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The Green Beret Survival Series #1
Slow Fall: A Green Beret Preparation and Survival Novel
The lights don’t go out all at once. They flicker.
When civilization collapses it will be slow and brutal.
Five groups in Knoxville, Tennessee must recognize the signs, survive the journey to a possible new beginning, and forge an alliance. From bestselling author and former Green Beret Bob Mayer and survival instructor—a survival thriller grounded in real tactics, real terrain, and the hardest who do you save when you can’t save everyone?
Dave is a retired Green Beret who has spent years studying the terrain around Knoxville, Tennessee—mapping every bridge, every supply route, every vulnerability. His wife Elena has spent those same years tolerating his obsession. When 911 stops answering and three people draw concealed weapons in a hardware store parking lot, Jack knows the flickering is about to stop.
Sarah runs the greenhouses at the University of Tennessee. When the campus goes dark and the deliveries stop coming, she grabs her seeds and the veterinary student who’s the closest thing to a doctor she can find, and heads for the mountains.
Lily is seventeen. When desperate families overrun her subdivision, her parents freeze. Lily doesn’t. Something switches on inside her—a hyperawareness she can’t turn off—and she walks out of the suburbs and into a world where the person who sees everything might be the most valuable person alive.
Cole reads people the way other men read books. From downtown Knoxville, he watches the supply chains collapse and sees what others not a disaster, but a market. He loads a truck and heads south, carrying leverage.
And Pop—Lily’s grandfather—sees what’s coming and says nothing. His silence will cost more than anyone knows.
• • •
Five groups. Five timelines. A collapse that nobody can explain and nobody can stop. Rumors of a virus make every stranger a threat. Or was it AI and/or a computer virus? Or was it just a lot of things coming together? No one knows for sure. Nashville goes dark. The internet dies in pieces. The news spreads falsehoods until it disappears. A
But the greatest danger isn’t the collapse. It’s other people. And one of them has already been turned away.
• • •
Slow Fall is the first book in the Green Beret Survival Series from bestselling author and former Green Beret Bob Mayer. Grounded in real survival principles from Mayer’s Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide and set in meticulously researched East Tennessee terrain, it combines the tactical authenticity of a military thriller with the character depth of literary fiction. Every chapter dramatizes a real survival lesson. Every decision has a cost. And in a world where civilization didn’t end with a bang but with a slow, vicious fall—the people who prepared have a leg up but they need more.
The Green Beret Survival Series: Slow Fall • Hold Fast • No Man’s Land • Long Watch • New Ground
Cover not final
When civilization collapses it will be slow and brutal.
Five groups in Knoxville, Tennessee must recognize the signs, survive the journey to a possible new beginning, and forge an alliance. From bestselling author and former Green Beret Bob Mayer and survival instructor—a survival thriller grounded in real tactics, real terrain, and the hardest who do you save when you can’t save everyone?
Dave is a retired Green Beret who has spent years studying the terrain around Knoxville, Tennessee—mapping every bridge, every supply route, every vulnerability. His wife Elena has spent those same years tolerating his obsession. When 911 stops answering and three people draw concealed weapons in a hardware store parking lot, Jack knows the flickering is about to stop.
Sarah runs the greenhouses at the University of Tennessee. When the campus goes dark and the deliveries stop coming, she grabs her seeds and the veterinary student who’s the closest thing to a doctor she can find, and heads for the mountains.
Lily is seventeen. When desperate families overrun her subdivision, her parents freeze. Lily doesn’t. Something switches on inside her—a hyperawareness she can’t turn off—and she walks out of the suburbs and into a world where the person who sees everything might be the most valuable person alive.
Cole reads people the way other men read books. From downtown Knoxville, he watches the supply chains collapse and sees what others not a disaster, but a market. He loads a truck and heads south, carrying leverage.
And Pop—Lily’s grandfather—sees what’s coming and says nothing. His silence will cost more than anyone knows.
• • •
Five groups. Five timelines. A collapse that nobody can explain and nobody can stop. Rumors of a virus make every stranger a threat. Or was it AI and/or a computer virus? Or was it just a lot of things coming together? No one knows for sure. Nashville goes dark. The internet dies in pieces. The news spreads falsehoods until it disappears. A
But the greatest danger isn’t the collapse. It’s other people. And one of them has already been turned away.
• • •
Slow Fall is the first book in the Green Beret Survival Series from bestselling author and former Green Beret Bob Mayer. Grounded in real survival principles from Mayer’s Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide and set in meticulously researched East Tennessee terrain, it combines the tactical authenticity of a military thriller with the character depth of literary fiction. Every chapter dramatizes a real survival lesson. Every decision has a cost. And in a world where civilization didn’t end with a bang but with a slow, vicious fall—the people who prepared have a leg up but they need more.
The Green Beret Survival Series: Slow Fall • Hold Fast • No Man’s Land • Long Watch • New Ground
Cover not final
390 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2026
About the author
Bob Mayer
227 books47.8k followersI'm a West Point graduate, former Green Beret and a New York Times Bestselling Author. I've sold over five million books.
I love using history and science in my books. My Area 51 series pretty much had me rewriting our entire history of civilization.
I also collaborate with Jennifer Crusie on our unique brand of suspense thrillers with humor.
I love using history and science in my books. My Area 51 series pretty much had me rewriting our entire history of civilization.
I also collaborate with Jennifer Crusie on our unique brand of suspense thrillers with humor.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 9, 2026
Slow Fall was a fantastic story. It shows how our main characters come to terms with what is happening and what they do to survive it. It doesn't take long for the predators to take advantage of the developing Chaos. Very exciting all the way to the end. Looking forward to the next book and definitely recommend it.
July 12, 2026
Terrifying
If you've read Alas Babylon you might be prepared for this. AB is about a sudden collapse this, one,not so much.
What happens when things stop working? How long can you survive? Probably not as long as you think. Remember Covid, when stuff started running out? What would happen if everything stopped
Excellent read!
If you've read Alas Babylon you might be prepared for this. AB is about a sudden collapse this, one,not so much.
What happens when things stop working? How long can you survive? Probably not as long as you think. Remember Covid, when stuff started running out? What would happen if everything stopped
Excellent read!
June 3, 2026
The start of a new series and once again bob mayer delivers. As the world around them collapses a disparate group finds themselves coming together. This is a great novel and genuinely disturbing. The characters are well drawn and the plot superb. I can't wait for book two.
June 14, 2026
Great, very believable story. Full of good info!
Awesome! Well developed characters & story. Chuck full of survival info that is good and appreciated. Well done. Can’t wait to read another Bob M book like it.
Awesome! Well developed characters & story. Chuck full of survival info that is good and appreciated. Well done. Can’t wait to read another Bob M book like it.
July 12, 2026
disturbingly Brilliant
Very realistic end of civil society novel, even though the cause of the anarchy was not clear. Impressively, Bob understands that the loss of electric power is essentially the loss of all services and comfort. Looking forward with some dread to Deep Winter.
Very realistic end of civil society novel, even though the cause of the anarchy was not clear. Impressively, Bob understands that the loss of electric power is essentially the loss of all services and comfort. Looking forward with some dread to Deep Winter.
May 31, 2026
Damn.
This is going to be a good story. Can’t wait for the next book, love how the whole story line is written.
This is going to be a good story. Can’t wait for the next book, love how the whole story line is written.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews