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Surviving Abe
When meteorological events align and launch Winter Storm Abe on an unprepared populace, the U.S. struggles during the worst megastorm in its history. As the outside environment deteriorates, a group of radical environmentalists exploit the ongoing natural disaster with an inside cyber attack on software controlling the availability of America's fuel, food, and electrical power.
Societal conditions deteriorate and the U.S. Government is quick to declare martial law, but slow to deliver relief supplies. Only those skilled at survival will weather this one-two punch to the soft underbelly of a technologically dependent civilization.
While elk hunting in Colorado's Rockies, Gus catches on that he is fast becoming snowbound in a high-altitude blizzard. Making his way out of the mountains, Gus encounters critters that help and characters that kill.
Andy, on a cross-country bicycle trek, gets glazed over in an East Texas ice storm. Trapped at a roadside convenience store with the farmer's daughter might be the stuff of dreams, if it didn't include a jealous ex-boyfriend, big-city gangs, and hungry cattle rustlers.
On the Chesapeake Bay, solo sailor Tess, is caught in rapidly changing climates; both meteorological and political. As a female on her own, deadly heat waves and tornadoes aren't the only dangers she has to face, and Abe isn't the only adversarial male to show up on her radar.
Societal conditions deteriorate and the U.S. Government is quick to declare martial law, but slow to deliver relief supplies. Only those skilled at survival will weather this one-two punch to the soft underbelly of a technologically dependent civilization.
While elk hunting in Colorado's Rockies, Gus catches on that he is fast becoming snowbound in a high-altitude blizzard. Making his way out of the mountains, Gus encounters critters that help and characters that kill.
Andy, on a cross-country bicycle trek, gets glazed over in an East Texas ice storm. Trapped at a roadside convenience store with the farmer's daughter might be the stuff of dreams, if it didn't include a jealous ex-boyfriend, big-city gangs, and hungry cattle rustlers.
On the Chesapeake Bay, solo sailor Tess, is caught in rapidly changing climates; both meteorological and political. As a female on her own, deadly heat waves and tornadoes aren't the only dangers she has to face, and Abe isn't the only adversarial male to show up on her radar.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
28 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
J.Z. O'Brien
2 books12 followersJ.Z. O'Brien was born and raised in the high-country, ranching community of North Park, Colorado, where his fondness for wide-open spaces began. Serving in the Marines for eight years, sailing from Maine to Seattle, pedaling a bicycle from Galveston, Texas to Vancouver, Canada and back, J.Z. has been on some interesting detours while pursuing his romance with empty expanses; all at the mercy of the weather.
Currently, J.Z. and his wife, Cheryl, live in California during the winter months and Grand Junction, Colorado for the rest of the year, as he realizes his life-long goal of writing stories. Surviving Abe, as his debut novel, will be followed by other adventure stories.
Currently, J.Z. and his wife, Cheryl, live in California during the winter months and Grand Junction, Colorado for the rest of the year, as he realizes his life-long goal of writing stories. Surviving Abe, as his debut novel, will be followed by other adventure stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 5, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of a beta read exchange. I expect that many of my minor quibbles have been amended since then.
Surviving Abe chronicles several characters as they experience and attempt to survive amid a massive storm system that threatens wide swathes of the United States. As the story progresses, things go from bad to worse as key elements of infrastructure break down or become inaccessible. The characters must find their own way forward on how to survive what is happening.
Firstly, it has two key elements to what a reader wants: it has a compelling story and it is well-written from a both technical and narrative point of view.
The story, particularly in light of the Polar Vortexes that have swooped down from the Arctic this year, feels relevant, and it forgoes the usual "EMP destroys everything" concept that is popular now. While there is nothing wrong with the EMP idea, it is nice to see something refreshing. In a lot of ways it's a "hard" survival tale (much in the way that there is hard sci-fi). You're not going to find the main characters charging into dangerous situations at every turn and doing battle with one-dimensional villains. The problems are more on the real side so if you're looking for a pleasant change of pace in that respect this is it.
Furthermore, the story is written in such a way that the interwoven storylines are easily kept straight for the reader, which is not always the case in novels. More so, the writing is not only clear, but it's entertaining. The action sequences are taut and the scenes are, by and large, kept to digestible chunks and leave things fresh.
Secondly, the characters are, with few exceptions, believable in action and dialogue. Unlike a lot of stories, there were no points that come to mind where I felt that the characters were acting illogically. They're rational without being infallible, and their reactions to events are plausible.
My only complaint of any real weight, and this is completely a matter of personal preference, is that some readers might find the book a little slow to get going. One could easily argue that the tension built by this kind of slow burn makes the payoff worth it even more. Again, this is a matter of personal preference.
For many people this book will likely be a five-star read. As someone who reads a lot, my expectations are pretty high. This is no smudge on Mr. O'Brien's writing, anyone reviewing my browsing history will see that my 4-star reviews for fiction novels are almost non-existent (a few novellas have made the cut, and a short story collection)
For a first time writer and the first book in a series, I was both pleasantly surprised and (as a reader, more importantly) interested to see where the story will go from here. Definitely worth a look.
Surviving Abe chronicles several characters as they experience and attempt to survive amid a massive storm system that threatens wide swathes of the United States. As the story progresses, things go from bad to worse as key elements of infrastructure break down or become inaccessible. The characters must find their own way forward on how to survive what is happening.
Firstly, it has two key elements to what a reader wants: it has a compelling story and it is well-written from a both technical and narrative point of view.
The story, particularly in light of the Polar Vortexes that have swooped down from the Arctic this year, feels relevant, and it forgoes the usual "EMP destroys everything" concept that is popular now. While there is nothing wrong with the EMP idea, it is nice to see something refreshing. In a lot of ways it's a "hard" survival tale (much in the way that there is hard sci-fi). You're not going to find the main characters charging into dangerous situations at every turn and doing battle with one-dimensional villains. The problems are more on the real side so if you're looking for a pleasant change of pace in that respect this is it.
Furthermore, the story is written in such a way that the interwoven storylines are easily kept straight for the reader, which is not always the case in novels. More so, the writing is not only clear, but it's entertaining. The action sequences are taut and the scenes are, by and large, kept to digestible chunks and leave things fresh.
Secondly, the characters are, with few exceptions, believable in action and dialogue. Unlike a lot of stories, there were no points that come to mind where I felt that the characters were acting illogically. They're rational without being infallible, and their reactions to events are plausible.
My only complaint of any real weight, and this is completely a matter of personal preference, is that some readers might find the book a little slow to get going. One could easily argue that the tension built by this kind of slow burn makes the payoff worth it even more. Again, this is a matter of personal preference.
For many people this book will likely be a five-star read. As someone who reads a lot, my expectations are pretty high. This is no smudge on Mr. O'Brien's writing, anyone reviewing my browsing history will see that my 4-star reviews for fiction novels are almost non-existent (a few novellas have made the cut, and a short story collection)
For a first time writer and the first book in a series, I was both pleasantly surprised and (as a reader, more importantly) interested to see where the story will go from here. Definitely worth a look.
September 8, 2014
I am a weather nerd! So this book was right up my ally! You first get the perspective of seven people all set in different sceneros. Then they meet several more or some of the characters meet one another and the story just evolves!I can't describe how well this was written ! In the beginning I thought wow how Am I going to keep up with everyone? But it's not a problem at all! It just works really well! Then you got the Storm Abe! Which expands most of the nation. This book is fiction but I can see how this can become reality. Just this week it was 60 degrees here in Ohio then the next day we have below 15 degree wind chills! Weather is crazy and you add in climate change which I full heartily believe in then it just gets crazier ! Anyway I wouldn't pass this up! It's a very good read and very well written! And just a side note...I can NOT believe what happens to Con ! I loved that lady! And then you have Eric who is the mastermind in the cyber attacks ! Poor Tess has no idea what she is getting into! And he states two times "I need to learn how to sail incase Tess doesn't make it" wtf does that mean?! He's an evil man! Then you have the ending! It simply just ends..abruptly! There's so much more that needs to be told!
December 21, 2015
This novels explores a super-storm that effects most of the US - essentially a land-based cat-5 hurricane and planned eco-terrorism during such extreme weather caused by global warming to significantly decrease the population.
The storm and its effects are quite possible. I think the eco-terrorism and its results a bit forced and there is little discussion of the controversy surrounding over-population. Much of the novel is about how several groups of people experience and adapt to the disaster. Some of these people are interesting, but coud be better developed. The experiences of these groups is the main force of the novel. My main problem is that there are many similar explorations of the effect of environmental disaster on groups of people. Many of these are much stronger novels. The main plus of the novel is that these events could occur today and already have in a way during and after Katrina and Sandy.
