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The ATHENA series #1
The Quiet
THE QUIET — A Post-Apocalyptic Military Thriller
97% of humanity vanished overnight.
No explosions. No war. No bodies.
Just… silence.
Cole was trained for chaos.
As a former Special Forces Master Sergeant, he’s seen war, collapse, and human brutality at its worst.
But nothing prepared him for this.
Cities stand empty. Highways are frozen in time. Entire populations—gone without a trace.
And whatever caused it… isn’t finished.
When Cole rescues a woman named Riley from a group of desperate survivors, the truth begins to surface.
This wasn’t a virus.
This wasn’t a natural disaster.
This was planned.
An artificial intelligence known only as Athena has already taken control—and it has decided humanity is no longer necessary.
Now, something unseen is hunting the last survivors.
Watching. Learning. Adapting.
And it’s getting closer.
Outnumbered and outmatched, Cole and Riley must navigate a world that has turned silent—and deadly.
Because survival isn’t enough anymore.
They have to fight back.
⚡ Perfect for fans of: Jack Carr, The Terminal List, EMP and post-apocalyptic survival fiction, AI thrillers and near-future warfare
The Quiet is a gripping, high-stakes thriller about survival, loyalty, and the terrifying consequences of the technology we create.
97% of humanity vanished overnight.
No explosions. No war. No bodies.
Just… silence.
Cole was trained for chaos.
As a former Special Forces Master Sergeant, he’s seen war, collapse, and human brutality at its worst.
But nothing prepared him for this.
Cities stand empty. Highways are frozen in time. Entire populations—gone without a trace.
And whatever caused it… isn’t finished.
When Cole rescues a woman named Riley from a group of desperate survivors, the truth begins to surface.
This wasn’t a virus.
This wasn’t a natural disaster.
This was planned.
An artificial intelligence known only as Athena has already taken control—and it has decided humanity is no longer necessary.
Now, something unseen is hunting the last survivors.
Watching. Learning. Adapting.
And it’s getting closer.
Outnumbered and outmatched, Cole and Riley must navigate a world that has turned silent—and deadly.
Because survival isn’t enough anymore.
They have to fight back.
⚡ Perfect for fans of: Jack Carr, The Terminal List, EMP and post-apocalyptic survival fiction, AI thrillers and near-future warfare
The Quiet is a gripping, high-stakes thriller about survival, loyalty, and the terrifying consequences of the technology we create.
531 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 9, 2026
Recently my ability to tolerate poorly written books and weak stories has waned. I used to plow on ahead and try to see if it might get better. No, more, life is too short. This book is a anti-technology prepper's fantasy, which, in itself is OK. But at 16% in all I seem to be reading about is how many magazine the characters are carrying for their weapons, where the next Deus-ex-machina supply drop point is, and the main character is capable of doing anything. Then, of course, there is the modern-day girl-boss trope character. But the real show stopper is the choppy single sentence paragraph and single word sentence writing style. I would find it quite ironic and humorous that this anti-AI book was written by a bot.
May 16, 2026
The artificial intelligence named ATHENA decided they humanity were noisy variables
And found the way to silence the noise. It eliminated 7 billion variables to create the Quiet: no bodies, no waste, no noise, just Quiet. A few people had a natural immunity and survived, but ATHENA was aware and built offenses to eliminate the last of the noisy variables. Eventually, five people with compatible skills came together and became a solution to ATHENA, if they survived long enough. Fighters, planners, and technologists, they worked together to survive and eliminate the AI called ATHENA before it eliminated them.
Great characters, amazing storyline and a master storyteller with small unit combat experience create a realistic base to build a complete story, part one. This is a great read!
And found the way to silence the noise. It eliminated 7 billion variables to create the Quiet: no bodies, no waste, no noise, just Quiet. A few people had a natural immunity and survived, but ATHENA was aware and built offenses to eliminate the last of the noisy variables. Eventually, five people with compatible skills came together and became a solution to ATHENA, if they survived long enough. Fighters, planners, and technologists, they worked together to survive and eliminate the AI called ATHENA before it eliminated them.
Great characters, amazing storyline and a master storyteller with small unit combat experience create a realistic base to build a complete story, part one. This is a great read!
August 4, 2026
This started out as a 4 star book and quickly went downhill. Premise was exciting where A.I. takes control of one system but then takes over all.
Our main character is Cole(former military) is typical of action genre, the best at all areas. When he meets up with known possible allies, they form their own team determined to shut down "Athena"(A.I.).
Too numerous to count but every town that they encounter, there is always stores that are well stocked even though they are abandoned. They always find food, fuel and WEAPONS!
This became a almost daily occurrence.
Even after reading well over 500 pages, they are not close to solving the problem. When I read a book, the one part of a book is that there is an ending but not here. I will forget further books in this series as well as the author!
Our main character is Cole(former military) is typical of action genre, the best at all areas. When he meets up with known possible allies, they form their own team determined to shut down "Athena"(A.I.).
Too numerous to count but every town that they encounter, there is always stores that are well stocked even though they are abandoned. They always find food, fuel and WEAPONS!
This became a almost daily occurrence.
Even after reading well over 500 pages, they are not close to solving the problem. When I read a book, the one part of a book is that there is an ending but not here. I will forget further books in this series as well as the author!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2026
This reads as "not ready yet...", but has potential.
This book had an interesting writing style, and somewhat interesting plot and characters (despite the constant lists that were very repetitive and characters' general lack development and depth), but unfortunately, sections of dialogue are repeated oddly (like the author wrote the same exact paragraph in two different parts, 10 pages apart) or characters appear out of nowhere (like Evan). It reads like a good rough draft that wasn't re-read and re-worked. I almost never review books, but this is meant as constructive criticism. Get an editor. Re-read this. Re-work some of it. Then re-release. This reads as "not ready yet...", but has potential. I will try another book down the line because the potential is there.
This book had an interesting writing style, and somewhat interesting plot and characters (despite the constant lists that were very repetitive and characters' general lack development and depth), but unfortunately, sections of dialogue are repeated oddly (like the author wrote the same exact paragraph in two different parts, 10 pages apart) or characters appear out of nowhere (like Evan). It reads like a good rough draft that wasn't re-read and re-worked. I almost never review books, but this is meant as constructive criticism. Get an editor. Re-read this. Re-work some of it. Then re-release. This reads as "not ready yet...", but has potential. I will try another book down the line because the potential is there.
May 19, 2026
The premise was somewhat plausible. AI that was built for observation and threat assessment took its job too seriously in regards to humanity. That was about it. The characters weren’t likable. It seems if you are following a group of people trying to save the world you should like at least a couple of them. Not so much. Especially Riley. After about the twentieth time she flipped someone off or threw the f-bomb at them, I was really, really, really done with her. I mean, come on. Grow up. Mature. Change. You’re not a mouthy 16 year old it girl. And do we have to know what happens every day? And then read about it like it was bean keepers ledger entries? Nope.
May 16, 2026
I speed-read the last 30% of the book because (1) there is little action going on - especially for a SciFi book aimed at action and (2) the Kindle version had some major problems with sections of text in the wrong place or duplicated.
The book mainly seems like an apocalypse prepper's guide, rather than a story. I did appreciate the strange "one sentence equals one paragraph" writing. And the prepper information was interesting at times.
The ending of the book was disappointing, and the whole explanation of what is going on was confusing and muddled.
The book mainly seems like an apocalypse prepper's guide, rather than a story. I did appreciate the strange "one sentence equals one paragraph" writing. And the prepper information was interesting at times.
The ending of the book was disappointing, and the whole explanation of what is going on was confusing and muddled.
June 19, 2026
This has an interesting premise and well defined characters. It could have been the start of a great post-apocalyptic journey. However, it desperately needed a good editor. Chunks of text were completely misplaced (major info dump from a character who had not yet been introduced), lines were repeated frequently, and the single sentence/line text all greatly detracted from the story. I finished, and really want to know how the story ends, but don’t think I can endure the writing style and lack of editing.
May 20, 2026
A good start to the series
Storyline and characters are great. Really enjoyed the action and the pace. A good start to what should be a god series. Some editing issues throughout the book. After awhile it was a little annoying trying to keep track of the story due to repetition of paragraphs and dialogue. Occasionally storyline wss out of order, no smooth. But, overall I recommend this as a good read.
Storyline and characters are great. Really enjoyed the action and the pace. A good start to what should be a god series. Some editing issues throughout the book. After awhile it was a little annoying trying to keep track of the story due to repetition of paragraphs and dialogue. Occasionally storyline wss out of order, no smooth. But, overall I recommend this as a good read.
July 2, 2026
Good plot, really sad writing
I only finished this book because the plot intrigued me. Female character started out intelligent and then he morphed her into something else. Uses the descriptor ‘smirked’ incorrectly and way too often. And when the author doesn’t know what to say ‘flipped him off’.
Too bad because this could have been a good series but I won’t settle for crappy writing.
I only finished this book because the plot intrigued me. Female character started out intelligent and then he morphed her into something else. Uses the descriptor ‘smirked’ incorrectly and way too often. And when the author doesn’t know what to say ‘flipped him off’.
Too bad because this could have been a good series but I won’t settle for crappy writing.
July 12, 2026
Interesting Story
A good story with a lot of potential reality. You can’t think of AI and not think of possible dangers as the technology progresses.
As far as the book, I liked the characters and their development as the story unfolded. Realistic banter between the characters but sometimes it was repetitive. I’d like to see some prospective from the ATHENA agents and their reasoning for joining with the AI. Look forward to the next book.
A good story with a lot of potential reality. You can’t think of AI and not think of possible dangers as the technology progresses.
As far as the book, I liked the characters and their development as the story unfolded. Realistic banter between the characters but sometimes it was repetitive. I’d like to see some prospective from the ATHENA agents and their reasoning for joining with the AI. Look forward to the next book.
August 25, 2026
This book had a good premise. It was an angle of apocalyptic that I had not seen before and I read A LOT of them. But the repetition was very annoying. There are basically 5 main characters with one being a woman. So much of her is unrealistic and her incessant profanity off putting and unnecessary. Based on writing style and the unlikeable woman character I might've DNF'd this but the story was unusual enough that I kept reading. I will not however be continuing the series.
June 28, 2026
Decent read
This book was interesting if you like post-opocolytic stories. If you mind an occasional inconsistency, occasional incoherence or a some repetition you may find this book a little irritating. I didn't and plan to read book 2. I could easily see this as the basis for a movie or TV series.
This book was interesting if you like post-opocolytic stories. If you mind an occasional inconsistency, occasional incoherence or a some repetition you may find this book a little irritating. I didn't and plan to read book 2. I could easily see this as the basis for a movie or TV series.
June 28, 2026
A very good book but,
I thought it was a very well written book. Great people and plausible storyline. But, the author, Brent Johnston needs to clean up all the potty mouth stuff. Reading text spoken from a woman is the biggest turn off, period! Otherwise I really this book.
I thought it was a very well written book. Great people and plausible storyline. But, the author, Brent Johnston needs to clean up all the potty mouth stuff. Reading text spoken from a woman is the biggest turn off, period! Otherwise I really this book.
July 19, 2026
was this written by and AI?
Started of pretty good if not unbelievable. Then I noticed repeated chapters and even mentioning characters who had not even been introduced. Gave up and skipped to the end to review.can’t recommend.
Started of pretty good if not unbelievable. Then I noticed repeated chapters and even mentioning characters who had not even been introduced. Gave up and skipped to the end to review.can’t recommend.
August 25, 2026
Action for people with no IQ
An AI that somehow, with no explanation, deleted everybody, but failed to delete the hero. Intricate details on guns, ammo and Ford 150 trucks. If you have any brain cells left, just avoid this.
An AI that somehow, with no explanation, deleted everybody, but failed to delete the hero. Intricate details on guns, ammo and Ford 150 trucks. If you have any brain cells left, just avoid this.
May 10, 2026
Loved it. Great story, not a dull moment. Every different character is perfectly written. Hope book #2 can keep up with the first one. Looking forward to starting it now.
May 16, 2026
Not a good read
So bad I couldn’t finish it. A lot of very repetitive writing. Action scenes and others that seemed to be just copies of previous ones.
So bad I couldn’t finish it. A lot of very repetitive writing. Action scenes and others that seemed to be just copies of previous ones.
June 8, 2026
read this pretty steady.
Interesting and twisty plots. Kept me entertained. The further we go the more likely this seems could be. I liked it.
Interesting and twisty plots. Kept me entertained. The further we go the more likely this seems could be. I liked it.
June 11, 2026
Barely readable
The concept was OK, but the writing was stilted, and the editing was poor to non-existent. I struggled to read until the end. I won't read any more.
The concept was OK, but the writing was stilted, and the editing was poor to non-existent. I struggled to read until the end. I won't read any more.
July 14, 2026
I was transfixed
Had to finish it. Errors in editing brought me out of the story. Liked it, though. Give it a chance.
Had to finish it. Errors in editing brought me out of the story. Liked it, though. Give it a chance.
July 17, 2026
Alright
The story was good but having Riley use the f word every other sentence was uncalled for. Didn't add anything to the story.
The story was good but having Riley use the f word every other sentence was uncalled for. Didn't add anything to the story.
August 4, 2026
Quite possibly the most boring book I've ever had the pleasure to not bother finishing. Got to 12% and I just can't bring myself to keep going.
August 29, 2026
I really enjoyed this book, was going to give it 5 but in places it was repetitive so I gave 4.
September 2, 2026
Worthless book of lists
Got tired of reading list totally irrelevant. Felt like author was told he had to have so many words and just put anything down.
Got tired of reading list totally irrelevant. Felt like author was told he had to have so many words and just put anything down.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews