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Zombie Apocalypse #5
Poxland
Not yet published
Expected 26 Nov 13America has been devastated by both plague and the nuclear weapons used to kill off the infected flesh-eating creatures that roamed across the land preying on human beings.
National Clandestine Service black ops agent Chad Halverson and dress designer Victoria Brady take refuge in a blast shelter in the Nevada desert when an A-bomb is dropped on Las Vegas at the behest of the president of the United States.
Halverson and Victoria are forced to leave the safety of their cement shelter when they run low on water.
They join up with a band of four fellow refugees, who are not what they seem, and head east toward the nation's capitol to find out what remains of the government.
However, another band of refugees intercepts them, kidnaps the lot of them, and spirits them away to a massive bunker complex in top secret Area 51, where SS-Oberfuhrer Oswald Gutman's son, Hector Guzman, is conducting mysterious experiments. The billionaire drug dealer Guzman made his fortune in Mexico after growing up in Argentina in seclusion with his father, an unrepentant member of the Order of the Death's Head who escaped Germany via a ratline to Buenos Aires after the fall of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
Halverson stumbles onto a conspiracy so diabolical it defies belief, a conspiracy so vast that it already extends into the highest reaches of the US government. Outnumbered and outgunned, as well as besieged by hordes of zombies that survived the nuclear holocaust, he must somehow defeat the cabal before it can achieve world domination.
National Clandestine Service black ops agent Chad Halverson and dress designer Victoria Brady take refuge in a blast shelter in the Nevada desert when an A-bomb is dropped on Las Vegas at the behest of the president of the United States.
Halverson and Victoria are forced to leave the safety of their cement shelter when they run low on water.
They join up with a band of four fellow refugees, who are not what they seem, and head east toward the nation's capitol to find out what remains of the government.
However, another band of refugees intercepts them, kidnaps the lot of them, and spirits them away to a massive bunker complex in top secret Area 51, where SS-Oberfuhrer Oswald Gutman's son, Hector Guzman, is conducting mysterious experiments. The billionaire drug dealer Guzman made his fortune in Mexico after growing up in Argentina in seclusion with his father, an unrepentant member of the Order of the Death's Head who escaped Germany via a ratline to Buenos Aires after the fall of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
Halverson stumbles onto a conspiracy so diabolical it defies belief, a conspiracy so vast that it already extends into the highest reaches of the US government. Outnumbered and outgunned, as well as besieged by hordes of zombies that survived the nuclear holocaust, he must somehow defeat the cabal before it can achieve world domination.
- GenresHorrorZombiesApocalyptic
332 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2013
3 people are currently reading
368 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Cassiday
63 books213 followersAward-winning author Bryan Cassiday writes thrillers and horror fiction. His novel Horde (Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series Book 6) won the 2022 Independent Press Award and the 2021 American Fiction Award for Best Horror novel. His novel Electric Green Mambas was a Finalist in the Reader Views Award for Thrillers 2021-22. His short story "Boxed" was published in the anthology Shadows and Teeth Volume Two, which won both the 2017 International Book Award for best adult horror fiction anthology and the Florida Association of Publishers and Authors President's Award gold medal for best adult horror fiction anthology 2017.
"A bracing page-turner with an unconventional hero."--Kirkus Reviews on Bryan's thriller Murder LLC
His thrillers include the psychological thriller The Payout and the Ethan Carr thriller Force of Impact, which Kirkus Reviews called "A fast-paced detective novel enhanced by exceptional characters and a striking ending."
Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Thriller Bolt
“From the very start, Bryan Cassiday spins what appears to be a typical Southern Californian private investigation novel in Bolt, but quickly takes off in a direction that speaks to our current troubled times. Well-plotted and crisply written, with great characterization, this is one to look for.”--Brendan DuBois, coauthor with James Patterson of The Cornwalls Are Gone.
"Noir suspense at its best! Private eyes, hit men, globe-trotting, and characters you don't know whether you can trust or not. Fans of James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, and Fredrick Forsyth will love Bolt!"--Matthew Farrell, best-selling author of What Have You Done
Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Books
"The plot engages from the beginning and holds the reader's interest until the last page."--The Booklife Prize on Horde
"Cassiday blends thoughtful suspense and pulse-pounding terror to deliver a novel with both bite and creeping dread."--David Dunwoody, author of Empire and The Harvest Cycle
"Written with the epic scope of World War Z and infused with the gritty spook works derring-do of a Robert Ludlum spy thriller, Sanctuary in Steel is full of zombie mayhem through and through."--Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Inheritance
"Sanctuary in Steel made me feel like I did the first time I watched Romero. Fresh, exciting and engaging like any outbreak story should be."--Iain McKinnon, author of Domain of the Dead
"A bracing page-turner with an unconventional hero."--Kirkus Reviews on Bryan's thriller Murder LLC
His thrillers include the psychological thriller The Payout and the Ethan Carr thriller Force of Impact, which Kirkus Reviews called "A fast-paced detective novel enhanced by exceptional characters and a striking ending."
Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Thriller Bolt
“From the very start, Bryan Cassiday spins what appears to be a typical Southern Californian private investigation novel in Bolt, but quickly takes off in a direction that speaks to our current troubled times. Well-plotted and crisply written, with great characterization, this is one to look for.”--Brendan DuBois, coauthor with James Patterson of The Cornwalls Are Gone.
"Noir suspense at its best! Private eyes, hit men, globe-trotting, and characters you don't know whether you can trust or not. Fans of James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, and Fredrick Forsyth will love Bolt!"--Matthew Farrell, best-selling author of What Have You Done
Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Books
"The plot engages from the beginning and holds the reader's interest until the last page."--The Booklife Prize on Horde
"Cassiday blends thoughtful suspense and pulse-pounding terror to deliver a novel with both bite and creeping dread."--David Dunwoody, author of Empire and The Harvest Cycle
"Written with the epic scope of World War Z and infused with the gritty spook works derring-do of a Robert Ludlum spy thriller, Sanctuary in Steel is full of zombie mayhem through and through."--Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Inheritance
"Sanctuary in Steel made me feel like I did the first time I watched Romero. Fresh, exciting and engaging like any outbreak story should be."--Iain McKinnon, author of Domain of the Dead
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 29, 2015
Review: POXLAND by Bryan Cassiday (Zombie Apocalypse #5)
In any Apocalypse, there are no wins--no victories, and no winners. Only loss and losers, death and destruction and devastation. National Clandestine Services operative Chad Halverson understands this better than many. Targeted by the government he has so faithfully served, he and designer Victoria Brady have kept on the run--from Zombies, the US government, and other predators. Their reward: irradiation from an atomic bomb which destroyed Las Vegas.
If you haven't read any of Bryan Cassiday's ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Series, give it a try. Read the series or try out one installment--I think you'll be hooked.
In any Apocalypse, there are no wins--no victories, and no winners. Only loss and losers, death and destruction and devastation. National Clandestine Services operative Chad Halverson understands this better than many. Targeted by the government he has so faithfully served, he and designer Victoria Brady have kept on the run--from Zombies, the US government, and other predators. Their reward: irradiation from an atomic bomb which destroyed Las Vegas.
If you haven't read any of Bryan Cassiday's ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Series, give it a try. Read the series or try out one installment--I think you'll be hooked.
May 31, 2015
Poxland
If you liked the other you will love this.
Chad and Victoria survived the nuke in a bunker but are forced to leave when the air starts to run out what I can't understand is why leave in the day time into a desert. Anywhere we finally find out who, why and what started the plague.
I liked the story but didn't like the repeating like American TV I don't need a reminder of what just happened and the characters not understanding simple things like a character has been bitten and asks to be shot the other character getting upset that he was shot instead of finding a cure that as yet hasn't been in the storyline. I liked the bad guys story and this is the second book of this series I have read
If you liked the other you will love this.
Chad and Victoria survived the nuke in a bunker but are forced to leave when the air starts to run out what I can't understand is why leave in the day time into a desert. Anywhere we finally find out who, why and what started the plague.
I liked the story but didn't like the repeating like American TV I don't need a reminder of what just happened and the characters not understanding simple things like a character has been bitten and asks to be shot the other character getting upset that he was shot instead of finding a cure that as yet hasn't been in the storyline. I liked the bad guys story and this is the second book of this series I have read
July 31, 2015
Ok, first of all, I'm a better reader than a writer. What I have to offer is an honest review, as asked.
Poxland is an OK book, nothing special. During my read I thought about dropping it a few times, but I managed to go through and reached the end. It's a short novel to pass the time, but the naivety of the characters is annoying. One could expect much more from a black ops agent, as well as a criminal mastermind. As a matter of fact, one could expect much more from each character in the book.
I understand that in the post-apocalyptic world there'll be a rainbow of people, but it bothered me the childness of the characters in this novel. In Poxland, everything is said, leaving no space for the readers imagination.
A classic formula that could work well, if the simplicity of the writing and the lack of strong characters didn't shortened the thrill.