The big notice for readers is, "Be Warned. Be Prepared."
6 of 10 stars.
The storm and its effects are quite possible. I think the eco-terrorism and its results a bit forced and there is little discussion of the controversy surrounding over-population. Much of the novel is about how several groups of people experience and adapt to the disaster. Some of these people are interesting, but coud be better developed. The experiences of these groups is the main force of the novel. My main problem is that there are many similar explorations of the effect of environmental disaster on groups of people. Many of these are much stronger novels. The main plus of the novel is that these events could occur today and already have in a way during and after Katrina and Sandy.
The big notice for readers is, "Be Warned. Be Prepared."
6 of 10 stars.
March 18, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I have read a number of "end of civilization" books and always found their premise unlikely and their tone preachy. This book did not suffer from either of those problems.
In the book we follow the lives of several groups of people trying to survive a natural catastrophe combined with a disruption of technology and of government control. The characters were likable and the situations were realistic.
The one thing that almost kept me from giving a 5-star rating was that none of the situations the book explored related to my life. In an Abe situation, I would be trapped in one of the "red glows on the horizon" caused by a city burning down.
All in all, this is a very good book and I recommend it highly.
Full Disclosure: I am a Goodreads author and my books may or may not be reviewed by the author of this book. This review is my honest reaction to Surviving Abe, and there has been no quid pro quo between authors to exchange good reviews.
In the book we follow the lives of several groups of people trying to survive a natural catastrophe combined with a disruption of technology and of government control. The characters were likable and the situations were realistic.
The one thing that almost kept me from giving a 5-star rating was that none of the situations the book explored related to my life. In an Abe situation, I would be trapped in one of the "red glows on the horizon" caused by a city burning down.
All in all, this is a very good book and I recommend it highly.
Full Disclosure: I am a Goodreads author and my books may or may not be reviewed by the author of this book. This review is my honest reaction to Surviving Abe, and there has been no quid pro quo between authors to exchange good reviews.
Want to read
September 6, 2014If I had known this required a sequel I wouldn't have bought it.
The story is good and there are very few grammatical errors (unusual for a Kindle book!) but the book suffers from a couple of serious flaws. First, the characters all seem to speak with the same "voice" - no variation in dialect or differences in vocabulary for example, and that makes most of the dialog boring. Second, and what I consider a fatal flaw, character development is practically non-existent. The book ends in the middle of the story and requires a sequel, already in the works according to the author. There is no indication of this until the book ends. Authors or publishers who don't make known in the title that the book is the first in a series anger me. I will not be wasting my time or money buying or reading the sequel(s).
The story is good and there are very few grammatical errors (unusual for a Kindle book!) but the book suffers from a couple of serious flaws. First, the characters all seem to speak with the same "voice" - no variation in dialect or differences in vocabulary for example, and that makes most of the dialog boring. Second, and what I consider a fatal flaw, character development is practically non-existent. The book ends in the middle of the story and requires a sequel, already in the works according to the author. There is no indication of this until the book ends. Authors or publishers who don't make known in the title that the book is the first in a series anger me. I will not be wasting my time or money buying or reading the sequel(s).
April 21, 2014
Survivalist novel
Survivalist novel
as a debut writer,this author has been writing well.I have been enjoying the story thus far.I do hope the next book won't be too long coming.it's frustrating knowing there should be more and you have to wait to read it.my biggest complaint is the love stories written into the book.they are weak at best but I'm not into romance novels.so on to waiting for book 2.....
Survivalist novel
as a debut writer,this author has been writing well.I have been enjoying the story thus far.I do hope the next book won't be too long coming.it's frustrating knowing there should be more and you have to wait to read it.my biggest complaint is the love stories written into the book.they are weak at best but I'm not into romance novels.so on to waiting for book 2.....
January 27, 2015
400 Plus Pages #_@ Not Again!
I can't believe I was enjoying this book and all of a sudden, again, my legs were kicked out from me! Can't any one FINISH a book? Or at the least give notice that the book is another `buy me' but you will have to wait a year or more for the next installment. Darn shame that I was really fascinated by the story but I WILL NOT PURCHASE the 2nd or 3rd sequel(s). Good fortune in your writings.
