The Decay

The Decay #1

by Roger Hayden

A nearby nuclear attack rocks a small town in Pennsylvania, sending one man and his step-daughter on a perilous journey of survival. It was a normal Friday afternoon shattered after an unexpected terrorist attack on the New York Stock Exchange. While the country focuses on the shocking aftermath of the Wall Street bombing, they lose communications—cell phones, Internet—and electricity, as a result of the nation’s downed power grids.

Paul Hayden is a thirty-five year old man who just wants to pick up his step-daughter from school and go home while avoiding the busy afternoon traffic. While driving, he notices a mushroom cloud in the distance. The bright radiance of the sky sends the townspeople into a panic, and mass soon evacuation follows. Through this, Paul has one thing on his mind: protect his step-daughter, Julie, and get to his wife, Samantha, who is out of town on business.

Through his journey, however, they will find that sometimes the stakes are just too high. Don’t miss the first installment of the exciting new dystopian science fiction thriller destined to bring you into a strange new world of apocalyptic visions.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Ebooks, Science Fiction, Dystopia

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly this deserves 2 stars. Not because the writing sucks, because the formatting and grammar leave a lot to be desired. I rarely ever pick at grammar but the formatting itself was so horrid it took away from the reading experience. The premise itself was interesting itself but the transitions were not so smooth and somewhat awkward. I was not given enough background in the beginning to care or even understand about the characters and found my interest waning. The story of course is your usual post apocalyptic drama however instead of zombies or an infection it’s a nuclear attack which I haven’t read that in quite some time. I will be reading the second one. In the meantime the author really needs to invest in some good editing software and a proof reader. Better yet get some beta readers please. The bad formatting alone is enough of a distraction.

[Mark Vargo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Needs an editor and a muse. Too many things happening in too small a window. When two mob hitmen, a gang of 20 thugs, a nuclear blast and an attack on the stock market all happen independently on the same day, something is very wrong with your narrative. Throw in that federal forces (remember, they're busy with a nuclear bomb) close down the small town before a step? dad can get from Wal-Mart to his house.

[Heather Mullin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

Pretty good

looking forward to book 2 well written however I could have done without the Edwin side story it didn't really add anything

[Bernie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Decay review

The Decay is the first short post apocalyptic survival book after multiple nuclear detonations in this series written by author Roger Hayden.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 1 out of 5]

The description in the book blurb does not relate much to what happens in the first half of this book, which is as far as I went with it. I was under the impression that this book is about an everyday man trying to look after his family in the aftermath of a nuclear blast. Firstly, Paul was not driving when he saw the mushroom cloud-he was being kidnapped by gangsters, not mentioned in the blurb.

The first half of the book introduces the most uninspiring side stories which were of little interest and added nothing to the story. Paul works in an electrical repair shop and is managing the shop while his boss Bill looks after his cancer striken wife. Suddenly Paul is approached by shady gangster guys who want to find Bill and have been unable to reach him by phone or at his house. So these guys decide to stalk Paul through town, and then try to abduct him in the middle of a shopping centre car park just after the nuclear blast on the horizon. Why??? What use is Paul going to be in finding Bill? How is kidnapping him and taking him to whoever wants Bill of any possible use? And these idiot men can't recognise a mushroom cloud? And they decide to just murder some shopper and let Paul escape? What is the POINT of all this rubbish???

Second dumb side story is that while this is going on, his partner's daughter is inside the shop when a group of armed thugs carry out a pre-planned attack to rob the place. This is occuring as the shop manager is trying to get everyone out because of the nuclear blast. Despite the silly cow realising that these guys are up to no good and acting suspicious, does Julie exit the building to find Paul? No she hangs about in the queue thinking about trying to buy make-up and doing nothing until she gets trapped inside and the amazing Paul evades his armed attackers, gets past the thugs and rescues her. Hurrah! Jeez!

Meanwhile nobody seems to be interested in the nuclear bomb that has went off which was the supposed plot of the story! And how does the nuclear attack fit in with the bombing at the start of the book? Are they related or not? Can we kind of deal with these things? I wasn't interested in the idiot gangsters story or the thugs...I just wanted a nice apocalypse story and there was no sign of it halfway through and I had lost interest in waiting to see if anything was going to happen with it. Very disappointing.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating because the basic plot line is good. In fact, as others have stated, this short read (part 1 of a 2-part story) could be worked into a really good full-length post-apocalypse novel if the characters were developed further. However, there were flaws that prevented me from giving more than 2 stars. First and foremost were the many grammatical and word usage errors (e.g. use of wrong tenses, it's vs. its, grown vs. ground, rouge vs. rogue, fowl vs. foul). They occurred so frequently that they were very distracting. Add to that a number of passages that were so over-the-top in the overuse of imagery that I almost gave up. The author really needs to use a good proof reader.

[John Love IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

A free 'book' for Kindle. Easy, young adult level reading with slightly more mature content level. This, like many other stories online, is only part of the story. This one ends at a good spot anyway.

There's a lot going on in this book and little is solved by the time this ends. Still not sure where the gangsters come into this....

In any case, the characters are ok but not developed well. Not that there was much time. A bit 2 dimensional.

I'd like to see where this story goes but not sure how much I'd be willing pay for it.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

It wasn't a terrible story. It was free and a quick read. So it had that going for it. BUT between spelling errors (don't authors have editors and proofreaders?) and the author not knowing the difference between dawn and dusk (really) ...Oh and the entire first "chapter" never even hinted at/mentioned again (so it was pointless). Unless it comes back in part 2 (although I doubt it). Nah....it could have been a good solid story, but no I wouldn't suggest it.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good novel, and I know it was only the first part of a 2 part set, this first part was an incredibly quick read. Actually, this was real enough feeling, that it could have been a much more in-depth book, a much more epic novel with more back story and details added in about characters and situations. As it was, I felt it was rushed, but still a good read! I'll make sure to add part 2 to my list.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 121 page novella was a good starting point to what can become a great story. (Hopefully the Edwin/blue car episode will be explained later in series.) The Decay is a post-apocalyptic story caused by nuclear bombs and I'm ready to get started on 2nd part of the story.

I do not see any reason to get all upset over the formatting--just turn the page and keep reading!!
There were a few misspelled words, as well, BUT it was free and a fast read.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Decay book takes us from the Missouri camp to Denver-- the final destination of Paul and his step daughter, Julie, in hopes of finding Julie's mom. Long story short, the family is reunited for a little while. And then the midwestern states are devastated by the explosion of the feared megabomb. Julie and her mom, Samantha, are rescued by a survivor camp and as soon as Julie and Sam recover, that whole survivor group will head to California. End of story.

[Tertia R Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A teaser

A teaser

you barely get the details abou the nightmarish events that impact the main characters'
lives before the book ends. the story is well told and leaves you wanting more. but it is not even enough to warrant separate chapters. characters are developed quickly but the storyline suffers from the brevity.

[Jennifer Disario · Rating 4 out of 5]

very quick read but thankfully is free with kindle. however the subsequent stories are only free with kindle unlimited. for such a short read it surprisingly managed to hook me in and will get part 2 to review. the book also contains illustrations which have a comic book feel and I only wish there had been more of them!

[Anahi]

The description of this book caught my intention and although many of the reviews I came across only give this book 2-3 stars, I'm going to give it a chance and give my own critique. It's short, only 121 pages so we'll see how long it takes to get through it.

[Sharon L. Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a bad read

I liked it enough to want to read more...it took a long time getting going, I am hoping the next volume will move along a bit faster...
I would only recommend this to a fan of the genre, it lacks the richness of detail that Susan Gregorsen puts in her novels..

[Patricia C Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Thriller

This book kept me on the seat of my pants. I loved the development of the characters. One minute I wanted to shake Julie but then I felt sorry for her. The plot was riveting. The "bad" guys kept showing up at the wrong time. I'd love to read the new installment.

[Michael Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Post Apocalyptic Dystopian Novel

This book was easy to pick up and jump right into another Post Apocalyptic Story and about Survival and what would happen if you had to endure the end of the world. Check this book out if your into Post Apocalyptic dystopian novels.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course like all books there was some misspelled words here and there. But all and all it was a good story and i can't wait to keep reading

[Autumn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abysmal

The horrible formatting was only part of the problem. Lacking grammar and punctuation did nothing to help this serial. Do not recommend.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good story, but had grama and spelling errors throughout.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a couple time related problems with the story that were distracting at times. If those were sorted out this book would have gotten a higher rating.

[Jack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decay, the gods judgement for our sins.

[Emily Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Ok there were some grammatical errors, but I was genuinely too into the book to care. I have put the second book on my wish list

[Anna M Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting

I enjoyed this book it was so exciting with so much action. Interesting, a book that makes you think that this could happen.

[Nana Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it

This second installment of the dystopian series “The Decay” will keep you on the edge of your seat, where nothing is safe and humanity has reached its breaking point.

[Dawn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Well it started good and I'm really looking forward to part two. So far it is very realistic and entertaining.

[Dawn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Part two is a very good read with a totally unexpected ending. No roses here! Very well written and keeps you entertained.

[Kendyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The misspelling and grammatical errors were so annoying that I ruined any chance of me enjoying this book.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept reading hoping for more.