The author have a good graphical writing style on some parts, which works well for a Zombie book.
The few female characters are the cliché of what a helpless woman is supposed to be, with a sexist view, and contributing with the aforementioned sensation that the characters are not well developed.
The narrator keeps repeating itself, like a live TV show that needs to repeat itself for those just arriving to catch up.
Overall, unfortunately I don’t recommend this book as I love post-apocalypse novels.
Poxland is an OK book, nothing special. During my read I thought about dropping it a few times, but I managed to go through and reached the end. It's a short novel to pass the time, but the naivety of the characters is annoying. One could expect much more from a black ops agent, as well as a criminal mastermind. As a matter of fact, one could expect much more from each character in the book.
I understand that in the post-apocalyptic world there'll be a rainbow of people, but it bothered me the childness of the characters in this novel. In Poxland, everything is said, leaving no space for the readers imagination.
A classic formula that could work well, if the simplicity of the writing and the lack of strong characters didn't shortened the thrill.
The author have a good graphical writing style on some parts, which works well for a Zombie book.
The few female characters are the cliché of what a helpless woman is supposed to be, with a sexist view, and contributing with the aforementioned sensation that the characters are not well developed.
The narrator keeps repeating itself, like a live TV show that needs to repeat itself for those just arriving to catch up.
Overall, unfortunately I don’t recommend this book as I love post-apocalypse novels.
February 21, 2017
I won an audiobook of this on LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, I thought it was alright. There were a lot of parts that were very slow. For a novel dealing the zombies and spies, it was pretty slow-paced and repetitive. The narration was in third-person and switched between various characters, which had an interesting effect, but was very redundant at times. It felt like the narrator was constantly reminding the reader about what was going on with each character when it wasn't necessary.
I did really like some of Cassiday's descriptions. He has a way with creating graphic effects with his words. I think it works especially well in a novel about something as horrifying and grotesque as a zombie apocalypse.
The thing I hated most about this book were the female characters. There were two or three females that popped up in the book. The two with the biggest roles were annoyingly wimpy and sentimental. One character never even got described outside of her scandalous profession or her grief over her sister's death. The narration regarding the female characters was also extremely objectifying and sexualized. At one point, I honestly almost completely gave up on this book after one of the descriptions, which was disgustingly sexualized to the point of making me feel extremely uncomfortable. Also, based on the one woman's profession, she was often treated less-than-human by the other characters, without much commentary or backlash against the treatment.
For the most part, this was a basic zombie story. It didn't really add anything new to the popular genre. I didn't feel very engaged with the plot throughout the story and didn't find myself actively trying to figure out what was going on. By the end, the story line got a little more interesting as plot points were revealed, but then the story ended with a cliffhanger that didn't really make me want to read the next book either. The characters were pretty two-dimensional and not well developed. Overall, I think "okay" describes this novel pretty fairly.
Overall, I thought it was alright. There were a lot of parts that were very slow. For a novel dealing the zombies and spies, it was pretty slow-paced and repetitive. The narration was in third-person and switched between various characters, which had an interesting effect, but was very redundant at times. It felt like the narrator was constantly reminding the reader about what was going on with each character when it wasn't necessary.
I did really like some of Cassiday's descriptions. He has a way with creating graphic effects with his words. I think it works especially well in a novel about something as horrifying and grotesque as a zombie apocalypse.
The thing I hated most about this book were the female characters. There were two or three females that popped up in the book. The two with the biggest roles were annoyingly wimpy and sentimental. One character never even got described outside of her scandalous profession or her grief over her sister's death. The narration regarding the female characters was also extremely objectifying and sexualized. At one point, I honestly almost completely gave up on this book after one of the descriptions, which was disgustingly sexualized to the point of making me feel extremely uncomfortable. Also, based on the one woman's profession, she was often treated less-than-human by the other characters, without much commentary or backlash against the treatment.
For the most part, this was a basic zombie story. It didn't really add anything new to the popular genre. I didn't feel very engaged with the plot throughout the story and didn't find myself actively trying to figure out what was going on. By the end, the story line got a little more interesting as plot points were revealed, but then the story ended with a cliffhanger that didn't really make me want to read the next book either. The characters were pretty two-dimensional and not well developed. Overall, I think "okay" describes this novel pretty fairly.
June 13, 2015
Poxland, by Bryan Cassiday, is an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse scenario. (I was given a review copy.) Is the Federal government involved? Added to the zombie mess that survivors have to deal with is another twist: radiation from the atomic bombs the government dropped to get rid of the zombies.
