Broken Lines

EMP Survival in a Powerless World #1

by James Hunt

The advancement of technology has allowed our society to grow in leaps and bounds. The fields of medicine, engineering, agriculture and countless others have benefited from the applied science of high tech microprocessors and their data processing capabilities. This technology helps power our homes, cars, laptops, and phones. It is involved in every aspect of our lives, but as powerful and complex as these systems are there is one device that can cripple everything and bring the world as we know it to a standstill: EMP blast.

Mike Grant, a veteran welder for a Pittsburgh steel company, is at work when an EMP blast wrecks the entire country. With no transportation and no way to contact his loved ones, Mike has to combat the panic stricken city to find his father, reach his wife and children in the suburbs, and escape to their cabin in Ohio.

This fast-paced, adrenaline filled thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat as we all find out what happens when the lights go out.

Genres: Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Thriller, Science Fiction, Survival

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 14, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

James Hunt's passion for writing began at an early age. While his journal of yesteryear may never be the work of great fiction, he's been working hard every day since then to bring pages to life. James has well over a decade of writing under his belt, but his professional career in literature didn't take off until 2014.

James currently lives in Orlando, FL and when he's not pounding away at the keyboard you can find him at the theater or somewhere outside enjoying the beautiful Florida weather.

Reviews

[Brandon Bethel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the story itself. Well, most of it. This book had very disturbing, unnecessary, graphic violence. Reading the synopsis I was expecting good survival story on the path of a dad to reunite with his family. What I got was a sadistic bloodbath where many times I was wondering why it was even necessary or pertinent to the story.

The story interested me enough to keep me going, but for me personally, I will not be reading book two, or quite frankly, any other books by this author.

[Kathleen Kurlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a freebie for my Kindle and read it in under two hours -- the reason being is that this is not a full-length novel, but more like a novella. Because the story is so short there wasn't really sufficient time to fully develop the main characters nor the story; but within the brevity of the story, I enjoyed what I read and wanted the story to keep going. Unfortunately this book is part of a series and in order to read the developing story, you're forced to buy the next installment. This seems to be a trend with many writers today and I can't say as I like it. This story is most likely classified as "science fiction" as it is about what happens after an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) wipes out everything that is computer operated -- which in the 21st century is literally everything. Although after doing some quick research on EMP, it's a little alarming to discover that the possibility for this happening today is a very real probability -- so perhaps the story isn't so much science fiction as it is science prophesy. The story only deals with the first six days after the incident and society pretty much falls apart with everyone resorting to murder and mayhem in a very short amount of time. While I enjoyed the story and would really like to find out what happens to the main characters, I'm not sure if I want to invest the money for the next installment as I understand the series is a trilogy. Call me old-fashioned, but I like a book that comes to a conclusion in one book and would really prefer not to get roped into a series.

[Jan Quinn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This such vile gross story all the killing, the children disgusting. Won’t read any this authors books

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 70%

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I was not really expecting much from this book because many post-apocalyptic books are so similar and mostly juvenile. But, it came up on my daily kindle recommended book email and was cheap so I bought it. I am so glad I did! It is the story of a man who had prepared for catastrophes as best he could even down to having a cabin in the woods that he took his wife, young son and teenaged daughter to many weekends. They stocked the cabin basement with an arsenal of serious weaponry and food. Cabin visits were survival skill times including a firing range. The EMP attack (no power grid) was something that I have thought about and I think is definitely possible.
Society quickly breaks down starting with the main character, Mike's, neighborhood. In his family escape, Mike is trapped in an explosion and fire that he sets as part of their getaway. He is presumed dead and his family escapes heading for the cabin. And so the quest for reuniting with his family and insuring their survival begins. The story is exciting, depressing and violent...all seeming plausible and even expected. This is a book with many characters and subplots, all of which are written clearly and are unique but blended in such a way that they are easy to follow.
Mike is driven to protect his family and driven to make sure that they survive. It is an uphill battle. I became invested in this as I read. I was also pleased that their "family" grew as Mike took in many pretty helpless people and children. It shows the best and worst of society as it completely falls apart.
This book is not for the faint of heart. The violence is real and constant, at times quite graphic but expected and accepted in the context of the stories.
I liked the way that the author, James Hunt, takes this from a local level and keeps expanding it. That definitely helped me to stay interested.
I recommend this to anyone who reads apocalyptic stories and psychological thrillers. It is well written and despite its length (over 600 pages) is well worth your reading time.

