Expatriates

The Coming Collapse #4

by James Wesley, Rawles, Eric G. Dove (Narrator)

In the latest survivalist thriller from founder of survivalblog.com and New York Times bestselling author James Wesley, Rawles, two expat families struggle for their very survival in the midst of a global economic collapse. When the United States suffers a major socioeconomic collapse, a power vacuum sweeps the globe. A newly radicalized Islamic government rises to power in Indonesia, invades the Philippines, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and finally northern Australia. No longer protected by American military interests, Australia must repel an invasion alone. In the thick of these political maneuvers, an American family of missionaries living in the Philippines and a Texan petroleum engineer in Australia must face the fear of being strangers in a world in flux. Are their relatives back home healthy and safe? Will they ever see them again? In its depiction of the authentic survivalist skills and techniques needed to survive a global socioeconomic meltdown, Expatriates is as informative as it is suspense-filled.

Genres: Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Survival, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Military Fiction

MP3 CD

First published October 1, 2013

About the author

James Wesley, Rawles is a internationally recognized authority on family disaster preparedness and survivalism. He has been described by journalists as the "conscience of survivalism." Formerly a U.S. Army intelligence officer, Rawles is now a fiction and nonfiction author, as well as a rancher. His books have been translated into seven languages. He is also a lecturer and the founder and Senior Editor of http://www.SurvivalBlog.com, the Internet's first blogs on preparedness that has enjoyed perennial popularity and now receives more than 320,000 unique visits per week. He and his family live at a remote self-sufficient ranch surrounded by National Forest lands that is is cryptically identified as located "somewhere west of the Rockies.

Rawles worked as an Associate Editor and Regional Editor (for the Western U.S.) with Defense Electronics magazine in the late 1980s and early 1990s and concurrently was Managing Editor of The International Countermeasures Handbook. He worked as a technical writer through most of the 1990s with a variety of electronics and software companies including Oracle Corporation. In 2005, he began blogging full-time. On his book covers and in his blog, he presents his name with a comma, as James Wesley, Rawles, to distinguish between his given name and his family name.

James Wesley, Rawles was born James Wesley Rawles in California in 1960 and attended local public schools. Rawles received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose University.

From 1984 to 1993, he served as a United States Army Military Intelligence officer. He resigned his commission as a U.S. Army Captain immediately after Bill Clinton was inaugurated as President of the United States.

Rawles is the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, a popular blog on survival and preparedness topics. The blog has been described as "the guiding light of the prepper movement." The main focus of his blog is preparing for the multitude of possible threats toward society. In his various writings, Rawles has warned about socio-economic collapse, terrorist attacks, and food shortages.

He is now a freelance writer, blogger, and survival retreat consultant. One journalist called him a "survival guru" He was described as the "conscience of survivalism." Rawles is best known as the author of the survivalist novel Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse.

Rawles is an outspoken proponent of family preparedness, especially regarding food storage and advocates relocating to lightly populated rural "retreat" areas. His preparedness philosophy emphasizes the fragility of modern society, the value of silver and other tangibles for barter, recognition of moral absolutes, being well-armed, maintaining a "deep larder," relocation to rural retreats, and Christian charity. In an interview in The New York Times, Rawles identified himself as a "guns and groceries" survivalist.

Rawles interprets the 2nd Amendment as supporting citizens' individual rights to bear and keep arms. He believes they should be able to take arms to public events.

Rawles is opposed to racism. He supports abolition of modern slavery in the world.

Rawles is a spokeman for the surivalist movement. A central premise of that movement is that there is a high risk of a coming societal meltdown and the need to prepare for the repercussions. Rawles said that the popular media has developed an incorrect far-right "lunatic fringe" image in part because of the actions of a radical few such as Timothy McVeigh. He called this a distortion of the true message of survivalism. Unlike the handful of fringe proponents, Rawles focuses instead on family preparedness and personal freedom. Rawles explained that the typical survivalist does not actually live in a rural area, but is rather is a city dweller worried about the collapse of society who views the rural lifestyle as idyllic. Speaking from his experience, Rawles cautions that rural self-sufficiency a

Reviews

[karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

yes, i am giving this book two stars, but not for the reasons you might think.

the author is a survivalist expert who runs this blog: http://survivalblog.com/. he is also a conservative/constitutionalist libertarian calvinist christian former u.s. army intelligence officer who lives "in an undisclosed location."

he is also a "technical writer."

and it's not the politics or the religious beliefs that manifest themselves in this book that made me give it two stars, even though i can see someone getting turned off on that account. it is, rather, that last fact.

because this totally reads like technical writing.

there is a fairly lengthy disclaimer at the beginning, reinforcing the idea that this is fiction, takes place in the future, and is not a commentary on any political situation or perceived military plots by foreign nations. and it reads the way it should, like someone's gruff, sorta mean ex-military dad:

The making and/or possession of some of the devices and mixtures described in this novel are possibly illegal in some jurisdictions. Even the mere possession of the uncombined components might be construed as criminal intent. Consult your state and local laws! If you make any of these devices and/or formulations, you accept sole responsibility for their possession and use. You are also responsible for your own stupidity and/or carelessness. This information is intended for educational purposes only, to add realism to a work of fiction. The purpose of this novel is to entertain and to educate.

and there it is.

this book definitely does educate, but it does not entertain.

and that's my gripe. it's not the bible-quote cold open, or the first-chapter "this is why concealed carry pistol permits are so wonderful" scenario, or the proselytizing "i won't date you until you take jesus into your heart*," or the libertarian politics and military minutiae and the overall combination of guns and religion that makes it all "oorah for jesus."



it's that there isn't any story

quick backtrack into "so why did i want to read this?" well, i actually own all three of his previous books. i love survival stories. i tell myself i read all these books because i am amassing information that will help me if the world ever goes nuts and i am forced to fend for myself. and i figured, who better to teach me about survival than a survival expert?? an authority on the matter? and of course, i haven't gotten around to reading his earlier books, but i saw this one on netgalley and i thought this would give me the kick in the pants i needed to get me to read him, and netgalley promised me that this worked fine as a standalone. but i'm not entirely convinced that this is true. but we will get back to that later. for now, all you need to know is that i am a fan of survival narratives, and that i love to see australia live up to its badass reputation, and this seemed to scratch both itches.

so maybe this is because i haven't read the first three, and the "this operates as a standalone" was misleading. maybe this is supposed to be just filling in the blanks and if you haven't read the first three, you are adrift as far as who these people are and why we should care. but if that's not the case, then this just fails as a novel.

the characters are completely wooden exposition factories, reading like mouthpieces for ideology or "here are some facts i know."

"That's a fair grouping for that rifle when using surplus ammo. I think it suits you. Would you like to buy it?" Thomas asked.

Chuck smiled and said, "Yes, I like the idea of owning an American-designed rifle."

"What? Lee-Enfields are British."

Chuck shook his head and said politely, "Actually, the SMLE was a design refined in England by the Enfield arsenal, but the original designer was James Paris Lee, who was born in Scotland and raised in Canada, but he moved to the States in the 1850's. He was a naturalized American citizen, and that's where he became a gun designer."

"Oh."

it's that "oh" that kills me. that was not a conversation. it was an info-dump.

so, it's educational, yes, but there's not much entertainment value. and if you think i am being unfair by isolating this passage, this is the part immediately preceding it:

Chuck liked the rifle. It had a butter-smooth action and it had been partially sporterized with a good-quality forward "scout" style scope mount and a Schmidt & Bender long eye relief scope that was worth almost as much as the rifle itself. The rifle's 10-round magazine, which could be rapidly reloaded with 5-round stripper clips (or "chargers" in the British Commonwealth shooting lexicon) was a nice plus. He would have preferred a more modern SMLE chambered in 7.62 NATO, but those were quite scarce.

Chuck noticed that the ammo they were using was the later vintage noncorrosively primed ammunition made in Greece in the 1970s, with an HXP head stamp. He would have given anything for some more-recently manufacture3d American-made Federal brand .303 British soft-tip hunting ammunition. Having once used that ammunition, he had been able to put two-round groups from a cold barrel into the same hole on paper at one hundred yards, from a well-cleaned, cut and recrowned barrel. He had even read that in the early 1980s, the American Olin-Winchester plant had produced a modern military ball (FMJ) .303 British under contract for the U.S. government, to be sent to the Afghans fighting the Soviets at the time.

The rifle was a No. 4 Mk 1 model and was stamped ROF(F) - which indicated that it had been manufactured by the Royal Ordinance Factory at Fazakerly, England. As was typical of spotters, the forward portion of the hand guard wood had been removed, and the remaining hand guard tapered and rounded at the tip. Seeing this made Chuck cringe, as he hated to see original military rifles altered. However, he was glad to see that the sporterizing had at least been done neatly and that the scope mount and scope had been expertly installed.

wow. that's….a lot of very specific information, and isn't really geared towards the not very gun-savvy reader.

which might be the problem. i don't read military fiction, just survival fiction. and i guess i misinterpreted what this book was going to be. so maybe in military fiction, this is just the way it is - very little character development, and a lot of gun-porn. and gun jokes:

Then a man just fifteen feet down from Jake and Thomas shouted, "I need some .25-06." After a pause, he said with greater urgency, "Does anyone have any .25-06, please? I've got zero rounds!" Someone heckled. "You gotta be kidding. This ain't the wide-open prairie. You should have bought a .308"

which i guess is funny, to gun enthusiasts.

there is also a straight-up 4-page LIST of survival manuals and websites that can be downloaded for free and are full of information on survival and currency-safeguarding and military strategy masquerading as conversation in an email. seriously, 4 pages. this is why we have appendices, not how novels operate. slip 5, 10 in there, that's fine, but there's a point after which your narrative flow is going to suffer.

and while there is plenty of DIY survivalist information in here, it's the kind of stuff that is wayyy above my pay grade. like how to construct a bullet-resistant (not bullet-proof we are instructed tartly) gun station out of bank teller windows.

and how to field-strip a seemingly endless array of weapons.

or build a gun-cozy to hide your illegal weapons.

or how to ensure that the advancing army will not see the dashboard-lights of your armored vehicle.

or protect your bullets from rusting in the australian climate.

really, i just need to know what kind of berries are safe to eat.

i mean, he's clearly a smart guy who has tons of information at the ready about his subject matter. but despite the endless inventories of guns and other weapons, most of the battle sequences are brief and not detailed at all. some of them occur offscreen, some are relayed later as reportage in unconvincing conversations, and only a couple are played out on the page, with so many details about the weaponry, but so little about the characters. oh, and one million acronyms. military types LOVE acronyms, and while they are all defined within the story (and then additionally included in the 18-page glossary at the back), it is just off-putting to a reader to be confronted with so many acronyms.

and just in case you think i am being dramatic:

Right before the Crunch, Indonesia had also bought up as many surplus landing craft as they could find. They bought three Landing Craft, Vehicle Personnel (LCVP's) from Australia, two Landing Craft Utility (LCUs) from the United States, four Czilm class hovercraft from Russia, and seven 1990s-vintage 25-ton Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) from the U.S., and even three aging WWII-vintage LCMs from Cambodia. Their finest landing craft purchases, however, were two Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCAC) through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) office and an other nearly identical one that came from the Japanese Defense Force.

In his visit to Indonesia in 2010, President Obama announced the gift of twenty-four former USAF F-16s - multirole fighter aircraft - as a sign of friendship to the Muslim world. The gift was building on his first inaugural address, in which he said of other hostile nations, "We will extend a hand if you will just unclench your fist." Two years later, the Australian government sold four C-130H transport planes to the Indonesian Air Force. And in 2013, Indonesia received six Sukhoi Su-30 Mk 2 multirole fighter planes purchased from Russia in a $470 million deal. This increased their fleet of Su-30s to twenty-nine planes.

riveting.

and it's all like this. none of the characters get explored as much as the ammo does. for example, there is a character called joseph, who comes to australia on a boat from the philippines, along with his grandfather, shepherding a married pair of missionaries and their seven-year-old daughter to safety. (a crossing that is very violent and involves a lot of shooting and killing and gun-amassing by these missionaries, while i guess their daughter is quietly playing below ship?? they seem entirely unconcerned about her**) but joseph - we don't hear much about him, but all of a sudden, once in australia, "joseph's girlfriend" is referenced. twice. we never meet her or learn her name, and we are never given a scene in which he meets this girlfriend. is this covered in the other books?? standalone, my foot!!

this book is completely uneven, using florida as a starting-point and then completely dropping those characters until the very end of the book. which, again, maybe they have more to do in previous books, but still - it is a glaring imbalance that we never return to them until the last chapter.

and we were so close to getting out of this book without a weird sexist situation. so close. but uh-oh!

The first thing Rhiannon said when she saw her sister was "Uggggh. You got old."

"You've got wrinkles, too, sis," Janelle replied.

"Well, we can count our blessings. At least you never got fat, and I got skinny and stayed that way. And we all have our health."

Janelle nodded. Yes, God is good."

yup. lots of people died and we lived through wars and shortages and rebellions and lots of boring talk about rifles, but at least we stayed slim for our menfolk, praise jesus! let's go buy some shoes!

unbelievable.

so, yeah, not the right book for me. maybe someone with affinities for military fiction can get past all the acronyms and sacrifice of story for walls of information, maybe someone who has read the first three books would be on more solid footing, but for me, this was just not successful as a novel, much less as an entertainment.

but i'm still gonna read those first books. just… not right now.

* which scene is another gripe because of how unrealistic it is:

"Before we delve off into potential, or shall we say hypothetical, matrimonial topics, Mr. Chuck Nolan, I have a big fat question for you.

"Shoot."

"Are you a Christian?"

"Well, yeah I went to church when I was a kid. I went to Sunday school and all the usual - "

Ava cocked her head and interrupted, "Yes, but do you know Jesus the Christ as your personal savior?"

"I've never thought in those terms," Chuck admitted. "I mean, I've never studied the Bible as an adult, you see. I really would't know where to start."

Ava pushed the remains of her plate aside and said, "Do you have a Bible, a King James?"

Chuck nodded.

"Since you understand shooting, then you will understand 'missing the mark.' This is man's biggest problem. I suggest you start by reading the Gospel of John - he depicts Jesus' work to solve man's biggest problem very plainly. See if that speaks to you. And if it does, then ask Jesus into your heart."

Ava stood up from the table and gave a little wave. "Wait! I need your phone number," Chuck protested.

Ava pulled out a pen and wrote on the back of their lunch receipt. "Here's my mobile number. I would like you to ring me up, Chuck. But before you do, I'd really like you to be able to tell me, with sincerity, where you stand with God."

leaving aside, for a moment, why someone who never studied the Bible as an adult, and who we are told didn't need much space because he had brought just a few possessions with him from the United States upon moving to australia would have included a bible as one of those few possessions, apart from that - seriously, who talks like this?? and especially after the first meeting and the first meal together? wood, wood, wooden.

**later, this poor seven-year-old daughter curls up to sleep with a stuffed wallaby. like, a taxidermied stuffed wallaby, which seems both uncomfortable and gross. but it is a kindness bestowed upon her by a couple the missionaries are staying with, and they are these kinds of people:

"I get a laugh when I hear tourists say they 'went on safari' but all they took were pictures. A camera safari is not a real safari."

and

Both Alvis and Vivian had their speech peppered with foreign words and turns of phrase that they'd picked up on their many overseas hunting trips. For example, they used the Afrikaans word braai instead of "barbecue," the Shona word chirairo for "dinner," and the Swahili words karibu for "welcome" and samahani to say "excuse me."

in other words, insufferable people.

come to my blog!

[Craig Beversdorf · Rating 1 out of 5]

worst one yet. this guy needs to read some books so he can learn how to write. in his stories everyone gets along. everyone one is very religious and doesn't have pre marital sex. this guy is delusional.

i did like that he actually branched out and had some not super expensive military surplus weapons that most people actually have. though he still seems to demonize those with ak-47s and make fools out of sks owners.

pretty much this book was a massive literary turd.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved Patriots, and Founders was good. But this book... was absolutely horrible.

1.5 stars. If you're not reading this purely for the technical information (which IS quite interesting) and/or supportive of fanatical Christianity or certain other selected stereotypical right-wing hypocrisies and idiocies, you will probably hate this book.
Could have been a 3 or even 4 star book, but the characters were totally one-dimensional (and bad) and the constant attempts to push religion on the reader completely kill it.
The beginning was so thick with evangelical christian BS I could scarcely believe it. Obviously Rawles has either been emboldened by his previous novels successes to push his ideals on the reader (or at least narrow his readership) or he's gone of the deep end further than he was when he wrote his first novel. The force-feeding of his idea of Christianity did better after the first few chapters but it returned frequently throughout the book. Not to mention his characters completely sucked and he kept taking jabs those who didn't agree with his "character's opinions" (most likely reflective of his own).

I'm debating whether to even bother trying his next novel after this farce.

[Doreen Pettit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Preachy

[Kay Adelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a rocky ride for me, and while not the hardest book I’ve ever read, unfortunately I couldn’t wait for it to be over. It could partly be because these style of books aren’t really my taste, so do take that into consideration. However, there were several other issues with this book which made me dock several stars.

For a Christian book, the romance (which was underdeveloped and rushed, I might add) was very… unchristian in the way the characters went about it. The girl, who is saved, goes out on a date with and gives an unsaved man her number, while knowing he’s not saved. This is a clear violation of 2 Corinthians 6:14. After he’s saved, she gets together with him, instead of clarifying that, as a baby Christian, he should be focusing on growing in the Lord, not dating a woman. It was just very annoying.

There was also the style issues, which I have listed in my content review on my site will not re-list here due to the sheer number of them. (If you want to see them all, check out my full review by clicking the link below.) The main for me, though, was the info-dumping and too much telling and not enough showing. I could’ve handled the POV violations and occasional typo, but the sheer amount of gun, and ammo info, military acronyms, and so on, many of which weren’t even necessary for the story, were just crazy. Also, I only learned like, two or three actual survival tactics that I’d know how to implement, maybe because I didn’t understand everything between all the acronyms and unnecessary details.

If you’re someone who’s super interested in or knowledgable about guns and military things, super interested in economic crashes and what could possibly happen afterwards and like books with a lot of details about said things, you might really like this book. However, if you’re not, I cannot recommend this book.

Personal Rating: 2.75/5 Stars

Read my full review at: https://kayadelin.com/2023/10/31/octo...

[K Shirey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each one of the books in this series is filled with info one might need if the SHTF. It’s amazing how much better Australia does as a country than the USA but everyone certainly does not “all get along” as some have said in reviews. I mean the radical Muslims who sabotaged much of Australia’s defenses as part of their Jihads preplanned attacks didn’t get along so well when Australians killed them did they? I find it totally believable that Christians, especially those w/military experience, do better than most. Preparing for disasters, learning skills in order to be self sufficient and faith are all critical components of the SHTF survivors toolbox. The first book in this series was so filled w/info I found myself looking things up constantly. The rest all have points of interest to investigate and I did. This is an excellent series especially for someone who wishes to learn while being entertained.

[Celeste Hansel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book by this author that I have read. It is refreshing to have decent characters who care about each other and help one another. The useful information in the books is invaluable for being prepared for natural disasters or man made disasters. As someone who has been through several dangerous hurricanes, you never know when something you read will come in handy.

[H. Alvarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Situado sobre todo en Extremo Oriente y Oceanía, presenta a un set de nuevos personajes. El colapso provoca el surgimiento de una gran potencia expansiva y fanática., los Indis que amenazan a Australia, peleando por su supervivencia a causa de un gran atentado.

[Alex Larner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of survival in an unlikely place, North Australia.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to on CD. Excellent story of survival and escape from the Philippines to Australia.

[brian andrews]

Abandoned the book, tried for 80 pages to get into it.
Too much detail about guns and gun models, seems like an interesting story, and the background development was reasonable.... i tried to read.

[Kevin Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thankful for living where and when I do. I do not want to live in this world that is written here. Good story.

[Jeff Soyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having enjoyed one of his previous novels of survival during the “crunch,” Survivors, I welcomed the opportunity to read a preview copy of his newest book in the series, Expatriates, by James Wesley, Rawles. The book is set for release on October 1st, but you can pre-order it now. You should!

The “crunch” happens in the near future, when the world’s financial markets crash and governments (particularly that of the United States) collapse, leaving citizens to fight off looters, rioters, and a dictatorial, provisional replacement government. With money being worthless, and a near-destroyed infrastructure, everyone is basically on their own. Expatriates takes place in nearly the same time frame as Rawles’ other novels, Patriots, Survivors, and Founders. It extends to four-years past the “crunch” but involves different characters in other parts of the world; this one primarily in the Philippines and Australia. It is absolutely NOT necessary to have read the other books.

To get to the point; this is another exciting, well written, and action-packed novel of individuals and of townspeople using their courage, skills, and preparedness to survive during an economic and (in the U.S.) governmental plunge into chaos.

For the few who don’t know, Rawles is also the proprietor of the Survival Blog and he imparts much wisdom throughout the story. Mostly, though, it’s just a good-old-fashioned thriller in the best sense of the word.

There are several morals in Expatriates, but the one I took away as most important, was that even in a crisis, and the fog of war, an individual can make a difference — a huge one. Whether it’s the Filipino fisherman helping missionaries to flee, or an Australian aborigine striking a devastating blow to the enemy, one person doing what’s right can turn tides.

A wonderful work of fiction that I hope . . . remains fiction.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expatriates is one of those instructional novels where you are taught something about God, guns, economics and survival techniques while enjoying a good dystopian story. (Out of the Dark by David Weber comes to mind.) I suppose I wasn't in the mood or I would have rated it higher.

Expatriates hits the Christian angle pretty hard right away. I don't mind reading about Christian ideals in the context of a story. Heck. I read Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change which is a strictly Christian exposition by Pastor Hagee. I didn't agree with it but he was making his case for a Christian audience. I'm not a Christian.

But... after the noodle date with the Christian woman and the robbery and the silver-as-money debate I decided to bail on this novel. I may come back to it later.

This is book #4 in the Patriot series. There are some references to something that happened before. The introduction said that the novel can stand on it's own. It seems so, but I usually start from the beginning of a series. I'll try to book #1 Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse. If I change my mind about this novel I'll return and rate it again.

[Tadd Gestrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I hadn't planned to read this book after the last of Rawles' series, Founders, left a lot to be desired, I was given the book as a gift and was willing give it a try. The good news is that Rawles appears to have listened to the feedback about Founders and avoided many of the pitfalls that affected his last book. This most recent installment chronicles the adventures of two families living on opposite sides of the world. One family makes their way across the Pacific Ocean to seek shelter in Australia from an invading army while another family struggles to survive an economic collapse in central Florida. Both families rely on guns, God, and ingenuity to get them through. Rawles fills his novel with tips and tricks that allow the families to survive and thrive in their circumstances.

I would give this book three and a half stars if it was possible, mainly because this book was such an improvement over the last. It avoided the preachiness and ultra-conservative politics of the last book and instead focused on the story of the characters. While there were plenty of mentions of the characters' faith and politics, those were done in a way more relevant to the story and less offensively to those who might disagree with those points of view.

I think Rawles has redeemed his series and set it back on track towards continuing successfully with his next installment.

[Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a casual reader, I don't read for anything other than entertainment and gaining knowledge. Expatriates fills the niche I enjoy reading, it provides both entertainment and a small slice of knowledge mixed in. Several other reviews have issues with the jumping around and character development. I would agree about the character development aspect in that I found it hard at times to remember who was who and I'd have to go back and refresh my memory. This isn't a huge problem for me as it allows me to get the story straight, like I said I read for enjoyment. Overall this was a good read and gave me many more things to think about while at the same time allowing me to drift into another 'world'. I gave the four stars due to the feeling of being incomplete at the end, I personally felt there were loose ends left that could have been tied up a little neater with another few pages or so. If you enjoy the 'end of the world as we know it' genre this is another good one to read and ponder.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Survivalist Christian author writes two stories in parallel, but not related, after an apocalypse. In one, some Florida folks band together to protect themselves from city dwellers gone rogue looter. In another, an American expat escapes Indonesian invasion of Northern Australia, whilst finding the romantic love of his life and Christ at the same time. Politics and technical aspects of the survivalist cult manifest themselves in this book. The detail is sometimes excruciating as he describes the bolt action of a particular rifle, for example. Those technical details overcome what might be a good story if dummed down a little bit. Both stories make good reading and could probably be separated into two books; but that might make the editor add more detail...uck. So, this book remains a mediocre effort. I doubt if I'll read any more of this author.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another (4th) excellent installment in James Wesley, Rawles series started with Patriots. These interesting books are parallel experience adventures in the same world wide event. Expatriates is largely set "down under" and partially in Florida. Anyone who has spent time on the water will especially enjoy some of the accounts.

As with the unfolding plots of the first three novels in the series, this fourth issue is difficult to review without dishing out spoilers.

A thought provocative addition to the series and a recommended read.

Trivia - my copy is from a limited amount of first edition hardbacks which has a proofreader's typo on the spine - not better way to confirm a true first edition!

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one on the good side of this up and down series. Expatriates looks at life after an economic collapse from outside of the US (vs the previous ones which were more US centric). This follows the same template as his other books with mixing in some action, military tactics, useful prepping information and religion to tell the story of what might happen after a worldwide economic collapse. This installment is a bit lacking in action (otherwise it would have easily been a 4-5 star book in my opinion) but also includes much less religion than some of this other books (it’s there but doesn’t go on for chapters as it did in Founders). If you want some real world ideas with your post-apocalyptic adventure this is a good choice.

[William McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all of the books in this series and, for the most part, enjoyed them. They deal with a socio-economic collapse in the near future and are unique in that their stories run concurrently. The subject matter is extremely interesting as are the experiences of the many characters.
The books can be faulted in a number of areas, however:
~The characters are very one-dimensional and speak woodenly.
~There is an excess of extremely detailed technical information dealing with weapons and equipment which distracts from the narrative. [It's even too much for a Tom Clancy-loving, retired active-duty Infantryman such as me!]
~Unnatural bible-thumping and born-again Christian proselytizing is a recurring theme. [Even a believer like me found it inappropriate, condescending, and annoying.]

[William Fulks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished the audiobook of this one, not realizing it was part 3 of a series about a global economic collapse that leads to massive war. I liked it well enough but it reads like a documentary. The author is a real life survivalist who injects all kinds of info into the story, especially in regard to guns and other weapons. It's quite educational, but does so at the expense of character development. All the chapters are really short and provide mainly an overview of events. There's a good bit of action, but none of it is very well detailed. The author provides more detail about interchangeable magazines on certain rifles than he does about the events in the takeover of an enemy compounds. It leaves you wanting more.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this book is a turbulent mix of emotions for me. I love "surviving disaster" material. The details and overall scope of the story are fantastic. This is a well thought out and researched story. However, the ultra- Christian,
Anti-Muslim sentiments are just a bit too much on display. The idea that with good Christian values and a great rifle anything is possible is dubious to me. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and will be looking forward to reading more about the "Crunch" and all the scary things that we think will happen to our global economy on the course that it's headed. I'm excited to read more but I take the message with more than a grain of salt.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are very good books with a lot of technical aspects on just about everything you need to survive the coming global economic collapse. This is a good and bad point. Due all of the discussion on the finer points of survival the storyline itself tends to suffer in continuity. So for all that this is the fourth novel in the series but could very easily be a stand alone novel. The story centers around the Philippine islands and Australia with Indonesia and Malaysia being the bad guys in the story. So for all that the book is pretty darn good and makes a nice addition to the other novels in the series.

[Kasey Cocoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may have been a great read if not for the overwhelming amount of information that had to be waded through just to get a single action or scene. The plot was buried under mountains of it and having the characters dialog full of it takes the enjoyment out of the read. I couldn't connect to any of the characters as they felt flat and unrealistic. A few too many far fetched situations or set ups to an encounter took away from the plot. At least it wasn't riddled with poor grammar and a lack of understanding of the subject matter, hence three stars instead of two.

[Jennifer K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept trying to get into this book.

But it's like reading from the J. Peterman catalog for preppers.

If Mr. Rawles could ever actually home his writing skills instead of hocking every field equipment piece he was ever freely given in exchange for a plug in his book/blog, we have potential for a story.

I can't even get past a few pages on this one without feeling like I am supposed to be making a shopping list.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I've always wanted to read these books, even after hearing how badly they are written. I agree, they are horribly written, but I like the concept of the story and I did learn a few things. I just think the author should take some lessons in humility and he'd have some top notch novels. But, I do appreciate the sharing of knowledge, no matter how pretentious it is, so I'm going to stop complaining now.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rawles, as the title suggests, jumps outside of CONUS to take the story of the coming collapse overseas. The book primarily deals with the troubles that some missionaries and a oil field contractor face when militants take advantage of the situation to launch attacks and all out war on Australia. The end of the book does help wrap up details back in the US, but the book focuses overseas. High praise for Rawles, he hits it out of the park again.

[Brad Theado · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author is normally overly descriptive which I'm ok with because it's technical writing disguised as fiction. I know that going in. But in this book the descriptions are about things that won't help me. I really don't need to know a lot about Indonesian patrol boats. My least favorite in his series.

[RJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Indonesian war with Australia? Now THAT'S different! There's also a global collapse on top of the ill-planned invasion which took a back seat to the meltdown. Between the accent, the odd circumstances, and unfamiliar surroundings, I'm unsure how to rate this treatise. It is quite involved, contained a lot of detail, and presented many characters. Three.point.five for over-crowding.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pace, strong story, and compelling detail. The only issue I have with this novel is that it leaves me wanting more. That's not a bad thing, but I hope more are in the works, as there are many directions I expect this post-economic meltdown to take what was and will be again these United States.