Desolate

Desolate #1

by Robert Brumm

Howard Bell thought he hit rock bottom the day he returned to his former employer with a loaded gun. Instead of putting a scare into his ex-boss as he intended, things quickly get out of hand, and he kills five people. Howard is sentenced to life at an experimental prison camp off the coast of Antarctica, and he soon learns the true definition of "rock bottom." Prison life at the remote island involves back-breaking work in the illegal mine run by the corrupt warden and his abusive guards. After a mysterious object is discovered deep in the mine, the inmates and staff start dying from an unknown infection. Howard is lucky to find himself one of the few survivors immune to the pathogen, but he and his fellow inmates learn something far more sinister and terrifying also has emerged from the mine. The truly lucky ones are already dead.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Ebooks

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desolate is the first book in a series, and dammit, I'm hooked on another one. It is the story of Howard Bell, a decent sort of guy who makes a terrible mistake and ends up serving a life sentence in an antarctic prison camp. Then, everything really goes to hell. Without ruining the plot, this sci-fi thriller will have you on the edge of your reading seat. The writing is fast paced, and I blew through this book in a matter of an hour and a half. Robert Brumm has a new fan right here!

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book and was totally surprised at the direction the writer took. Only complaint is I would have liked for the story to progress a little slower. Very short at only 80 something pages. I am pleased however that Howard's story doesn't end with Desolate, and I can't wait to find out what happens to him in Desolate 2!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cross between The Thing and the beginning of The Stand. Easy read, started and completed on flight from Cinci to Houston.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little easy read, quite enjoyable. Didn't get much of a feel for the monster, couldn't picture it. A couple of creepy moments.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, suspensful, creepy story. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of his works!

[Randy Harmelink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too derivative for me. Not only very similar to John Carpenter's The Thing, but also a half-dozen low budget SyFy movies. If it had been a longer story, it would have ended up on my DNF shelf.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desolate is a wholly appropriate title for Robert Brumm Jr.’s debut novella, as not only does it provide a most suitable description of both the story’s ice-devoured location and self-demolished protagonist, but also a more than adequate representation of how the reader is likely to feel throughout its metaphorically mangled pages. For almost every conflict-ridden exchange between the wicked and the wretched, it seems as irrelevant as it does impossible to consciously pick a preferred victor. The consequential no-man’s land may appear to be a miserable place to observe events from, but while it’s certainly far from pleasant, it does provide a surprisingly fascinating vantage point, one that leads to an interesting moral inquisition upon the realisation that unwitting steps have moved you closer to one of whichever two evils are in opposition. The intricacies and interactions of the characters themselves do sometimes appear confined by the lack of elaboration a novella allows, but the thick, hazy atmosphere holds it all together somehow, enveloping the reader in its world of dire straits and vicious intentions.

Reading about the reprehensible element of the human race’s struggle for survival is an absorbing and sometimes challenging experience. Such is the thought provoking indecisiveness caused by its themes, the well-constructed narrative of Desolate could almost be considered a bonus.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story! I had to keep reading to find out what else would happen to hapless Howard, poor guy. I know, he's at a prison camp for a good reason, but still. He made a couple of horrible decisions and ruined lives, including his own, but without evil intent. I had to feel just a tiny bit sorry for him. I'm not sure he counted surviving until the end of the book as a good thing. He seems to be a disaster waiting to happen, no matter where he is.

I appreciate a well written story that moves smoothly, as this one does. There was more detail and description than I would expect to find in a short work. I thought the description of the island's history was especially well done. The circumstances that make the story science fiction are not a new idea, but works well within the setting, and does incorporate a surprise or two.

I enjoyed this short book very much, and look forward to reading the new sequel.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story, very reminiscent of one of my favorite movies, The Thing (John Carpenter version). Robert has a very natural writing style, I found Desolate to be an easy read with a story line that moved along smoothly and definitely kept my interest. I read Desolate in one sitting and enjoyed the story line immensely. I found it to be very suspenseful and creepy - my type of tale! The characters are very believable and while the main character is not very likable, I did feel connected to him and his situation.