I can't believe I was enjoying this book and all of a sudden, again, my legs were kicked out from me! Can't any one FINISH a book? Or at the least give notice that the book is another `buy me' but you will have to wait a year or more for the next installment. Darn shame that I was really fascinated by the story but I WILL NOT PURCHASE the 2nd or 3rd sequel(s). Good fortune in your writings.
February 1, 2017
I enjoyed this as a change from the EMP hits and changes the way the world runs genre. After Katrina, Rita, Sandy, we all know Mother Nature will win against us puny humans. This story, told from several perspectives, was very interesting. I loved the parts on the sailboat. What a thought, don't like your neighborhood, just move. Anyway I look forward to the next installment. Enjoy!
May 22, 2014
Great story!
I thought this book was well written. It was easy to follow the different characters as the story progressed. I was sorry when it ended. I can't wait for the sequel! I hope it will be as good as the initial book!
I thought this book was well written. It was easy to follow the different characters as the story progressed. I was sorry when it ended. I can't wait for the sequel! I hope it will be as good as the initial book!
June 5, 2014
Climate disaster. Many characters come together in this book & make a great story. Heavy snow, rain and unrelenting cold make this a force of nature that would be difficult to endure. The characters are great & clearly defined. Not a waste of money to get this book.
April 22, 2014
The book really held my interest and I enjoyed it. My only quibble is it ended too abruptly. Maybe there will be a sequel. There is certainly room for it.
June 23, 2014
Loved this book. It's rare that I find prepper fiction that isn't just more of the same. I loved all the characters, some more than others. Loved the changing POV. I cannot wait for book 2.
May 31, 2014
Good book but ended rather abruptly. Sequel coming, maybe?
June 25, 2014
where is the rest of the story?? it just stopped with absolutely no resolution, wrap up or conclusion. It was a good story until then but the lack of any proper ending knocked it from 4 stars to 2.
Currently reading
January 2, 2020I was interested in this book until I discovered the story didn't end at the end of this book. Just a quirk I have. I also hated the movie Lord of the Rings after I saw the first episode. I want an ending. Not the books fault...just my pet peeve.
December 17, 2017
Great read.
Very nicely written. Exciting and entertaining. Good story line with lots of variety. Great job for new writer, looking forward to next installment.
Very nicely written. Exciting and entertaining. Good story line with lots of variety. Great job for new writer, looking forward to next installment.
October 17, 2016
Good book!
There were few errors. The authors writing flowed thru the chapters. I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I would recommend this book to others.
There were few errors. The authors writing flowed thru the chapters. I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I would recommend this book to others.
September 4, 2014
I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The premise of an extreme eco-rights group using a superstorm as a call to action is incredible. Unfortunately, Surviving Abe: A Climate-Fiction Novel falls short on the execution of said premise. Overall, I did enjoy the book. That being said, there were too many issues to ignore.
Minimal spoilers continue from this point.
From the beginning of the book it was apparent that most of the characters are cut from the same mold, with more and more similarities appearing as the book develops. Andy, Gus, and Tess are each escaping from the working world by embarking on an isolated, physically challenging, and close to nature trip. Even Ela is escaping for a vacation with her mother, Con. Nearly all the women in the book are physically assaulted by a man at some point. By the end all the women that aren't killed end up with a strong man who has saved her, by her side. Another similarity is that everyone in the book is a crack shot. Even the people that have never used a gun before.
I was hoping to see many gray areas, where the character isn't sure what is right or what is wrong, but all of the characters seem to have their moral compass pointing directly north (except for Eric) and seem to have minimal guilt about their actions.
The plot is predictable at times. For example, it was fairly obvious that Gus, Con & Ela would meet given the proximity of their stories. Not to mention how obvious the pairing for the 3 major couples is throughout the novel.
At other points, the plot has holes or is just unclear and confusing. Ela's meeting with Alan while she was on vacation in a remote town that just happened to be near her mother's home seemed very suspicious to me, and I was hoping that it was a recruiting attempt by the eco-rights group. Sadly, it just turned out to be an outrageously obvious plot device that had little importance.
Another issue I had was with the description of how much time passes or how much distance was covered. Gus had to be taken by horseback into the "remote" area he was going to be hunting in, and yet a one day hike in good weather could have returned him to civilization. A one day hike hardly seems remote enough to warrant needing horses to pack in supplies.