Cassiday's story and story-telling are engaging, and his descriptions of setting are great. The reader can feel as if he or she is right there, choking on dust along with the survivors. Many scenes made me feel quite claustrophobic! His knowledge of weapons and government and military operations gives a strong feeling of authenticity to the work.
The only negative I would note is Cassiday's extensive vocabulary. It threw me out of the tale each time I had to go look up a word (and friends tease me because of my "fancy vocabulary"!). When I volunteered as a librarian in an elementary school, I learned that librarians tell young people that if they have to look up five words, the book they're reading is too advanced for them. If I went by that rule on Poxland, I would have had to stop reading less than halfway through.
Bottom line: good read if you have ready access to a dictionary or thesaurus.
Cassiday's story and story-telling are engaging, and his descriptions of setting are great. The reader can feel as if he or she is right there, choking on dust along with the survivors. Many scenes made me feel quite claustrophobic! His knowledge of weapons and government and military operations gives a strong feeling of authenticity to the work.
The only negative I would note is Cassiday's extensive vocabulary. It threw me out of the tale each time I had to go look up a word (and friends tease me because of my "fancy vocabulary"!). When I volunteered as a librarian in an elementary school, I learned that librarians tell young people that if they have to look up five words, the book they're reading is too advanced for them. If I went by that rule on Poxland, I would have had to stop reading less than halfway through.
Bottom line: good read if you have ready access to a dictionary or thesaurus.
May 1, 2015
Bryan Cassiday's Poxland is a refreshing take on the ever so popular zombie and post apocalyptic genre. By incorporating government conspiracies with the thrilling encounters of flesh eating monsters, the reader is given a complex puzzle to try and solve as he reads. Cassiday's writing style is quite easy to follow and encourages the reader to keep going until the story is finished. I would have to say my only pet peeve, which was resolved later in the books ending, would be the main characters inability to use his special ops skills to take out a relatively small group of zombies in a more efficient manner.
Ultimately, I would recommend the Zombie Apocalypse series by Bryan Cassiday to any zombie aficionado. I look forward to continuing the journey with each of the characters.
Ultimately, I would recommend the Zombie Apocalypse series by Bryan Cassiday to any zombie aficionado. I look forward to continuing the journey with each of the characters.
May 15, 2015
I didn't know that this book was part of a series when I read it. I'm going to go back and read the previous books and may come back and update this review. Having said that. I didn't have any problems reading the book as a standalone. I thought the author took a slightly different take on the usual zombie story line. I thought there was good character development and a interesting story line. The story follows Chad Halverson CIA black opp agent as he's trying to survive in the zombie world. If you have been reading this series, it moves the story along and answers some big questions about the start of the zombie spread. It was a good book, but just didn't grab my attention. I will re read this after reading the previous books in the series. But overall I thought it was good book and provide value for the cost.
May 22, 2015
Disclaimer: I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
It took me longer than I would have thought to finish reading this book. Every time I sat down to read it I fell asleep.
When I would wake up, I was never sure where I had left off from the repetition. Still not sure how many passages I read multiple times. If I wasn't the type to read books quickly, the revisiting of concepts wouldn't have bothered me so much.
It was like soap opera in book form, one probably could have opened it up anywhere and jumped right in. Soap operas are clearly not my thing.
Some action would have been great in the beginning and middle of the book. It would have broken up some of the more monotonous bits in the bunkers. The problems I had with the repeating kept breaking the immersion, an in-world distraction would have been welcome.
As for the rest of the series, I'll pass.
It took me longer than I would have thought to finish reading this book. Every time I sat down to read it I fell asleep.
When I would wake up, I was never sure where I had left off from the repetition. Still not sure how many passages I read multiple times. If I wasn't the type to read books quickly, the revisiting of concepts wouldn't have bothered me so much.
It was like soap opera in book form, one probably could have opened it up anywhere and jumped right in. Soap operas are clearly not my thing.
Some action would have been great in the beginning and middle of the book. It would have broken up some of the more monotonous bits in the bunkers. The problems I had with the repeating kept breaking the immersion, an in-world distraction would have been welcome.
As for the rest of the series, I'll pass.
July 18, 2014
I don't normally read zombie novels. Having said that this was an interesting, action-packed thriller. Someone has released a virus on the world designed to reduce the population by half. In order to kill off the infected [zombies] the president nukes the entire United States. CIA agent Halverson tries to reach Washington, DC, from Las Vegas to report what he knows but the odds are against him as everyone seems to want him dead.
March 16, 2014
same old story - different specifics - still no resolve in sight
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews