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Quantrill #1
Systemic Shock
World War IV
The lucky ones died early...Ted Quantrill is a survivor. If that means bearing arms for the religious fanatics who make up the new government, he'll do it. If it means ruthlessly hunting down dissidents and "unacceptables", he'll do it. The time may come when he has the luxury of pondering what all this survival at any cost has done to him inside - but only if he's alive to take advantage of it...
Governments across the globe ducked for cover. Long-drilled and partly prepared, millions of RUS urbanites sealed themselves into subway tunnels, then slid blast-and-firestorm-proof hatches into place to ride out the blast-furnace interval. Most Americans were asleep, and in any case had only the sketchiest notion of adequate shelter. A few city dwellers—the smaller the city, the better their chances—sped beyond their suburbs before freeway arterials became clots of blood and machinery.
The American public had by turns ignored and ridiculed its Cassandras, who had all warned against our increasing tendency to crowd into our cities. We had always found some solution to our problems, often at the last minute. Firmly anchored in most Americans was the tacit certainty that, even to the problem of nuclear war against population centers, there must be a uniquely American solution; we would find it.
The solution was sudden death. A hundred million Americans found it.
The lucky ones died early...Ted Quantrill is a survivor. If that means bearing arms for the religious fanatics who make up the new government, he'll do it. If it means ruthlessly hunting down dissidents and "unacceptables", he'll do it. The time may come when he has the luxury of pondering what all this survival at any cost has done to him inside - but only if he's alive to take advantage of it...
Governments across the globe ducked for cover. Long-drilled and partly prepared, millions of RUS urbanites sealed themselves into subway tunnels, then slid blast-and-firestorm-proof hatches into place to ride out the blast-furnace interval. Most Americans were asleep, and in any case had only the sketchiest notion of adequate shelter. A few city dwellers—the smaller the city, the better their chances—sped beyond their suburbs before freeway arterials became clots of blood and machinery.
The American public had by turns ignored and ridiculed its Cassandras, who had all warned against our increasing tendency to crowd into our cities. We had always found some solution to our problems, often at the last minute. Firmly anchored in most Americans was the tacit certainty that, even to the problem of nuclear war against population centers, there must be a uniquely American solution; we would find it.
The solution was sudden death. A hundred million Americans found it.
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
4 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Dean Ing
75 books34 followersDean Charles Ing was an American author, who usually wrote in the science fiction and techno-thriller genres.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State University (1956), a master’s degree from San Jose State University (1970), and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (1974). It was his work in communication theory at the University of Oregon that prompted him to turn to writing in the 1970s.
Dean Ing was a veteran of the United States Air Force, an aerospace engineer, and a university professor who holds a doctorate in communications theory. He became professional writer in 1977. Ing and his wife lived in Oregon.
Much of Ing's fiction includes detailed, practical descriptions of techniques and methods which would be useful in an individual or group survival situation, including instructions for the manufacture of tools and other implements, the recovery of stuck vehicles and avoidance of disease and injury.
In addition to his fiction writing, Ing wrote nonfiction articles for the survivalist newsletter P.S. Letter, edited by Mel Tappan. Following in the footsteps of sci-fi novelist Pat Frank, Ing included a lengthy nonfiction appendix to his nuclear war survival novel Pulling Through.
In Ing’s fiction, his characters are involved with scientific or engineering solutions and entrepreneurial innovation, elements drawn from his own experience. A lifelong tinkerer, designer, and builder, he was an Air Force crew chief and a senior engineer for United Technologies and Lockheed. His characters know how things work, and they use ingenuity and engineering to solve situational challenges. Ing's work reflects the Oregon traditions of self-reliant independence and suspicion of authority.
“Since I deplore the voracious appetite of the public for entertainment-for-entertainment’s sake,” he told an interviewer in 1982, “most of my work has a clear didactic element. . . . I believe that Jefferson’s ideal of the independent yeoman farmer should be familiar to every generation because I mistrust a technological society in which most members are thoroughly incompetent to maintain the hardware or the software.”
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State University (1956), a master’s degree from San Jose State University (1970), and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (1974). It was his work in communication theory at the University of Oregon that prompted him to turn to writing in the 1970s.
Dean Ing was a veteran of the United States Air Force, an aerospace engineer, and a university professor who holds a doctorate in communications theory. He became professional writer in 1977. Ing and his wife lived in Oregon.
Much of Ing's fiction includes detailed, practical descriptions of techniques and methods which would be useful in an individual or group survival situation, including instructions for the manufacture of tools and other implements, the recovery of stuck vehicles and avoidance of disease and injury.
In addition to his fiction writing, Ing wrote nonfiction articles for the survivalist newsletter P.S. Letter, edited by Mel Tappan. Following in the footsteps of sci-fi novelist Pat Frank, Ing included a lengthy nonfiction appendix to his nuclear war survival novel Pulling Through.