There are also 2 inaccuracies that frequently bothered me. The first is that the NOAA doesn't name winter storms and has actually asked that people refrain from using the names that the Weather Channel has begun assigning to them. Anyone working for the NOAA or serious about meteorology (including several characters in the book) would know that.
The other error is that the government can shut down the entire internet at a whim. Though an Internet Kill Switch has been proposed by the US government, none exists. The closest thing the federal government could do to shutting down the internet would be contacting ISPs and asking them to discontinue their services. ISPs aren't required to be registered and there are likely over 7,800 of them in the US alone.
I was also sad because the most dimensional character in the book was killed, but that's really just my problem.
The story was slow though semi-addictive throughout. It's reads like my semi-prepper mother's favorite disaster flicks. I believe an excellently kitschy movie adaptation could be made from Surviving Abe. Like I said in the beginning, I did enjoy it. If you don't mind being reminded of humanity's responsibility to love nature every other page, then this book is for you.
The premise of an extreme eco-rights group using a superstorm as a call to action is incredible. Unfortunately, Surviving Abe: A Climate-Fiction Novel falls short on the execution of said premise. Overall, I did enjoy the book. That being said, there were too many issues to ignore.
Minimal spoilers continue from this point.
From the beginning of the book it was apparent that most of the characters are cut from the same mold, with more and more similarities appearing as the book develops. Andy, Gus, and Tess are each escaping from the working world by embarking on an isolated, physically challenging, and close to nature trip. Even Ela is escaping for a vacation with her mother, Con. Nearly all the women in the book are physically assaulted by a man at some point. By the end all the women that aren't killed end up with a strong man who has saved her, by her side. Another similarity is that everyone in the book is a crack shot. Even the people that have never used a gun before.
I was hoping to see many gray areas, where the character isn't sure what is right or what is wrong, but all of the characters seem to have their moral compass pointing directly north (except for Eric) and seem to have minimal guilt about their actions.
The plot is predictable at times. For example, it was fairly obvious that Gus, Con & Ela would meet given the proximity of their stories. Not to mention how obvious the pairing for the 3 major couples is throughout the novel.
At other points, the plot has holes or is just unclear and confusing. Ela's meeting with Alan while she was on vacation in a remote town that just happened to be near her mother's home seemed very suspicious to me, and I was hoping that it was a recruiting attempt by the eco-rights group. Sadly, it just turned out to be an outrageously obvious plot device that had little importance.
Another issue I had was with the description of how much time passes or how much distance was covered. Gus had to be taken by horseback into the "remote" area he was going to be hunting in, and yet a one day hike in good weather could have returned him to civilization. A one day hike hardly seems remote enough to warrant needing horses to pack in supplies.
There are also 2 inaccuracies that frequently bothered me. The first is that the NOAA doesn't name winter storms and has actually asked that people refrain from using the names that the Weather Channel has begun assigning to them. Anyone working for the NOAA or serious about meteorology (including several characters in the book) would know that.
The other error is that the government can shut down the entire internet at a whim. Though an Internet Kill Switch has been proposed by the US government, none exists. The closest thing the federal government could do to shutting down the internet would be contacting ISPs and asking them to discontinue their services. ISPs aren't required to be registered and there are likely over 7,800 of them in the US alone.
I was also sad because the most dimensional character in the book was killed, but that's really just my problem.
The story was slow though semi-addictive throughout. It's reads like my semi-prepper mother's favorite disaster flicks. I believe an excellently kitschy movie adaptation could be made from Surviving Abe. Like I said in the beginning, I did enjoy it. If you don't mind being reminded of humanity's responsibility to love nature every other page, then this book is for you.
September 24, 2016
Very good read
I give it 5 stars for an exciting story. It ended a little abruptly though. I hope there is another in the works.
I give it 5 stars for an exciting story. It ended a little abruptly though. I hope there is another in the works.
July 24, 2015
I actually love apocalyptic disaster stories, so when I saw this a few months ago (along with the numerous good reviews) I snatched it up. I finally got around to reading it this week, and after finishing the first chapter I looked again at the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. I mean, so many good reviews about the writing can’t be wrong, right? Thinking I was wrong, I went ahead and read the second chapter. Well, I’m back again and I just don’t get it. A lot of the reviews say the writing is excellent, but I just don’t see it. Let me say that while the writing isn’t bad, it isn’t great either. Actually, I’d say it’s a bit amateurish.
For example, in the first chapter we’re not immediately introduced to the main character, but a side character (I assume, I only read the first two chapters after all). Right in the middle there’s a perspective change followed by two paragraphs of interior monologue. It’s not done seamlessly and is jarring. Basically, in the first ten pages there’s three perspective changes. I understand that rules were meant to be broken, but that’s only for good, apparent reasons and I saw none.
Also, the sentences were needlessly wordy. Yes, they were grammatically correct, but getting rid of extra words, like “that” and “a”, can make the difference between getting lost in a story and stopping to reread and losing the flow. Overall I just didn’t find the characters or style engaging enough to continue reading.
For example, in the first chapter we’re not immediately introduced to the main character, but a side character (I assume, I only read the first two chapters after all). Right in the middle there’s a perspective change followed by two paragraphs of interior monologue. It’s not done seamlessly and is jarring. Basically, in the first ten pages there’s three perspective changes. I understand that rules were meant to be broken, but that’s only for good, apparent reasons and I saw none.
Also, the sentences were needlessly wordy. Yes, they were grammatically correct, but getting rid of extra words, like “that” and “a”, can make the difference between getting lost in a story and stopping to reread and losing the flow. Overall I just didn’t find the characters or style engaging enough to continue reading.
November 4, 2015
Excellent and interesting
I am an avid reader of everything from the classics to post apocalyptic fiction. I am a half hearted basic pepper ( I have lived through several major hurricanes ,so you learn to have basic food stocks for several weeks,livestock meds and feed, candles, batteries, weaponry, etc) so it is just sort of a part of small farm life more than prepping. Anyway, I like that for the most part everyone in the book is just a normal (but what is normal by whose standards) dealing ,coping with the skills they already have, showing a willingness to continue to believe in humanity and show kindness and assistance even when it goes against their basic character. I am pleased to say I did not want.to kill the author for ruining a good story with horrid grammar and an obvious use of spell check rather than a human to verify spelling issues. I noticed a couple of.obvious typos,not the wrong version of a word. It was obvious a letter was skipped in typing,but it happened.so rarely that it was not bothersome (2or 3 times) please excuse my own typos,typing on a 6.inch screen as a passenger in a moving vehicle,somehow I keep adding periods when I hit the space bar. This is an excellent first novel. I truly hope to learn more and what happens in the future. I would buy this book and a sequel. I borrowed this from Kindle/amazon prime
I am an avid reader of everything from the classics to post apocalyptic fiction. I am a half hearted basic pepper ( I have lived through several major hurricanes ,so you learn to have basic food stocks for several weeks,livestock meds and feed, candles, batteries, weaponry, etc) so it is just sort of a part of small farm life more than prepping. Anyway, I like that for the most part everyone in the book is just a normal (but what is normal by whose standards) dealing ,coping with the skills they already have, showing a willingness to continue to believe in humanity and show kindness and assistance even when it goes against their basic character. I am pleased to say I did not want.to kill the author for ruining a good story with horrid grammar and an obvious use of spell check rather than a human to verify spelling issues. I noticed a couple of.obvious typos,not the wrong version of a word. It was obvious a letter was skipped in typing,but it happened.so rarely that it was not bothersome (2or 3 times) please excuse my own typos,typing on a 6.inch screen as a passenger in a moving vehicle,somehow I keep adding periods when I hit the space bar. This is an excellent first novel. I truly hope to learn more and what happens in the future. I would buy this book and a sequel. I borrowed this from Kindle/amazon prime
September 14, 2014
A very good read. My son is reading it now. Surviving Abe gives a good representation of the drastic effects climate can (and does) have on the human race. As people become technologically advanced we lose touch of the balance we must deal with on the environmental side. Americans, especially, have become to dependent on technology and government supplying us with the necessities of life. This book bares the light that in extreme circumstances all we can really depend on is ourselves and those around us. Better to be prepared and not need it, than to be unprepared when our delicate balance is thrown into chaos.
March 18, 2015
I really liked the premise of the book. It was one of those stories you keep hoping will get better as the book goes along, but it remained fairly static throughout. The story was entertaining though, especially if you like climate related things, or survival books. It got a little preachy sounding at times in the dialogue. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just didn't feel natural. There were some grammatical errors, but the main issue why it doesn't get more stars is that it never felt like it fully developed. As it is a debut novel though, I think that it was a good first effort. I'll read his next book.
March 1, 2015
Surviving Abe - I couldn't put it down!
I read Surviving Abe, a book about living through a massive Winter storm, during a massive Winter storm in Feb. 2015. That could be one reason I found the book so interesting. In fact, I am snowed in as I write this in far Northwest Arkansas.
I found the characters mostly likable and easy to relate to. However, only two were deeply drawn, and one was a likeable terrorist. Nevertheless, the situations into which the author cast his characters were "edge of seat" exciting.
I would definitely recommend this book. In fact, I breathlessly await the sequel.
I read Surviving Abe, a book about living through a massive Winter storm, during a massive Winter storm in Feb. 2015. That could be one reason I found the book so interesting. In fact, I am snowed in as I write this in far Northwest Arkansas.
I found the characters mostly likable and easy to relate to. However, only two were deeply drawn, and one was a likeable terrorist. Nevertheless, the situations into which the author cast his characters were "edge of seat" exciting.
I would definitely recommend this book. In fact, I breathlessly await the sequel.
August 25, 2014
Hope there will be a sequel!
What a bargain! If you love books about the world as we know it coming to an end and you don't mind the story revolving around several different groups of people then you will love this book. The author did a great job of making each person come alive! I was always drawn in and the book never seemed to drag as so many books tend to do when so many different situations are involved. Even on the last page, I wanted more. I do hope there is a sequel!!
What a bargain! If you love books about the world as we know it coming to an end and you don't mind the story revolving around several different groups of people then you will love this book. The author did a great job of making each person come alive! I was always drawn in and the book never seemed to drag as so many books tend to do when so many different situations are involved. Even on the last page, I wanted more. I do hope there is a sequel!!
June 18, 2014
The sample was okay, but it wasn't striking. I liked the way the characters were being introduced, but it just seemed to be an overload with little of the story to hook a reader. At the end of the sample, I just found that I hadn't connected enough with any of the characters to justify purchasing the novel.
I would suggest grabbing the sample and reading it first. If it works for you, great.
SAMPLE-3NO-SAMPLE-PURCHASE
I would suggest grabbing the sample and reading it first. If it works for you, great.
SAMPLE-3NO-SAMPLE-PURCHASE
January 6, 2016
Good debut
Lots of food for thought here, though the characters were given dialog that wasn't very believable (too long-winded and explanatory much of the time) and repeated quite a bit in places. Also the ending was a bit short and tidy – an obvious attempt to create a series.
However, it was a solid effort in the end.
Lots of food for thought here, though the characters were given dialog that wasn't very believable (too long-winded and explanatory much of the time) and repeated quite a bit in places. Also the ending was a bit short and tidy – an obvious attempt to create a series.
However, it was a solid effort in the end.
September 30, 2015
Finally! Another awesome book found. I went through half a dozen DNFs before getting to Abe.
It was great - loved the characters, the plot, the pacing. It was action packed, and it didn't take but a single introduction to each character before you cared about them and wanted to know more.
I'll be watching for more books from J.Z.
It was great - loved the characters, the plot, the pacing. It was action packed, and it didn't take but a single introduction to each character before you cared about them and wanted to know more.
I'll be watching for more books from J.Z.
October 1, 2016
Excellent work!
The plot was very realistic and engaging. The dynamics between the personnel and the relationships that develop are also very realistic. I would recommend this to anyone who is a prepper or anyone in general who just enjoys reading this type of book about surviving.
The plot was very realistic and engaging. The dynamics between the personnel and the relationships that develop are also very realistic. I would recommend this to anyone who is a prepper or anyone in general who just enjoys reading this type of book about surviving.
February 9, 2015
Great survival fiction
I enjoy reading survival/doomsday fiction and this was better than most. The story is believable and the characters well defined. It Was not totally murder and mayhem like some apocalyptic novels. Left you believing there is a future for survivors.
I enjoy reading survival/doomsday fiction and this was better than most. The story is believable and the characters well defined. It Was not totally murder and mayhem like some apocalyptic novels. Left you believing there is a future for survivors.
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