I will say that I am a bit confused about some of the reviews I saw...it seems as though Broken Lines was different for people with many describing it as a novella or short story...strange because they are interspersed with reviews of the actual book. I bought book 2 and then I saw that some are referring to this as a 7 book series! It seems that Amazon is experiencing growing pains as they take over the world. I had problems with the Dean Koontz Nameless series as well. But, for now, I will read book two and go from there.
Thanks, James Hunt, keep on writing.

[Pam Shelton-Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was a very, very bleak and dark story. This genre tends not to be light-hearted nor would I like a story in this genre that was unicorns and rainbows, but this was very dark and now I'm a bit depressed. The most interesting part for me was seeing how the neighborhood fell apart soon after the event (not such a beautiful day in the neighborhood). What family packing to leave their home the next day does not try to take any photos? They also seemed a little to ready to just leave Mike without determining what happened to him. I'm also not a fan of the story mechanism of jumping ahead to where we will be and then back to tell how we got there. I must admit that this did work a bit but I found it annoying. I also found it a bit incredible that a business guy, even as rich and powerful as this one could execute such a plot, get no real threat of push back from any existing government or military forces (which must have held since 6 months or so later power is back) but a small family group was able to confound it? The ending, while trying to be on a upbeat side, followed such devastation that it came off being quite weak. Since book 2 is a completely different group, I may read that to see if it is better. Not sure.

[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to only give this book 1 star but, that wouldn't have been a fair assessment. This book kept my interest enough that I wanted to know what was going to happen next and I did read the entire book. (Why I don't know)
Even though the author had a great idea for a story it just never really came together. I felt he was trying to put to much into it. It felt rushed and disjointed. There was absolutely no character building to begin with and I had to go back several times to figure out who he was even talking about.
I was also very surprised, saddened and quite frankly disgusted by the graphic details of the murders of very young children. It added nothing to the story and was completely unnecessary.
I guess I really should have only gave it 1 star because I would not recommend this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this piece as I do for anything with a world is coming to an end and we must figure out how to survive now plot. Sadly, this just didn't do all it could/should have.

Namely most of the work is just dialogue. I would have loved to see this more fleshed out. If you're going to introduce the concept of a solar flare, I'd like more of an understanding than "it will shut down power and cars." If you're going to talk of how neighbors go psycho once supplies run out, don't just have them become automatically psycho, show the progression.

I found this a novel that tried too hard. It had a really awesome, fertile plot to draw from, but failed to grow into a recommendable read.

[Tulay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be preparing.

It is a short story. Electromagnetic pulse, this could happen someday. We take it for granted all we have, but if something like this happens only the prepared ones might survive.

[Erica Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expected better

The non linear timeline confused me and I do not see why a summary was in the middle of the book. Some parts were gruesome and overly detailed. Not continuing to book 2.

[Cyndy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for the faint-hearted, I thought it was more about survival without power. This was a kill fest and I had hoped it would get better, I finished it but it was difficult.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the other reviews and to be honest I'm a little surprised at the comments. I thought this was a very good book. The interactions with all the characters was astounding and in many cases, heartbreaking. I can't say that it was at all uplifting to read but then an EMP attack never could be. Reading about how people degenerated during a crisis was like reading about the world going horrifically wrong. It was definitely an eye opener into the human behavior in a crisis. I always enjoy when I'm reading a story to be able to learn new things from it. Even though this was fiction, it still taught me a new concept into survival and changes in basic living. Yes, it was very graphic but I think you have to realize that it could very well be a possibility if there ever were an EMP attack. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Jeff Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out incredibly strong. Instead of wasting several chapters with basically useless backstory, the author sets the scene of a normal day and then the lights go off. This gives the reader a sense of just how it might happen. One moment we are living our lives and the next chaos. I felt that every scenario that I was walking through was accurate and easily believable, even to the timelines.

But, like many books in our era, this one failed to hold on to something that could have been great. To me, the absolutely non-sensical poor judgement and bad decisions by characters that it was hard to imagine making such stupid decisions began the downward decline for me. If a character such as Mike Grant has prepared for years for such an event, it seems hard to imagine he did not play through some of the scenarios he would face and have made better decisions. Some of the stupidity displayed by certain characters was not a stretch, either because of immaturity or weakness, but then the fact that they never seemed to learn anything from these errors, was frustrating to say the least. Further, it seems to save on paper the author decides to eliminate certain characters in ways that just make you shake your head. It was like they decided, okay, I don’t want to write my ore about them so a piano falls on them from the 3rd story of a building (No, this didn’t happen).

I thought this read was good, but could have been very good, but, in my view, authors today lack the imagination to create a real story. Instead, they tend to force situations like uncharacteristic stupidity in a character because it is easier to stick with a generic plot instead of driving an intellectual story. It is very easy to create the roller coaster of emotion by putting the main characters in danger and just going for the easy emotional impact. I think it is much harder to put together those arcs without forcing them. You can write a solid book where you get the arcs without straying from the character that you have developed for much of the book.

I may read the next book in the series, but I don’t expect much. Finally, if an author states that he would like you to email him if you had issues, he should probably list an email address. I would have written this review regardless, as sometimes you need to see the good with bad.

[John Valley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torn. I enjoyed the read but was frustrated in how some of the plot unfolded. Too any times character plots made no sense:
* Mike portrayed as a great visionary and prepared for an apocalyptic event yet when a bunch of bikers took over a town and killed/raped everyone his primary concern was people doing chores. He made no attempt to scout out the situation and basically ignored the situation until his daughter went in on her own.
* Sam was defined as a super soldier and wiped out most of the biker gang but was a non-factor after that, basically sitting out future battles.
* Waiting to evacuate Kalen & Freddie run back in to a major battle zone to retrieve a watch, while their mom Anne & Super Solder Sam just stay there and do nothing. Kalen is advertised as wanting to protect Freddie at all costs & then just walks him in to a battlefield. Anne is later shocked when she finds her son dead and commented that evil always touches them ... surprise.
* Beth goes from a farm mother to a deadly assassin & military leader in a few days, helping to take over the United States.
* Bram is a mastermind who crippled the United States but has no plan forward and relies on a patchwork crew to further his plan.

The brutality of how people acted in a hellish environment let a realistic view to the book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first book of this genre we'll say. I thought it pretty good. The characters were real and I generally enjoyed the writing style. The chapters clearly kept you on the timeline jumping forward and backward depending on character and location. The story follows Mike, a welder in Pittsburg through his experience after everything goes dark. It is about people, some are family, some he meets, some he takes under his wing, all change somehow and many many die. It almost becomes a given that death is going to be brutal and mostly by shooting. I found the book very intense but too many words literally; at points I just skipped paragraphs! What I didn't like is that some of the scenarios are just a bit too far fetched. For example, Mike realizes what the situation is immediately but yet, he waits around for a week to see the neighborhood disintegrate instead of immediately heading to his safe place that he has prepared for his family for just this type of situation?? And the other issue for me, is that once again, characters keep making the same/similar mistakes. Why??

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

EMP survival fiction. Mike has been separated from his family and is making his way to their remote cabin in the woods with his neighbor and his neighbor's son. I teetered between a 3 and a 4 rating because it started off with a bang. Everything happened in the first few chapters: attempted rape, a life threatening injury, a bullet wound, being ambushed, etc. It had been a week since the EMP and they were already eating powdered eggs. It seemed a little ridiculous. BUT, it got better and the story was actually quite interesting. There are quite a few triggers in this book and the author thinks nothing of killing, including children, which is gross. I can't say I felt a connection to any of the characters, but watching them in their different dilemmas was interesting. I think there are like 150 books in this series, seriously, and I would most likely read another. Not a fabulous book, but entertaining.

[Jay Beatrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf 64%
Was okay but a lot of coincidences. The first night they get to a cabin they've been going to for years, a storm knocks a tree into the house. They set up camp, of all places along the highway they ve been walking for hours, right next to someone his dad's group had a run in with. Then weird stuff like Nelson's wife is important enough to have her own bodyguard but lives in the same neighborhood as a welder. Please! Who has their own bodyguard! Also the story was really lacking in details about the main characters- what they looked like, ages etc.

Finally at 64%, the main character makes the stupidest decision that makes no sense at all! No justification for it. Just couldn't read any more!

Book 2 is called Static not Broken Lines!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the average read.

This book is violent. A close predictor of the future if certain things happen. ANY thing is possible. Are you ready? The author knows our world and what we are, in this age. Which would you be? Do you know? I hate that society has come so far as to have this book to be written. But, truth within ourselves may be what keeps us alive. I enjoyed the book, lots of provoking issues and thoughts. Real world problems with our species. How far is left to go? Can we as humans turn back this me me me attitude and seeming thinking? We live in dangerous times. Will humanity survive?

[kathleen r. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not even c!ose

I just could not read this book. Anyone with common sense understands the concept of a world gone dark should make for some thrilling situations. This book is not really worth the read. It takes ordinary people into extraordinary events and tries to make it all work out in their favor from the start. The writing is clunky and awkward. The dialogue feels strained and immature. This is the Big Bang Theory gone amock. I read a few chapters and why. unreadable numerous ways. Gave it up, this is not for me.

[Otis Doss III · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was epic. It was a long book that could have been easily expanded to a trilogy, but I'm glad it wasn't. Sometimes it's nice to have the whole story in one book, rather than spread over three or more books.

It was brutal. I don’t want to give anything away, but don’t read this if you want flowers, unicorns, rainbows, and “all’s well that ends well”, happy endings.

It was fantastic. 100%, A+, fantastic.

If the rest of the books in this series are half as good as this one, it will be an awesome journey!

[Penny Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great depiction of humanity’s decline

Some reviewers thought this was too graphic. Can we truly imagine how quickly our society will break down without power, water and a food supply? I think the horrific events are definitely accurate. People will kill if they think you have something you are not sharing.
Killing, rape, torture and some will become someone they don’t know trying to save their family.
Great book, only one part bogged down toward the end, but the ending was horrible but good.

[Linda Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What If!

Mr. Hunt writes a story that grabs the reader from the first sentence. This was a family that were pillars in their community that believed in "prepping". From the start I had a hard time putting the book down. So many twists and turns the reader could not even imagine what or how the next event would happen.
This is only the beginning and I can't wait to see what is going to happen next!

[Julie Houser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Broken Lines: EMP Survival by James Hunt is book #1 in the EMP Survival in a Powerless World Book series. What an exciting book! This book is a very violent, with lots of action, look at how the end of the world may be. This is a very believable survivalist novel. I think I held my breath through the whole book. I am excited to read the rest of the series. James Hunt is an exceptional writer.

[Sharon Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different take on an old theme.

The writing is very good and the proofreading is ok. The errors do not slow the action much. I was not prepared for this story of loss. The losses are much greater than those caused by the loss of electricity.
I will probably read more by this author because the story is so good I couldn't quit reading until I finished the book, making a very late night!

[Debra Kimball · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good story ruined by murder porn.

More blood and guts than needed to tell this story. The writer apparently loves telling gruesome details. Yes. We all know this situation would be hopeless and that many people would act out of desperation, but the writer chose to include horrible, gorey details that weren't needed in order to tell this story. I won't be reading more of this series.

[Jeanne Melsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

just an awful story

Don’t even bother. I’ve read a lot of this genre of book, and this was a story I got absolutely no joy from reading. Mr. Hunt, you are a good writer, but this was not a survival story with any merit or satisfactory entertainment in it. Not for me. Bloody, cruel,death, children being murdered, rapes, death. I’ve never written a bad review before, but hoping to save someone out there from being exposed.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish reading the first book , too violent!

Its too bad because it had some great characters and storyline. I just couldn't get past the unnecessary violence. I liked his one series so thought this would be as good. You expect violence and death in a book about the end of the world but this wss too much. I kept pushing through because some of it was really good but I just couldn't get past it in the end.

[Regina Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speedier Time Line—Includes Post EMP

Definitely did not like this book, though there were some good points. Most books of this genre focus on the immediate event and its immediate aftermath. In this book, there was progress toward normalizing law and order. I’d like to have seen more of that and less—far less—of the violence. The writing and editing were ok. And the plot line fit within the timeline of the book.

[Susan Hylton · Rating 3 out of 5]

harrowing

As a 74 year old woman, this was a tough book to read. People quickly became vicious when they couldn’t fend for themselves and those who could fend for themselves feared everyone else. There was no faith that stood in the onslaught of violence. I kind of hated it, brutal killing of children. I finished it because the writing was pretty good and the pace kept you hopeful. But it is an ugly tale of survival.

[Tara Wowra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good depiction of chaos

As much as I liked the characters I think it was great story telling when they were killed off. Too often, no matter how dire the circumstances become in some books the central characters survive and that is not how it would be. I will be reading the next book in the series in a few minutes.