In Ing’s fiction, his characters are involved with scientific or engineering solutions and entrepreneurial innovation, elements drawn from his own experience. A lifelong tinkerer, designer, and builder, he was an Air Force crew chief and a senior engineer for United Technologies and Lockheed. His characters know how things work, and they use ingenuity and engineering to solve situational challenges. Ing's work reflects the Oregon traditions of self-reliant independence and suspicion of authority.
“Since I deplore the voracious appetite of the public for entertainment-for-entertainment’s sake,” he told an interviewer in 1982, “most of my work has a clear didactic element. . . . I believe that Jefferson’s ideal of the independent yeoman farmer should be familiar to every generation because I mistrust a technological society in which most members are thoroughly incompetent to maintain the hardware or the software.”
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 1, 2023
This book came out in 1981. I was thirteen then and I read the whole thing straight through. Set in 1997 with a sixteen-year-old protagonist who becomes a government agent. Basically, it's a YA novel. Over the past nineteen years I've re-read it more than once and every time I've enjoyed it along with the two sequels, Single Combat and Wild Country.
There are elements in the series that are now dated, but that is beside the point. They accomplish what good science fiction should do, they take the reader to another reality and make it believable. There has never been a fourth installment in the series. At the end of Wild Country (released 1985) there are hints of what is coming in the next installment, but twenty-six years later (I write this review in 2011) there is still no fourth book. Mr. Ing died in 2021 so my guess it the series ended in 1985. Oh well.
There are elements in the series that are now dated, but that is beside the point. They accomplish what good science fiction should do, they take the reader to another reality and make it believable. There has never been a fourth installment in the series. At the end of Wild Country (released 1985) there are hints of what is coming in the next installment, but twenty-six years later (I write this review in 2011) there is still no fourth book. Mr. Ing died in 2021 so my guess it the series ended in 1985. Oh well.
June 25, 2014
This is the first book in Dean Ing's "Quantrill" trilogy. In short, the book is about a teenage boy swept up in World War III and its immediate aftermath. Being a post-apocalyptic junkie, I bought this book on setting alone.
This is a hard book to rate, as there are many aspects I liked and a nearly equal list of aspects that I disliked.
LIKES
There was a decent amount of action, of both types ("abstracted" between countries and "personal" between Quantrill and his foes). World War III was handled in a fairly logical fashion. As can be expected of a book written in 1981 and portraying a war in the mid 90's, there were some mistakes with predicting the various technologies that would be available to the combatants. These mistakes can be forgiven...(let he with the infallible crystal ball throw the first stone). Here is the important tidbit...the story scratched my post-apoc itch. I can forgive some minor quibbles to get that itch scratched.
DISLIKES
The author used this book to preach "the Gospel According to Ing". Examples that grated on my nerves include a diatribe about how victimized people who fail to fight back against their attackers are ultimately to blame for being victimized. Apparently Ing was never bullied by someone more powerful...lucky for him.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Another disturbing portrayal involved the Mormons(Church of Latter Day Saints). Ing put Mormons into two camps...power-grabbing theocrats that put the agendas of their religion ahead of the well-being of the U.S. and despicable, pillaging misogynists. I do not understand or approve of Ing's bias against the Mormons.
A minor dislike involves the literary device of divulging the story via a semi-literate pre-teen girl's diary. That was just plain painful to experience.
***END SPOILER***
In short, I liked the post-apoc parts but disliked being an unwilling listener to Ing's bias. I have not made up my mind in regards to pursuing book 2 and 3 of this series.
This is a hard book to rate, as there are many aspects I liked and a nearly equal list of aspects that I disliked.
LIKES
There was a decent amount of action, of both types ("abstracted" between countries and "personal" between Quantrill and his foes). World War III was handled in a fairly logical fashion. As can be expected of a book written in 1981 and portraying a war in the mid 90's, there were some mistakes with predicting the various technologies that would be available to the combatants. These mistakes can be forgiven...(let he with the infallible crystal ball throw the first stone). Here is the important tidbit...the story scratched my post-apoc itch. I can forgive some minor quibbles to get that itch scratched.
DISLIKES
The author used this book to preach "the Gospel According to Ing". Examples that grated on my nerves include a diatribe about how victimized people who fail to fight back against their attackers are ultimately to blame for being victimized. Apparently Ing was never bullied by someone more powerful...lucky for him.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Another disturbing portrayal involved the Mormons(Church of Latter Day Saints). Ing put Mormons into two camps...power-grabbing theocrats that put the agendas of their religion ahead of the well-being of the U.S. and despicable, pillaging misogynists. I do not understand or approve of Ing's bias against the Mormons.
A minor dislike involves the literary device of divulging the story via a semi-literate pre-teen girl's diary. That was just plain painful to experience.
***END SPOILER***
In short, I liked the post-apoc parts but disliked being an unwilling listener to Ing's bias. I have not made up my mind in regards to pursuing book 2 and 3 of this series.
March 25, 2016
A weird tale of a multi-front war with India, China, and Russia as players and a 15 year old kid who becomes an assassin. Still not sure what I think about it, besides vague ambivalence.
