their new Mid-Wake U.S. allies made sure that didn't happen, and Karamatsov didn't survive. But his second-in-command did, and seems to want to pick up right where his leader wanted... And there are a bunch of Chinese survivors, and they have a bunch of nukes and...It's another pretty well-told and fast-paced story, a fast read peopled with clear cut good guys and bad guys. I didn't agree with the extremity of some of the political philosophy, but Ahern was a great storyteller and Rourke's friends-and-family dynamics were a truly compelling continuing soap opera. This was another good one in the series. Michael was kidnapped, -again- and... This seventeenth volume (The Arsenal) appeared from Zebra just three months after Mid-Wake and was labeled as number sixteen, which led to unending confusion about the proper continuity. (For example, Goodreads currently lists Mid-Wake as number twenty-eight for some reason, though I've also seen it as 15.5 elsewhere.) Zebra continued their misleading, confusing, and erroneous numbering for the duration of the series, and you have to read them in publication order to follow the story.

[Joseph B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Arsenal spins right out of the double-length special Mid-Wake, and we deal with the fallout of Karamatsov's death while the rogue Chinese threat looms. We're also introduced to a surviving Nazi element from earlier in the series; adding more dynamics to this new political landscape.

If you were expecting a breather after Mid-Wake, you won't get it. This novel opens up with an assassination attempt against John Rouke that sends his family off in different directions as they attempt to end the Russian communists while simultaneously dealing with a potentially hostile Chinese faction in possession of nukes. Ahern's writing remains the same; a bit repetitive but descriptive enough to enjoy. The characters are developing well, with a regression for Natalia which is completely understandable given her actions in the previous book.

There's plenty of action, twists, and survivalist situations to be had so continue on with the series if you've been liking it so far. The Arsenal gets a solid 3/5 stars and 4/5 for post-apocalyptic pulp fans.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Szesnasta część przyjemnego odzwierciedlenia kina akcji w klimatach postapo z czasów filmów na kasetach wideo.

[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 4 out of 5]

See my review under "Total War," Survivalist Book 1.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was fun easy reading in my teens. Would actually like to pick one up again and see what I think now. :D