I would recommend Desolate to any of my friends who enjoy a good Sci-Fi/Horror story and am looking forward to reading Desolate 2 and Robert's other work.

[Stephen6868 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard is a convicted felon with a life sentence without parole, sentenced to a prison island in the antarctic. Working in the prison mines, he helps unearth a spaceship (!) which releases both a virus that kills off most of humanity, as well as a predatory alien almost as bad as the one Ripley found in the movie Alien. This story follows Howard as he escapes from the deadly plague and deadly aliens.

A fun, easy read with plenty of action. Flashbacks help explain the whole back story, and we even follow the stories of some of those who don't survive.

[Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing from the outset, Desolate didn’t quite go where I expected it to. This was no bad thing and kept my interest throughout. Well written and fast moving Brumm strikes again with characters we just somehow know without lots of detail and scenes we can see without every detail drawn. I wanted more and could see this easily turn into 400 pages without losing a drop of tension. Great work Robert: the day job’s days are numbered.

[Stefania · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'idea non è male e i personaggi promettono bene, ma poi tutto finisce in fretta quasi che l'autore volesse lasciarti appeso per leggere il libro successivo. E io odio quando succede così. Puoi scrivere una serie, ma abbi la grazia di rendere ogni libro della serie un pezzo unico e concluso in se stesso se uno volesse fermarsi. Peccato.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick, but thrilling read. As it is so short, there is an overall lack of character development in the secondary characters. Nevertheless, I felt that the author did a decent job of rounding out the main protagonist.

I do wish it was longer as I think the author could have added quite a bit of depth to the characters and the conflict of the story in general.

[David Teachout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing and yet still intriguing, essentially screaming the tune of bad choices resulting in worse results. That the author is at pains to point out the errors in liberal ideology is thankfully only at the beginning, as it serves nothing for the story, and once the story starts it's fast-paced through to the end. Be careful what you go searching for, the path to riches may get you eaten.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books that gave me the creeps. It felt like I was watching a horror movie. The plot was intriguing and the characters great. I really loved the writing style because it was vivid and descriptive. Some minor typos had no influence on the reading experience. I am going to start the sequel straight away.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. As far as short stories go this was really good. Totally unexpected twists and perfect amount of detail for the length it was. I'll be looking out for more stories by this author.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of this book was ok. The plot was pretty thin, and the characters didn't have a lot of meat to them so to speak. But the story had a steady pace for the most part with only a few spots that were slow.

[Judith Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another free download from Amazon and a combo of Sci Fi and the end of the world as we know it. It has both a killer virus and a fast reproducing alien predator from a alien apaceship that crashes in Antarctica. Not bad if you like this sort of thing. Very fast paced.

[Angela Kendrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried, but I couldn't get into it. I got through the intro. I made it through what I presume is most of the background. And I made it to meeting a friend. Unfortunately, I didn't find any of it that interesting. Maybe I'll try it again later.

[Drayke Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended checking out this short story and I have to admit that I was impressed. Great writing, believable characters and a fun concept. I love short horror like this!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable but good

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good start to a trilogy. A little more action will make this a good series!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story. wasn't sure at first if I was gong to stick with it but his development of Howard kept me wanting to see what else could happen.

[Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

More dead bodies than in a JA Konrath novel. This trilogy has the first two cliff hangers, as expected. Too many errors to rate 5 stars. I counted 11.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a mix between The Thing, Contagion and any other post-apocalyptic story...and I loved it!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot..Now I want to read the other parts, but not willing to pay money for it :(

[william finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

The book kept me spellbound. It would have been just as good without the bad language. Maybe even another star.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking for hard science fiction, but what I found was barely a story. It tested my patience and I ultimately failed the test.

[Maribeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like the story had potential, but it needed to be a lot longer to develop it...

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Great short story. I will definitely read part 2.