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Alone Together
Their goal:
Survive
.
It’s been brewing, spreading for months. Now the line between soldier and civilian is blurred.
In the cities, more than a third of the population is carrying the contagion and turning into hyper-aggressive predators, with their family, friends, and neighbors as their prey.
Now a group of survivors must band together and face the chaos of the new world.
"A good atmosphere of panic and confusion from the offset. I immediately wanted to race through the story and figure out what was going on!" - Saffron Asteria host of Booked
Book 1 of the Alone Together series.
It’s been brewing, spreading for months. Now the line between soldier and civilian is blurred.
In the cities, more than a third of the population is carrying the contagion and turning into hyper-aggressive predators, with their family, friends, and neighbors as their prey.
Now a group of survivors must band together and face the chaos of the new world.
"A good atmosphere of panic and confusion from the offset. I immediately wanted to race through the story and figure out what was going on!" - Saffron Asteria host of Booked
Book 1 of the Alone Together series.
417 pages, Paperback
Published June 24, 2025
4 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
S.S. Fitzgerald
4 books21 followersShaun S. Fitzgerald grew up in Carson City, Nevada, and served in the Army before settling in Tallahassee, Florida. He writes horror stories, thrillers, and science-fiction, grounding his works in reality with actual experiences from his travels, and stories he accumulated along the way. When he is not writing, he is researching, building terrifying costumes, at the range on some humid Florida range, or spending time with his wife and loyal Doberman.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 6, 2025
They are learning
October 25, 2025
I read the first arc version of this and I gotta say it hooked me from the beginning. An intense journey detailing the fall of everything we hold so dear. If you like zombies and military fiction this is for you! 5 stars, awesome…
September 17, 2025
It’s just a cold … what can go wrong? Everything …
Fan-freaking-tastic!
There’s so much to love about this book, but I’ll focus on what makes it standout. Many “zombie” books/movies focus on civilians surviving in the post-apocalyptic zombie world long after the world fell. Not this book. You see it from the start, people doubting it actually happening. You get to experience that chaos first hand. And you get a great mix of perspectives, but the best part is from the military’s point of view. The people you’d expect to have it all together and yet it all collapses around them.
Loads of action and characters you can connect with. Thankfully this is just book one in the series, so there’s so much more to come. With the second book set to release this October (2025) and the third, fourth, and FIFTH in the hands of editors, we know it’s a series we’ll get to see to the end!
Fan-freaking-tastic!
There’s so much to love about this book, but I’ll focus on what makes it standout. Many “zombie” books/movies focus on civilians surviving in the post-apocalyptic zombie world long after the world fell. Not this book. You see it from the start, people doubting it actually happening. You get to experience that chaos first hand. And you get a great mix of perspectives, but the best part is from the military’s point of view. The people you’d expect to have it all together and yet it all collapses around them.
Loads of action and characters you can connect with. Thankfully this is just book one in the series, so there’s so much more to come. With the second book set to release this October (2025) and the third, fourth, and FIFTH in the hands of editors, we know it’s a series we’ll get to see to the end!
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July 6, 2025Please note that I was given the privilege of reading Alone Together in ‘ARC’, pre-production format. In common with his earlier works, once again I must say that I REALLY enjoy Shaun’s ability to traverse complex engagement scenes - moving swifty from one character to another in an action-packed setting, without getting bogged down in nonsense or extraneous detail. This is the author’s great strength as a storyteller. The pacing of the novel is kept high, and Shaun’s intricate knowledge of military method and weaponry brings a very decent level of authenticity to the whole story. So many try this type of thing, but mostly it comes across as either 'studied', stilted, or fake. As the reader of Alone Together, you won’t find that problem here at all.
The characters themselves are exceptionally well drawn, and the reader can easily get 'into their heads'. In the last third of the book, the pacing is roaring along, and I became very keen to see how it all ends, which is a satisfying place to be in such a novel. If I may make an analogy, a good novel is a little bit like a good banquet, where one goes from course to course with an escalating sense of adventure etc. Alone Together is just such a literary feast. The ending is smoothly resolved and it sets the reader up for the next instalment in the series very well. Bravo! Very much recommended!
The characters themselves are exceptionally well drawn, and the reader can easily get 'into their heads'. In the last third of the book, the pacing is roaring along, and I became very keen to see how it all ends, which is a satisfying place to be in such a novel. If I may make an analogy, a good novel is a little bit like a good banquet, where one goes from course to course with an escalating sense of adventure etc. Alone Together is just such a literary feast. The ending is smoothly resolved and it sets the reader up for the next instalment in the series very well. Bravo! Very much recommended!
December 23, 2025
ALONE TOGETHER is like Platoon meets The Walking Dead. A multiple POV epic-which alternates between military, emergency service, and civilian characters-the prose are slick and seamless and you never get lost, only more eager to find out what happens next. Action and inner monologues are in perfect proportion throughout, as are characters to cheer for, loathe, pity, and be ambivalent toward. What might seem like a traditional zombie narrative is far more complicated, with hints at things to come, but leaves you desperate to continue the journey with a cliffhanger. I will be reading the rest of the series to find out what happens.
December 30, 2025
What an awesome, intense, bleak, gruesome story!! Almost every page something is happening and if it’s not your learning different things about the military. Will definitely be continuing series and would highly recommend!!
September 23, 2025
I enjoyed this a lot! It was very clearly written by someone who had a military background, which I appreciated. It made it much more than “oh no, zombies run!” story. The depth involved in the scenarios was what made it stand out. Every scene was fully fleshed out, with reasoning behind the actions the characters took, whether they were military or civilian, and it felt very much how things would go in real life if this happened. Another bonus was the way news events and doctor announcements were interspersed in the story, which reminded me of The Stand, one of my favorite books of all time.
I also enjoyed the way the infected worked together; reminded me of velociraptors from Jurassic Park the way they hunt, which was also a cool twist. I wish we got to have more backstory on the characters to keep us emotionally invested, but that’s a positive thing knowing this is going to be a series, so hopefully that gets explored more in the future. But overall, it was a damn good read!
I also enjoyed the way the infected worked together; reminded me of velociraptors from Jurassic Park the way they hunt, which was also a cool twist. I wish we got to have more backstory on the characters to keep us emotionally invested, but that’s a positive thing knowing this is going to be a series, so hopefully that gets explored more in the future. But overall, it was a damn good read!
August 12, 2025
Is it too soon to call this novel the author’s magnum opus? I regard it as such, despite already eagerly anticipating his next book. Written from a third person perspective, with the focus switching between multiple characters, Alone Together establishes a sense of hopelessness right from the beginning. The violence doesn’t shy away from dark realities. The characters are believable, and most have motivations you can sympathize with. S.S. Fitzgerald understands how to write people you love, people you hate, and people you love to hate. I loved this book and found it incredibly difficult to put down. 5/5.
“Dying lights from fading flames were the only lights left.”
“Dying lights from fading flames were the only lights left.”
May 8, 2025
This book legit gave me nightmares where I was stuck in this world.
This story deals with several of my nightmare scenarios, crazy virus, leading into possible or inevitable apocalypse, losing control of systems to malicious characters and betrayal.
It’s action packed, parts will have you laughing so hard, and crying pretty hard. I found myself screaming and gasping. It’s full of twists, turns, surprises and terrifyingly realistic.
I can’t wait for book two!
This story deals with several of my nightmare scenarios, crazy virus, leading into possible or inevitable apocalypse, losing control of systems to malicious characters and betrayal.
It’s action packed, parts will have you laughing so hard, and crying pretty hard. I found myself screaming and gasping. It’s full of twists, turns, surprises and terrifyingly realistic.
I can’t wait for book two!
April 18, 2025
I read this as an ARC (advanced reader copy). It's pretty explosive and very much calls out the reactions governments had early on with COVID. The opening is a split prologue which I've never seen before - part of it tells a story, and then another part is a series of news clips as if you're sitting there reading or watching them. I loved it, and made the following story feel deeper. A lot of "zombie" books don't get that early outbreak right, but with the stories in the prologue I felt like it started out just right.
Fitzgerald's military experience comes through in a big way in this story. You can feel the frustration of handling a serious situation while holding back the bureaucratic bs of a higher command. But the horror isn't missed here either. There's plenty of tense moments, and I think he does a good job throwing wrenches into stories and plans for the characters. There was one character I really thought was going to make it further into the series, and he DIED! Like just whacked him right in the middle of the story. Loved it. Can't wait for the series to progress.
Fitzgerald's military experience comes through in a big way in this story. You can feel the frustration of handling a serious situation while holding back the bureaucratic bs of a higher command. But the horror isn't missed here either. There's plenty of tense moments, and I think he does a good job throwing wrenches into stories and plans for the characters. There was one character I really thought was going to make it further into the series, and he DIED! Like just whacked him right in the middle of the story. Loved it. Can't wait for the series to progress.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2025
I'm going to kind of stick with (more or less) what I said in my review on this book's Amazon page. Let me preface this review with the following:
I hate 99% of zombie-related anything. About the only time I've really been able to tolerate zombies has been 7 Days to Die (because I can play with my friends) and AD&D (because zombies are created by magic). Otherwise, the genre drives me up the wall for a variety of reasons. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have bothered had I not interacted with the author online a few times. At which point, I figured, "what the heck? I'll give it a shot."
Alone Together has a completely different feel from zombie movies, games, or literature I've encountered. It starts with science gone bad, of course. (How else could you get zombies without someone, somewhere tinkering with forces of nature they shouldn't.) S.S. Fitzgerald, however, builds a chain of main events and series of side-events that makes one realize that (1) there is way more going on here, (2) these aren't ordinary "it's a virus" zombies, and (3) yeah, this is actually something that is trouble. Most of all, it let me suspend disbelief and read the book without my wife wondering why I'm ranting about something called adenosine triphosphate. In fact, I'm not sure I would even call the (formerly human) creatures in Alone Together zombies in the classic sense.
Alone Together also brings a perspective and human element to the mix. Fitzgerald does an excellent job capturing the mix of emotions among the protagonists from raw terror to stalwart acceptance of a bad situation. At no point in the book, for example, was I really left in a position of asking myself, "why in the blazes would these people do something so colossally stupid?" And, at no point am I really left going, "gee, I don't think it makes any sense for someone to react that way, given what just happened to them." The characters' reactions to the situations, good and bad, make sense.
S.S. Fitzgerald has, I think, done a great job at bringing multiple protagonists with different backgrounds together while portraying their different reactions to a terrible situation in a believable manner. He's done a great job creating a believable cast of characters, a horrifying yet believable chain of events, and a zombie-like apocalypse world that doesn't make my head want to become one with the surface of my desk.
I can't wait to see what he does with the sequel.
I hate 99% of zombie-related anything. About the only time I've really been able to tolerate zombies has been 7 Days to Die (because I can play with my friends) and AD&D (because zombies are created by magic). Otherwise, the genre drives me up the wall for a variety of reasons. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have bothered had I not interacted with the author online a few times. At which point, I figured, "what the heck? I'll give it a shot."
Alone Together has a completely different feel from zombie movies, games, or literature I've encountered. It starts with science gone bad, of course. (How else could you get zombies without someone, somewhere tinkering with forces of nature they shouldn't.) S.S. Fitzgerald, however, builds a chain of main events and series of side-events that makes one realize that (1) there is way more going on here, (2) these aren't ordinary "it's a virus" zombies, and (3) yeah, this is actually something that is trouble. Most of all, it let me suspend disbelief and read the book without my wife wondering why I'm ranting about something called adenosine triphosphate. In fact, I'm not sure I would even call the (formerly human) creatures in Alone Together zombies in the classic sense.
Alone Together also brings a perspective and human element to the mix. Fitzgerald does an excellent job capturing the mix of emotions among the protagonists from raw terror to stalwart acceptance of a bad situation. At no point in the book, for example, was I really left in a position of asking myself, "why in the blazes would these people do something so colossally stupid?" And, at no point am I really left going, "gee, I don't think it makes any sense for someone to react that way, given what just happened to them." The characters' reactions to the situations, good and bad, make sense.
S.S. Fitzgerald has, I think, done a great job at bringing multiple protagonists with different backgrounds together while portraying their different reactions to a terrible situation in a believable manner. He's done a great job creating a believable cast of characters, a horrifying yet believable chain of events, and a zombie-like apocalypse world that doesn't make my head want to become one with the surface of my desk.
I can't wait to see what he does with the sequel.
May 12, 2025
As I write this review, I’m listening to Alone, Together by The Strokes. With lyrics such as:
“Things have changed in such a permanent way”
“No choice now, it's too late
Let him go, he gave up
I gave up”
“Oh, you drink too much, makes me drink just the same
People try, felt so right”
It has a weird number of parallels to this story.
I was privileged enough to enjoy this story as an ARC reader, and after loving ’Sinners Pass’ I was elated to have the opportunity. I enjoy Fitzgerald’s writing style, as it’s similar to the way my brain works - but this latest addition to his growing list of works hits a little different.
You can see through the progression of his books that he’s trying new methods and structures, including a fun addition of clips of media and communication with the reader. I’m really excited to see this book out in the wild.
In terms of the story itself - it provides a unique take on the classic apocalyptic/end of the world scenario. There’s a lot of time spent on the points of view of military personnel, and the impact that decision making and navigating personal struggles in amongst the chaos of a catastrophic event which I truly loved. We get to explore the challenges faced by those whose mission is to protect, and how - no matter what - there’s never really a right choice. Someone always gets hurt.
There are multiple POVs in this, which keeps the story punchy and interesting. I truly felt for the cast, in one way or another (whether it be loving them, feeling bad for them or straight up hating them). This story packs a huge punch and I’m already ready to read the next installment of this future series.
Keep kicking ass Fitzgerald.
“Things have changed in such a permanent way”
“No choice now, it's too late
Let him go, he gave up
I gave up”
“Oh, you drink too much, makes me drink just the same
People try, felt so right”
It has a weird number of parallels to this story.
I was privileged enough to enjoy this story as an ARC reader, and after loving ’Sinners Pass’ I was elated to have the opportunity. I enjoy Fitzgerald’s writing style, as it’s similar to the way my brain works - but this latest addition to his growing list of works hits a little different.
You can see through the progression of his books that he’s trying new methods and structures, including a fun addition of clips of media and communication with the reader. I’m really excited to see this book out in the wild.
In terms of the story itself - it provides a unique take on the classic apocalyptic/end of the world scenario. There’s a lot of time spent on the points of view of military personnel, and the impact that decision making and navigating personal struggles in amongst the chaos of a catastrophic event which I truly loved. We get to explore the challenges faced by those whose mission is to protect, and how - no matter what - there’s never really a right choice. Someone always gets hurt.
There are multiple POVs in this, which keeps the story punchy and interesting. I truly felt for the cast, in one way or another (whether it be loving them, feeling bad for them or straight up hating them). This story packs a huge punch and I’m already ready to read the next installment of this future series.
Keep kicking ass Fitzgerald.
April 22, 2025
Brilliantly chaotic! This book perfectly displays the pinpoint moment everyone's world collapses. The confusion, the imagery, the dire need to keep reading for everyone's safety.. it kept me so hyper focused in a story I didn't want to end but needing to know what's next! As a Tallahassee Native, this story came to life beyond just my imagination. Locations I drive by everyday, I now see the scenes play out so vividly. I can almost hear the horrendous noises I read but have never actually heard aloud. The decay, societal collapse, the smell of fear and desperation, it hits your mind hard when you walk the very steps the main characters used to survive.. Alone Together goes beyond the pages, and might even haunt your dreams.
May 9, 2025
This book is brilliant! In depth characters, suspenseful events and a realistically spooky plot line. As per usual with this author, I could not put this book down ! Once you read the first chapter, even the first paragraph you're hooked until the end. I cannot recommend this book enough!
December 27, 2025
Zombie stories aren’t my usual bag, but I took a punt on this one and was well rewarded. The build up is as believable as it gets, the characters are distinctive and likeable, save for those who shouldn’t be, and what I assume is the author’s military experience really shines through in the fast and dynamic set pieces. Good stuff.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews