Guaranteed Heroes

by William Lashner

In a nation still recovering from the nuclear tragedies of forty years earlier, Clyde is working a dead-end guaranteed job at a diner, and Moonis is incarcerated in a Labor Camp for the Malcontented. But when Moonis’s sister, Cecily, goes missing, the old friends escape their prisons to search for her in post-fallout America.

Moonis and Clyde follow Cecily’s trail until it leads them into the atomic-ravaged heart of the Midwest, an outlaw territory of dark legends and darker truths where Cecily is being held captive by a brutal gang lord.

But along with menace and death, this poisoned wasteland contains the possibility of a freedom beyond imagination—if only Moonis and Clyde, and the misfits who join their quest, can find the heroism to grab hold of it.

Genres: Thriller, Science Fiction

486 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 25, 2015

About the author

William Lashner is a former criminal prosecutor with the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His novels have been published world-wide and have been nominated for two Shamus Awards, a Gumshoe Award, an Edgar Award, and been selected as an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review. When he was a kid his favorite books were The Count of Monte Cristo and any comic with the Batman on the cover.

Under the pseudonym Tyler Knox he wrote the noir novel, Kockroach.

Series:
* Victor Carl Mystery

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do. - Jack Kerouac

It is the early 1960s and through a comedy of errors, the United States is bombed by Russia and a good portion of the Midwest is a nuclear wasteland. South of the Dakotas and west of the now-dead Mississippi River are the D-Lands, desolate and full of renegades, not wanting to be relocated by the government.

The government has stepped in and promised everyone education, health care, housing, and a "guaranteed job" at a living wage. In the New America, work is not only guaranteed but required.

In this new reality it's now forty years later. Clyde Sparrow has his guaranteed job at a diner, barely scraping by. His best friend from high school is Moonis Fell, now incarcerated in a LCM (Labor Camp for the Malcontented). And Cecily Fell, Moonis' sister has been carried off by raiders - and Moonis and Clyde need to rescue her.

This is quite a story. It reminded me of Joe Lansdale's THE DRIVE-IN with BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID thrown in for good measure - a psychedelic extravaganza with bigger-than-life characters and happenings that stretch the imagination to its breaking point.

I enjoyed this romp and rescue story - except the ending which fell off like lemmings off a cliff, quickly and abruptly.

NOTE: I received this book from Thomas and Mercer through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

[Stephen Yoder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a wee bit confused by the ending, plus a whiff of magical realism-ish hints toward the end of the book that seem to be hanging as well. Hmmmm. . . but this was a thoroughly enjoyable book, especially once the roadtrip started, even when everything seemed hopeless. Moonis and Clyde seemed very real to me. I don't understand Cecily's choice at the end of the book, however. Why? Why would she choose that path? Write this down as a confused four stars for me. Hopefully the author and I can sit down some time and help me to understand just what I find to be confusing toward the end. I wouldn't want to give it away to you, however. There is a certain glory in the ending, even though I am slightly befuddled by it. I adored the misfits & hippies in this story. What would my hippie name be?

Edit, a few days later--> I've sat w/ this review and realized it actually should be a three star. I did receive an ARC, and I'm grateful for that.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

In a nation still recovering from the nuclear tragedies of forty years earlier, Clyde is working a dead-end guaranteed job at a diner, and Moonis is incarcerated in a Labor Camp for the Malcontented. But when Moonis’s sister, Cecily, goes missing, the old friends escape their prisons to search for her in post-fallout America.
Moonis and Clyde follow Cecily’s trail until it leads them into the atomic-ravaged heart of the Midwest, an outlaw territory of dark legends and darker truths where Cecily is being held captive by a brutal gang lord.
But along with menace and death, this poisoned wasteland contains the possibility of a freedom beyond imagination—if only Moonis and Clyde, and the misfits who join their quest, can find the heroism to grab hold of it.

What great fun. I have read a number of the Victor Carl novels and enjoyed them immensely, but this is something completely different.

A nuclear incident forty years ago has left great chunks of the USA as a nuclear wasteland. Moonis is incarcerated when his sister gets kidnapped. He breaks out and begins his search. He teams up with Clyde, a prisoner of his "guaranteed" job at a diner, and together, with a lot of action and adventure through post-apocalyptic America, they set about tracking down the bad guys...

What I loved about this, apart from the new genre for the author, were the characters of Clyde and Moonis. Both were really well drawn and I was drawn to them both for different reasons. Along with the merry band of hangers-on, these two were the absolute highlight of this story.

I am not someone to make comparisons with other authors or books, but I feel quite comfortable saying that if Joe Lansdale had been invited to write a part of The Stand with Stephen King, this is kinda where it would have ended up!

Well worth the read and a nice distraction from the Victor Carl novels that I like so much.


Paul
ARH

[M. Sprouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting a story about post apocalyptic America, but not this story. There are a lot of questions readers have about how the good old USA has sunk so low and why it remains down and out. However, as you move through this novel the questions seem to matter less and the characters more. Too many pages are spent in the "guaranteed" world and not enough in the wasteland.

This dystopian future is eclipsed by the misfits who unselfishly try and save each other on all levels. In the end it's the human spirit that triumphs, whether earnestly or begrudgingly that's for the reader to determine. I can't say I love the ending, but I understood the option.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An American classic set in an apocalyptic dystopia. A merry band forms to take back the land from an overreaching government bound on regulating a people dealing with the aftermath of nuclear devastation and from the outlaws ruling there. This sounds drier than the actual variegated and essentially lighthearted world Lashner imagines for us. I loved the evocation of the 1960s complete with a Janis Joplin and an Allan Ginsburg. Zephyr the cowboy poet is my hero.
Five star except for slight pacing problems in the first half and an abrupt ending.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lashner steps out

I could easily given 5 stars but I was left wanting more., A diffferent setting for Lashner but his characters and tight plots are always there.

[Ellen Mandly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reading this and it was way overdue to return to the library so I didn't finish. Got about half way but I liked what I'd read so far....

[Nick Stika · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strangest acid trip I've never taken. Very interesting story of post apocalyptic America.

[Carolyn Injoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guaranteed Heroes by William Lashner Guaranteed Heroes by William Lashner is an intriguing & thought-provoking book.  It was slow starting but picked up the pace & the characters were well developed.  I gave it four stars.
 
I will remember Moonis Fell, Cecily Fell, Clyde Sparrow & Garth for a long time.  Each character had individual strengths & weaknesses that were clearly delineated.
 
"This side of the river is a vacuum in which the worst impulses of humanity have been left to fester & grow."  Garth told Cecily who was also known as 'Raden's Girl'.
 
Moonis & Gaston got into a fight over playing chess.  "The smell of body odor & tobacco, of men confined together in hatred & despair was well-nigh overwhelming as it mixed with the men's cheers & curses."
 
The forced labor camp:  "The LCM was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence topped by barbed wire, but that couldn't keep out the stars.  Sometimes looking up at the distant heavens was the only way to feel free in this world."
 
Cecily said:  "I think the cruelest thing is to have expectations in your life.  When they get snuffed out, you never really recover."
 
When Clyde was looking for Cecily in the Ventura district ..."Clyde stayed leaning against the wall, chewing & loitering, letting the sun lick his face like a happy puppy."
 
William Lashner is a word master & I have enjoyed his writing for years.  This was a different style for him but now I have a book hangover from it.
 
I received a complimentary copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley.  That did not change my opinion for this review.
 
Link to purchase:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1477...

[Richard Nangle · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Victor Carl here.

When I saw that a new William Lashner book was out I was looking forward to another episode about a lawyer who inexplicably (actually, explicably in a credible fashion is probably more accurate). I was wrong. This book is about as close to Victor Carl as Jupiter is to Uranus. This is a great big story about great big things, such as good and evil, individualism and big business (government). I don't mean to make it sound derivative but it deals with issues that are crucial to of several of my all time favorite books, Stephen King's "The Stand", Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", even Cervantes' "Don Quiote". I'm going to wait a while and read this again when I can read it in bigger chunks at a time. This time around I had to read it more or less in bits and pieces and eggs left of my grey matter sometimes had trouble retaining just who was who in a tale chock full of interesting characters. A wonderful book, and completed without spoiling it at the end with some bullshit happily ever after ending.

[Jennifer Jowsey]

Some possible spoilers here:
William Lashner is probably my favorite author. He writes with humor, a touch of sadness, things that make me think he really gets life. I love his Victor Carl character series, and I've enjoyed all his standalone books as well. This one is not something I would have otherwise picked up: I'm not a big fan of futuristic, dystopian novels, but it's William Lashner! We have two parallel stories that intersect, where our two main characters are reunited for a common cause. Sort of. I honestly don't quite understand the very end. It's abrupt, felt like the next chapter was missing. And I didn't like what played out. And - the spoiler part - I don't think you can ever call someone a hero if betrayal is involved. So I won't rate this one, because in my heart I love him as an author, a storyteller, a quotable resource (I actually write down quotes while I'm reading his novels), but being a setting I'm a little biased against, coupled with that betrayal (two betrayals, actually) that really bugged me, and I can't bring myself to rate it properly.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Lashner offers a tale set in a radioactive future populated by characters whose internal life is as poisoned as the rivers. Whole states in the U.S. have been 'disincorporated' or abandoned to hermits, roving gangs and the grotesquely sick. Into these territories a diverse band of protagonists descend, searching for the sister of one. Ancient loves and betrayals must be confronted no less than a brutal motorcycle gang controlling the distribution of a berry with wondrous medicinal qualities.

The best post-apocalyptic fiction tells us something pressing about the present too. In Guaranteed Heroes it is not hard to perceive commentary on the pharmaceutical industry and its placing profits before people. But for the nuclear accident, the present seems to have disincorporated whole territories from the fruits of progress too.

The book has satisfying plot twists, nicely sketched characters and a righteous, if slightly vague, finale

[Glenda Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited when I found Guaranteed Heroes on Kindle Unlimited and couldn't wait to begin this dystopian fiction with its premise of a nuclear incident in the U.S. in the 1960s and a New American Constitution. Unfortunately, the time setting (two decades later) was ambiguous in the early chapters and confusing for me. I felt as if I was beginning in the middle of a story, or a sequel/series with excessively long narrative sentences packed with metaphoric phrases, more often telling rather than showing.

Once the sub-plots converged and the text became dialogue driven, the characters did come alive and the reading was more enjoyable. There were some good chapters with a few unexpected events; however, the pace was slow.

The ending, hmm... well, no spoilers, but I'll say it's anti-climatic and open-ended. Disappointing for this reader.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off I could not find a shelf for this book. So the story goes; in a future America (not such a utopia as more of socialistic nightmare) a guy escapes from a prison camp and goes searching for his sister. Said sister has been sold into slavery with a nasty gang of characters in a portion of the U.S. that has been abandoned due to radiation (more will be told on that in the book). A lot of colorful and strange characters will come along as the story progresses. Than the book ends. That is all there is. No finish and no freaking idea what happens to whom. A good story that falls flat on its face at the end.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book drew me to it. An interesting dystopian tale of the US after war. It had a lyrical feel to it. I'd say there are a few parts that will stick with me for a long time. I did have to push through certain parts but on the whole I found it an entertaining read with very engaging characters.

[Brucie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is on my top shelf with "Lord of the Rings" and "Mad Max" and "Don Quixote" as a thrilling adventure story with lively characters and desperate situations. The writing shows a joyous appreciation of language. Good stuff.

[Ray Palen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my review this week on bookreporter.com .

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this arc from Netgalley.

Highly entertaining with plenty of laughs. Would have liked a better ending.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guaranteed Heroes

For me an odd setting but as I got into the book I enjoyed it. Lash net always develops interesting characters that are hard not to like.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book. Stupid ending. Seems like the author couldn't figure out a good ending so he just stopped writing

[Lyn Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

Although at times I felt this book was a bit long, I enjoyed it. It had interesting characters and a plot that made you think.