October 7, 2025
15 year old Ted Quantrill is on a scouting camp in the bush when WW3 begins. India and China are in a bloc against the US and RUS (the USSR after splitting in a nice piece of prescience) which began ostensibly over oil. Nuclear bombardment was followed by neutron bombs then plague weapons making for a blakanized US and a very worried Mormon President and cabinet, which moves regularly to avoid targeting. After Ted's family is killed by the initial conflagration he is bitter and ends up enlisting with the Army and is enticed into the secretive spy arm known as T Section. Trained to kill and be aloof the gunsels (as the trained gunslingers are called) set out to remove the lawless and wicked in the desert southwest and hopefully rescue a young girl and her infant sister. Dean Ing has written a gritty post-apocalypse future with carefully worked out geopolitics (which don't work now but might have) and despite being dated is reasonably entertaining. First of a trilogy I think.
October 22, 2023
AT LAST!!!!!!!
Finally someone at Amazon got a clue ! This book was one of the first apocalyptic stories and has been around for at LEAST 30 years. I have looked for it several times a year hoping it would be "discovered" Mr. Ing's ability to switch from a single person's perspective to tactical and even strategic views is matchless. The way he casually drops scary-real possibilities of the future had me reading this book years ago in 1 sitting . To the readers who like the book hold on---- there is at least one sequel. (Get the hint Amazon huh? Huh?) I can't say enough good about this book, about Kindle's selection process not so much but at least it is a start.
Bill Hodges
Finally someone at Amazon got a clue ! This book was one of the first apocalyptic stories and has been around for at LEAST 30 years. I have looked for it several times a year hoping it would be "discovered" Mr. Ing's ability to switch from a single person's perspective to tactical and even strategic views is matchless. The way he casually drops scary-real possibilities of the future had me reading this book years ago in 1 sitting . To the readers who like the book hold on---- there is at least one sequel. (Get the hint Amazon huh? Huh?) I can't say enough good about this book, about Kindle's selection process not so much but at least it is a start.
Bill Hodges
July 25, 2019
So so good!
February 21, 2021
I am glad that I read very fast and that I consequently spent only 55 minutes going through this hideous mess of a book.
January 7, 2009
I read this book several decades ago, yet it has stayed in my mind as to how our society can be utterly torn apart by what seem to be innoxious events in themselves.
The storyline/characters are very raw in their behaviour. This speaks to what can happen when the foundation of the society and culture is distorted beyond recognition. The characters adapt to the harsh world they live in in the best way that they can.
With the recent increase in tension between India and Pakistan, I find myself remembering this book with more than a little apprehension.
The storyline/characters are very raw in their behaviour. This speaks to what can happen when the foundation of the society and culture is distorted beyond recognition. The characters adapt to the harsh world they live in in the best way that they can.
With the recent increase in tension between India and Pakistan, I find myself remembering this book with more than a little apprehension.
March 8, 2015
Reads more like a history book than a tale. Not that it is not well done, just not quite what I expected from this novel.
Would have been more interesting to me if it had followed the story of the main character more and the progression of the war Alitalia less.
That said it is quite visionary for 1981 and gets the current perceived threat, Islam, correct, although it allies that threat with China and India.
Not a bad read for early 80's thought on possible WW III scenarios, but to dry for me.
Would have been more interesting to me if it had followed the story of the main character more and the progression of the war Alitalia less.
That said it is quite visionary for 1981 and gets the current perceived threat, Islam, correct, although it allies that threat with China and India.
Not a bad read for early 80's thought on possible WW III scenarios, but to dry for me.
April 9, 2015
This book is a little dated as it was written in the early '80s, but it is still a good read. A war between the US with Russia as our ally vs. China, India, most of Asia and South America. Significant use of nuclear and biological weapons occur in the book. Some of the technology is a little dated, but the author did foresee the dissolution of the Soviet Union. I have the second book and will read it soon but I will not be keeping these books as to me they are not worthy of another reading.
July 10, 2018
Having reread this after a decade or so, I still like it. Yes, it is dated to a degree (WWIII takes place in 1996), but that does not really detract from the story. Ing's prose may be offsetting for some-- it is rather frenetic and sometimes reads like loosely tied together news articles. So, I enjoyed it and am ready for the sequel!
February 15, 2014
Most times, when I am reading I am also playing the movie in my mind. Right away I cast Kurt Russell in the lead role of this apocolyptic saga which reminded me of the movie "Soldier". The rest of the characters were no-names. Other than that There wasn't anything remarkable about the book.
January 15, 2008
I thoroughly hated this book. It pissed me off constantly, and not in a good, thought-provoking Animal-Farm way. The characters seem intent on finding every way imaginable of debasing themselves.
January 10, 2016
Really only a little dated after all these years. Ing builds this story against a geopolitical situation that is still conceivable today, if only the dates were pushed out another 25-30 years.
March 31, 2016
My family likes it better than I do. Hard to forget. Annoying.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews