Tipping Point

Project Renova #1

by Terry Tyler

This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN: B074LSCX5M

'I didn't know danger was floating behind us on the breeze as we walked along the beach, seeping in through the windows of our picture postcard life.'

The year is 2024. A new social networking site bursts onto the scene. Private Life promises total privacy, with freebies and financial incentives for all. Across the world, a record number of users sign up.

A deadly virus is discovered in a little known African province, and it's spreading—fast. The UK announces a countrywide vaccination programme. Members of underground group Unicorn believe the disease to be man-made, and that the people are being fed lies driven by a vast conspiracy.

Vicky Keating's boyfriend, Dex, is working for Unicorn over two hundred miles away when the first UK outbreak is detected in her home town of Shipden, on the Norfolk coast. The town is placed under military controlled quarantine and, despite official assurances that there is no need for panic, within days the virus is unstoppable.

In London, Travis begins to question the nature of the top secret data analysis project he is working on, while in Newcastle there are scores to be settled...

This is the first book in the Project Renova series; the second, Lindisfarne, is due to be published in September 2017, with the final instalment in the middle of 2018. A collection of outtake short stories, Patient Zero, is in progress, and should be available around December 2017.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction, Coming Of Age, Fantasy

448 pages, ebook

Published August 5, 2017

About the author

I am self-published with twenty-nine books on Amazon. My latest is Served Cold, comprising 2 novellas on the subject of calculated vengeance. The next book in the Revenge series, So Shall You Reap, will be on the subject of life getting its own revenge

Other recent releases include Safe Zone, a dystopian/post-apocalyptic thriller. It follows on from the SFV-1 series (Infected, Darkness and Reset), but is completely stand-alone, so can be read as a story within itself.

I love watching and reading anything to do with history, post apocalypse, dystopian scenarios, anthropology, mountaineering and polar exploration. Big Walking Dead fan.

Favourite writers: Gemma Lawrence, Kate Mary, Blake Crouch, Deborah Swift, Carol Hedges, Douglas Kennedy, John Boyne, Deborah Moggach, Judith Arnopp, Jon Krakauer, Phillipa Gregory, John Privilege, Zeb Haradon, Dylan Morgan, Kate Atkinson, Norah Lofts, Dorothy Parker, Bill Bryson, PJ O'Rourke, Ann Swinfen, Keith Blackmore, Frank Tayell.

Reviews

[Elaine and Tess the Springer. I won’t be on GR for a bit. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping.

I loved Tipping Point, a very well-written book that started slow but picked up the pace to full speed ahead till the end. A chilling, thought-provoking read.

[Stace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourteenth book by British author, Terry Tyler. This time she gives us ‘Tipping Point’ a post-apocalyptical thriller, set in the UK in 2024. We meet our main protagonist, Vicky and her daughter, Lottie who are living the domestic dream with Vicky’s partner Dex in the friendly community of Shipden, on the Norfolk coast. As a backdrop, this works well however in typical no-nonsense Tyler style, it becomes clear from the outset this happy state of affairs won’t last long. In fact the seeds of malevolence and mayhem were sown long before we join the tale.

The pace builds nicely, ratcheting up the tension as Vicky and Lottie quickly find themselves in danger in the early part of the book. The plot is clever and well-structured, weaving in parallels from the past and giving us a suitable amount of backstory. We watch in horror as society breaks down at an alarming speed with anarchy replacing social cohesion and the urbane turning feral.

Tyler gives us chaos and confusion and counter-balances these with concerns over the trivial and mundane. She also manages to throw in a bit of irony and humour to temper the bleakest of situations. In addition, we witness an extensive range of emotions and value judgements; from hope, love, fear and jealousy to sensitive issues such as bigotry, scapegoating and discrimination.

The depth of the characters allows us to share their thoughts and empathise with their anxieties as they try to negotiate their way through each day and somehow survive to live another. The personalities of Vicky and Lottie complement each other well, with each having a strength that the other lacks. The character of Dex is highly intriguing; we feel we know him through Vicky, only for us to have to re-evaluate our perception as we find out more about the individuals who make up the Unicorn group.

The tempo settles a little as practicalities replace panic with a semblance of order coming to the fore among the small band of comrades gathered together in a safe house in the north. We see the restructuring of a microcosmic new order created by people pulling together, each using their own skills and utilising basic materials and possessions. Although we no longer constantly fear for the lives of our main characters, these chapters are no less interesting.

By piecing together all that they know, the friends form their own theory regarding the origins of the deadly virus. The idea of cynical establishment control and manipulation is not new, however this thought-provoking plot gives us a superb twist on the possibility and I found myself wondering if this scenario could actually happen. Many questions were posed; how would our high-tech, media-dominated world cope with this type of catastrophe? The prospect was highly unsettling.

Whilst this novel is 448 pages long, there is no waffle or padding as Tyler doesn’t waste a word. I was absorbed from start to finish and read it in four days. I’m delighted to see that this is the first in a new series and can’t wait to find out what she serves up next. This is an innovative, multi-layered book and I have no hesitation in awarding Terry Tyler and ‘Tipping Point’ five stars.

Reviewed by Julie on www.whisperingstories.com

[Judith Barrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to say right from the start that a dystopian novel is one genre I have never read. And never intended to.

But then I heard that one of my favourite authors, Terry Tyler, had written such a book and couldn’t resist asking for a copy. I was relying on the fact that, whatever kind of book she produces, this author always has believable characters, great narration, can build a great sense of place and writes dialogue any reader can believe in.

I wasn’t disappointed. True, it’s a tough subject (I really am a wimp about ‘end of the world as we know it’ stories. but Tipping Point is a truly good read. It’s obvious the author has researched the reasons, the politics, the societal differences and effects of a complete breakdown of a country. The gradual disintegration of Shipden and the UK as a whole is utterly convincing.

But it’s not only the plot that is well thought out. As usual Terry Tyler has produced well rounded, multi-layered characters. There are the ones to admire, to fear, to despise and to empathise with. The reactions of the protagonist, Vicky, to what is happening is credible, her actions plausible. I liked her; I liked her reasoning, her relationship with her daughter, Lottie, her courage (although she believes herself to be weak). Most of all I like that she grows in strength of character through all the turmoil she faces (and especially that she begins to believe in herself and not to just take the word of her errant boyfriend, Dex) And , in contrast, I would like to mention someone else, Travis; a flat character but one that chilled me with his singular perspective, and is a prime example of the kind of person that those behind Private Life, a new social networking site, aim their propaganda towards. There is one small scene where he takes centre stage.It’s scary!!

And. as always the dialogue, both internal and spoken, portrays the personalities of every character in the book…and, believe me, there are some weird and extreme characters. But there again, I should think such a situation would bring out the most base, and basic, traits in anyone.

The graphic descriptions of settings the details of the deserted towns and countryside feel incredibly authentic; much as I would imagine them to be. It’s easy to envisage the people moving around these places.

I was actually disappointed when I reached the end of Tipping Point; having believed that there would be some reassurance that all would be well for the characters (but probably that’s just me wanting a happy ending! Yes, the world has been destroyed but let’s just make another, less corrupt, more pleasant; one for everyone left…who, of course, will only be the ‘nice’ characters.). But there’s no such reassurance; things seem to be working out but then comes the great spanner in the works (I’ll leave you to find out what… because, of course, unlike me, you won’t be expecting a perfectly ‘sorted out’ denouement, will you? When I reached the end there were still so many unanswered questions; so much unresolved.

Terry Tyler has indeed produced a disturbing story. But it’s brilliantly written and it’s threaded through with hope and optimism; belief in the strengths of the human race. Nevertheless, I doubt I will ever be a true fan of dystopian novels… except the next one of the Project Renova series. As the author tells us, Lindisfarne, is to be published in September 2017. I know I’ll be ordering that… and the final one.

After that, unless Terry Tyler decides to stick to this genre, I ‘ll leave dystopian novels to other readers. But this one I can certainly recommend.

[Fergal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Post apocalypse in UK. Chilling portrayal of survival post pandemic in UK. A host of characters to explore, great story line full of tension and intrigue... recommended!

[Leonard Tillerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever truly considered how you would react to an apocalypse?  How would you really respond to widespread destruction or disaster?  Most human beings pride themselves on their inherent kind and benevolent nature.  A unique human ability to live according to a strong sense of morality which has us look out for the welfare and well being of others.  However, what if these human beings we once sought to help and protect are now pitted against us in a struggle for survival?  Would you still follow that lofty moral standard?  Or would you sink to a new depth as you clash and skirmish for your very life?  Neighbor versus neighbor!  How do you think you would fare if faced with such a predicament?  If such a potential phenomenon intrigues you, then Tipping Point by Terry Tyler is absolutely a must read!

The story begins by introducing us to our main protagonist, Vicky.  She is living an idyllic life with her daughter Lottie and boyfriend Dex in the beautiful coastal community of Shipden.  Life is quite perfect in Shipden and Vicky describes herself as "the happiest woman in the world," living in a perfectly "grand" community.  Unfortunately for Vicky and crew, it is also the ideal setting for impending doom and horror.

From early on in the tale we are able to see that things are not quite right.  As an alternative to the popular social media platforms which have continually violated the privacy of their users, a new popular social networking site by the name of Private Life arrives.  Promising to protect the privacy of their users, Private Life becomes incredibly popular.  However, everything may not be as it seems and this possibility takes Dex away to work for an underground group named Unicorn.

A deadly virus has been discovered and is quickly spreading.  The members of the Unicorn Group believe this to be a carefully planned conspiracy.  Could this truly be the case?  If so...what does Private Life have to do with it?  When the virus hits the peaceful community of shipden, we begin to find out.  With Dex gone to work for Unicorn, Vicky and Lottie must escape Shipden and fight for their very existence.  What they see beyond the coastal community is more horrific than anyone could have ever imagined.  Will they find Dex and be able to exist in this new world?  Or will they become two more casualties in an operation gone wrong?

I found this novel to be quite brilliant in a variety of ways.  While it can be categorized as a dystopian novel, it is far too complex and sagacious to be pigeonholed in such a fashion.  The author shows how quickly society breaks down after it arrives at the "tipping point."  Anarchy, barbarity and sorrow quickly follow.  However, while it would have been easy to simply focus upon the chaos and terror which this societal breakdown brings forth, that is not the case with this novel.  The plot clearly concentrates upon the good versus evil theme.  It reveals how even in the worst and most horrific of times, good remains rooted in the core of many individuals and cannot be extinguished.  As a reader it makes you wonder which camp you would fall into.  That is true engagement!

Terry Tyler's writing is beautiful and has a wonderful flow to it.  She weaves this craft throughout the novel, providing an excellent pace and explanation to the plot which keeps the reader enthralled and glued to the pages.  She also provides a host of characters who are developed in great depth.  Presented in the First Person, we are able to gain access to many of their innermost thoughts and fears.  We see their bravery and their flaws as they negotiate this new world.  Also, many of the characters actually complement one another very well and feed off each other's strengths and needs.  The reader will certainly identify with certain characters as they picture themselves in this new world.

Speaking of new worlds, Terry Tyler does an excellent job of depicting the setting.  For the reader to be engaged and involved in the tale, it has to be authentic and believable.  We have to be able to visualize ourselves in this place.  Tyler is able to present the setting in such a way that this is thoroughly accomplished with details that are paced in such a way that they do not risk losing the attention of the reader.  In fact, the story has so many parallels with current society that it is entirely conceivable, convincing and chilling.  For this to happen in a novel requires a lot of forethought and research.  Ms. Tyler has obviously done her homework and has managed to capture and expose many of our own innermost fears and use them to create this world.  Well done!

I would recommend this story for a Young Adult and up audience.  There is little doubt all ages will enjoy it as it is written so well.  There is obviously violence in the novel and some of it sexual in nature so be forewarned.

If you are looking for an exceptionally well written and intelligent story which will engage you from start to finish, then I suggest you consider Tipping Point!

5 out of 5 Convincing and Chilling stars for this one!  *****

[Cathy Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vicky Keating lived in the house of her dreams in the seaside town of Shipden on the Norfolk coast, with her daughter, Lottie, and partner, Dex. The story is set in the near future when ‘privacy’ on social media is fast becoming a contentious issue, and huge numbers of people are closing down accounts and deleting profiles – until a new, supposedly completely safe social networking site takes the world by storm.

Dex and his friends belong to Unicorn, an organisation distrustful of government, believing the new social media site is part of a manipulative plan for the gathering and analysis of personal data by the National Security Agency. He warns Vicky and Lottie against posting, particularly personal information. Vicky believes he’s overreacting and Lottie can’t imagine not being in constant online contact with her friends.

When news of an impending and deadly pandemic sweeps the country Vicky and Lottie find themselves alone, unable to process the increasing horror as events unfold. When a military presence appears in the town to contain the remaining residents Vicky and Lottie manage to escape and travel, despite the dangers, to the safe house where Dex made arrangements to meet up with them.

Written in the first person, Vicky’s thoughts and reactions are totally convincing and just what I’d imagine to be true to life. Witnessing the progressive break down of society and it’s values and the disintegration of a country is extremely credible. It was actually very difficult for me to imagine how people would cope without all the basics we take for granted on a day-to-day basis, never mind things like the internet and mobile phones, and then having to navigate a new and dangerous world, but I think this storyline is spot on.

Exploration of characters and their personalities, by thoughts, actions and dialogue, is one of Terry Tyler’s strengths and those in this story are no exception. They are all distinct, well defined with depth and portrayed with authenticity, showing the best and worst traits of humanity, with a mix of fear, desperation, lawlessness, decency and the willingness of the masses to believe what they are told. The group at the safe house, and even those who were sucked into working for the project for one reason or another, all of them jumped out, drew me in and kept me reading. Can’t wait for the next one!

The plot is terrific, written and executed extremely well with insight, humour and wit, although it’s quite chilling and thought provoking and made me think seriously about the down sides of social media. I enjoy Terry Tyler’s easy to read and realistic writing style immensely. This is a believable, if disturbing, scenario, very relevant to today’s lifestyle and environmental considerations.

I chose to read and review Tipping Point based on a digital copy of the book supplied by the author.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by this author, and to my knowledge, the post-apocalyptic genre is a different path for her.  I'm thrilled she decided to branch out, as this is a favorite for me.  

With a variety of characters operating on various levels of the 'Something's rotten in the state of Denmark' spectrum, the reader is introduced to those who bury their head in the sand, others who believe it's a glitch the government will correct and a happy ending will be had by all, people who thrive on total anarchy, and doomsday folks who planned months in advance.  Vicki's journey is very credible, from disbelief at what's happening in her world, to eventual acceptance, and how best to survive and protect her daughter.  

This is a disturbing story, not only because of the horrific circumstances and gradual breakdown of society, but also, even though an improbable situation, it's quite believable.  That's partly because it's obvious the author did extensive research, but it also just makes sense in a twisted governmental conspiracy type of way.

This is the first in a series, and I'm very glad I won't have to wait long for the second book!  I'd highly recommend Tipping Point for post-apocalyptic/dystopian fans.  Get started now before the next book releases in September.

I received a digital ARC from the author.

[Sally Cronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first read books by Nevil Shute in 1964, I was aged eleven and pinching library books from the bottom of my father's stack on his bedside cabinet. The first "What Ever Happened to the Corbetts" was fascinating because it was set in the Solent and Southampton, the next city over to our home in Portsmouth. "On the Beach" and "A Town Like Alice" followed and all three books were clearly not intended for someone of my tender years. But I loved them.

In fact I went on to read all of Nevil Shute's books more than once. Most of them were set in a time of war or the breakdown of world order, and their protagonists had to find a way to survive. I believe Nevil Shute would have enjoyed Terry Tyler's writing style and her book Tipping Point very much.

Books such as this are essential reading, to shake us out of institutionalised complacency. You do not need to be in a prison or under some form of confinement to be hide-bound by rules and expected behaviour. Not many of us today live under the radar; usually the banks have all our money, our pensions are managed by the government or private investment firms and we pay for everything by debit or credit card, and at some point in the near future we are expected to go cash free. Our phones can be tracked and our calls listened into and for many of us, our lives are open books, laid out for all to read on social media.

We also believe that we live in a democracy and that our freedom to vote means that those in office, chosen by us, have our best interests at heart. Very few of us have a ‘Plan B’ in place should the worst happen. We wouldn’t want to be thought of being one of those crazy ‘Preppers’ who live in the woods in bunkers with canned food would we!

For Vicki and her daughter Lottie, Dex and his conspiracy theorist colleagues, their friends and neighbours, and even those working on the fringes of government, are about to find out what happens when that institution is ripped from under them.

It starts with a little known virus that is reported in the news. It causes some concern, but it is in Africa and it has happened before, hasn't it? It won't happen in England, despite its current woes of unemployment, over-population and trade deficit will it? And anyway, the government moves quickly to put an effective vaccination programme in place. What could possibly go wrong?

Tipping Point illustrates extremely well what happens when the thin veneer of civilisation is destroyed and it is every man and woman for themselves.

You might think to yourself that with all the doom and gloom in the press every day that you might not enjoy Tipping Point. But you will because it is well written by Tyler and has some characters that are so believable, you think you might actually know them. You will experience the loss of all we take for granted through their eyes and their relationships. And you will cheer them on as they take risks, overcome their fears and scrabble to regain some form of a future.

I am really looking forward "Lindisfarne", book two of Project Renova that is waiting for me on my reader. My go bag is almost packed, my larder is stocked with dried goods and my camping stove is at the ready. I am prepared to travel to this Holy Island and see what is to come next.

I have no hesitation in giving five stars to Tipping Point and I am only sorry that Nevil did not have the chance to read it.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever had a thought or a conversation where you expressed concern about our reliance on the internet?

Have you ever felt isolated and at a complete loss when the electricity fails, the internet crashes or fuel shortages occur?

Have you experienced the chaos caused by an area wide power outage? Where shops can’t open because everything is sold using bar codes, or payment can only be in cash. Cash? Who uses cash anymore?

What would happen if all electronic details about finance no longer existed? Poof! Gone, along with online verification details about your identity: passport, driving licence, tax number, everything just gone.

These are just some of the issues faced by those in this character-driven post-apocalyptic novel. I found myself drawn into many of the themes which sit on the cusp of our everyday fears; the ‘what if’ questions that get posed, often during late night alcohol enhanced conversations. What if the world becomes over populated? What if “Big Brother” really is controlling our lives? Do I care? Should I care? Will I still be here to care?

I do care, in fact this book made me want to contact friends who live in Norfolk, just to check they were okay, all well? No feverish symptoms? I know this is fiction, but it felt such a real possibility. I can’t let these characters go, I really need to know what happens to them in book #2. Will those who survive be the fittest? The meanest? Or those who can adapt, learn and re-learn once again?

This is a very thought provoking read, I stepped right off the edge of my genre comfort zone to read this because I know that this author’s books are filled with great characters, so much so that the genre becomes almost secondary to them. I will definitely being reading the rest of the trilogy.

[Brian Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy post-apocalypse novels which are based in the UK and have a believable storyline and felt that this novel looked very promising. I wasn't disappointed. The author has used a lot of ongoing UK political situations to construct a very good story and into the mix has added an uncontrollable virus, which decimates populations not only in the UK, but worldwide. I loved the 'Survivors' drama series which was on UK TV some years. Terry Tyler's story similarly tells the story of the apocalyptic events from the point of view of the survivors, which in turn makes it more chilling and believable. I look forward to reading the next two novels in the series and recommend this to anyone who likes this genre. I read the novel on Kindle Unlimited.

[Anthony Lavisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, chillingly plausible and utterly compelling, this is a must read!
Full review to follow....

[Elizabeth Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

How would we cope if all social media disappeared followed by Google and the whole internet, if family and friends fell ill and died and public utilities ceased to function?

“Only Twitter, the domain of conspiracy theorists, anarchists, artists and writers clung on.”

I have always enjoyed Terry Tyler’s character driven contemporary stories about realistic people I felt I knew but I was unsure of how I would react to a post-apocalypse novel, which is not my usual choice of genre. Well, I was blown away by how compelling I found this story. There are thrilling, edge of the seat events, a very likeable heroine and a convincing plot.

What struck me early in the story, when young mother, Vicky described events leading up to the “tipping point,” in August 2024, was that the book addresses the concerns we have now, of intolerance, reduction of public services and the burden of providing for an increasing population.

Vicky lived in a small Norfolk town on the coast with her partner Dex and teenage daughter, Lottie. Dex, a college lecturer, is concerned about covert Government intelligence agencies and advises Vicky not to give away too much about her private life, online. He belongs to an organisation called Unicorn who distrust government motives and action. As a new social networking site called Private Lives, promising absolute security, replaces the established websites, there is news of a lethal epidemic in Africa, which might spread.

After Dex disappears, Vicky soon loses her naivety and she and Lottie become closer as they escape military forces trapping them in their home. Travelling to a “Safe House” in Tyne and Wear where they hope to see Dex, they find themselves in extremely dangerous situations and have to make judgements as to whom they can trust. In the Safe House, a group of disparate individuals must learn to live together and become aware that twenty first century life is never going to be the same again.

In other chapters, we meet Travis and Aria, who have been working for the government on “Project Renova,” but discover that they too are trapped, partly as a result of the actions of a socially inadequate individual who has deliberately created chaos. There is also Wedge, an escapee from a high security prison who is the last person any of them would wish to meet.

This is a story of how we can stumble blindly into disaster, not just as individuals but also as a nation. It is highly relevant to the present day where we are only concerned about our own small world. It is also a damn good read with the feel of a film script where we are both observers and closely involved in the experiences of Vicky and Lottie. A must read and ….. there will be more to follow.

[Roy Murry · Rating 5 out of 5]

TIPPING POINT
(Project Renova Book 1)

TERRY TYLER

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

How people react to a catastrophe that pits human against human for survival brings out the best and the worst in them. Add to this a devious plot, and you have this gripping novel that Ms. Tyler has given us.

She develops her numerous characters so that you'll remember them going into a short series most will enjoy. The leading character is a mum, Vicky, who wants to protect her teenager, Lottie, from the events surrounding a pandemic.

With the help of her lover Dex, Vicky overcomes a major hurdle that keeps her and her daughter alive in a cruel world where people are fighting for the bare minimum amenities to go on. Having been separated from Dex for a time, Vicky, and Lottie go searching for him at some safe house miles from their militarily controlled hometown.

Their adventure begins, leading to trials and errors that confront them, without the use of our modern gadgets we use today: TV and Internet service, iPhones, Computers, electricity, clean water, etc. You get the point. They find little security and maybe a future.

You'll have to read this book to see if they and Dex have a future together, which I will do in my future.

[Anniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vicky lives in a small town named Shipden with her teenage daughter and her boyfriend Dex. It's 2024 and when a new and deadly virus is discovered in Africa there isn't immediate reason to panic. Dex and a small group of like-minded people are working for Unicorn. They think the virus is man-made and that it has been spread by the government. They've been preparing for the end of the world. Vicky is not really into Dex's ideas and feels left out when he keeps going to these secret meetings. What will happen when this virus, that caused no panic in the beginning, reaches the United Kingdom?

Vicky and her daughter Lottie are in Shipden when the whole town is being put into quarantine. Nobody gets in or out. Dex is out of town at that time, so Vicky and Lottie are on their own. Dex stocked up the house with food and water and packed emergency backpacks for them. He even managed to get them the vaccination for the virus. Vicky and Lottie see their world change before their eyes. People are dying and the army will shoot on sight if they think someone has the virus. Vicky and Lottie are going to try to get to the safe house Dex always talked about. Will they be able to get there in time?

Vicky used to live an easy and relatively happy life. Now that this has changed she has to toughen up to survive in this new world. Lottie is a teenage girl and because the world is falling apart, she has to learn to live without all the comforts of her old life. I admired the way Vicky and Lottie are dealing with everything that's going on. Lottie is a smart girl and accepts the fact that things have changed. She adapts really fast and this also helps Vicky a lot. Vicky is feeling insecure and scared and often wonders if she's doing the right thing. She stays strong and still tries to see the good in people. I was hoping for them to find a safe haven so they could rebuild some sort of a life again.

Tipping Point is a gripping story about how fast the world as you know it could change. A Tipping Point is the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. The fact that a deadly and very contagious virus spreads so fast and does so much damage chilled me to the bones. New viruses are made and discovered every single day, so the fact that this could happen in real life is incredibly frightening to me. Terry Tyler has taken her time to give the story a perfect and well thought out start. This made me invested in it even more. Tipping Point is the first book in the Project Renova series and I can't wait to find out what happens next in the second book, Lindisfarne.

[Lucinda Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’VE FOUND A NEW AUTHOR I LOVE
I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend as she told me I would love it – and I did. Written with an underlying touch of humour, despite the catastrophic story, I was held captive from the first chapter. If you’ve ever wondered how man can solve the overpopulation of the planet, this is one way and it is all too realistic and plausible. It was one of those books when the dished are left in the sink and the bed unmade, I couldn’t put it down. I’m off to get the second in the trilogy right now.

[Alex Craigie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to steer clear of post apocalytic books as they've become rather hackneyed and predictable. This one was recommended to me and I decided to dip into it to see for myself. That dip turned into a full immersion...
This world is so familiar and believable it makes for a terrifying read. The writing is wonderful and the protagonists are people that matter because of their credibility. The characters find themselves in a world without the things we've come to take for granted and their struggles to cope ring horribly true.
This was my first Terry Tyler and it certainly won't be my last - I've already bought the next in the series

[Tim Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This is an apocalyptic story that follows a mum and daughter through the collapse of society in the UK in 2024. A virus breaks out and devastates the country and maybe the world. It is a detailed and gritty novel that follows average people trying to survive. From this basic point the story twists through a plot that develops tightly into a thriller. Sometimes you can see what is coming but I grew so attached to the characters that all this did is become the mechanism that increased the dread of what is coming. I can't wait to read the next as the ending leaves you with an idea of what may happen next but you hope beyond hope that it doesn't!

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relationships, paranoia, societal breakdown, and isolation are all explored in this pacy and suspenseful dystopian novel.

Vicky lives in rural Norfolk with her daughter and conspiracy-theorist boyfriend, Dex. When an outbreak of a deadly virus starts to engulf the town, Vicky starts to heed the advice that Dex left her before he went to work for Unicorn, hours away. The town is on lock-down, friends start dying, and the world as she knows it starts to change. But there is more to the story that no-one is aware of, and no one is safe...

From the first few pages, the author draws you into a world that seems so natural, so possible, that it triggered my own paranoia. The occasional insights from other points of view also added to the depth of the story. I spent half the book hiding behind my hands (technically one hand, because I needed the other to hold the e-reader) and the other half wanting to help/ punch/ hug the characters. Thought-provoking and entertaining. I'm looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy.

*Thank you to the author for my free review copy.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the post-apocalyptic genre and was pleased to find that established author Terry Tyler had turned her hand to it.

This tale features both the wider picture involving government conspiracies and societal breakdown, and how this affects certain individuals, mostly Vicky and her teenage daughter Lottie who live an idyllic life in an English coastal village. That is, until things fall apart due to a pandemic with a very high mortality rate, a dodgy vaccine programme and armed soldiers enforcing a strict quarantine. The plot is very cleverly woven with a strong cast of supporting characters, graphic descriptions and convincing dialogue.

Much of the book takes place during the months in which the spread of the viral disease occurs and the descriptions of the characters' actions and behaviours are frighteningly realistic. There are some interesting ruminations on the way in which social media is used to secretly gather information on almost all citizens to enable the authorities to categorise, analyse and label everyone. I liked the occasional references to zombies - this is definitely not a zombie novel but the zombie metaphor was used to refer to the masses who follow orders, don't question authority and believe that the government will take control and sort everything out.

Scary! Clearly a great deal of thought and research has gone into this book. I'm moving straight on to book two (Lindisfarne) today.

[Sam Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:
Set in the very near future, this novel gives a post-apocalyptic vision of the UK, specifically Shipden up on the Norfolk coast.

It relates the story of an everyday working single mum-of-one, living with her partner  of six years, before during and after the pathogen that has invaded the UK. Ostensibly from Central Africa, it has killed approximately 90% of the population, and we are in the early stages of the survivors trying to right themselves.

Main Characters:
Vicky: The main character. She is more emotional than her daughter, and not as strong in her character. She maybe suffers a little in self-esteem. She comes across as naïve, in the early stages, but this is lost very quickly. She develops more self-reliance as the book progresses.

Lotte: Sixteen years old, she is more pragmatic in dealing with things than her mother (e.g. a quick tear for her deadbeat dad, then never mentioned again), and more adaptable to the new world.

Travis: A somewhat flat character, he was a government employee, and also from a wealthy background. He becomes attached to Aria, more then she is to him, which you feel will lead to trouble ahead.

Wedge: Psychotic escaped prisoner, stereotypical physical giant Hells Angel type, taking what he needs by violence.

Minor Characters:
Dex: Conspiracy theorist who was proven right, unfaithful partner, and someone we only see in flashbacks. Came across as a patronising git, “being patient” with Vicky when explaining things to her, but did his best to provide before he disappeared.

Aria: A colleague of Travis's, she is somewhat manipulative, and thus dangerous in her own right.

Heath: A survivor, he and Vicky meet and over time become closer in their Jarrow hideaway, as part of a larger group.

Plot:
Private Life. This is a new social network site, set up by two everyday mums, that allows absolute privacy to its users, who remain in complete control of all their data, which is not used for any purpose whatsoever. Of course it's not.

The world signs up to this network in droves, leaving behind the Facebooks, etc. which are now viewed with deep suspicion. However, there are conspiracy theory groups out there like Unicorn, who harbour deep reservations about the service, and allege something more sinister is behind it.

In 2024, news of a virus in Central Africa breaks, and global tension heightens as it seems to be going out of control.

Vicky is living a comfortable middle-class life in Shipden, with her sixteen-year old daughter Lotte, and her partner of six years, Dex. (He is not Lotte's dad).

We open with a scene of her and her daughter trying to escape the town which is under military control, and learn more as Vicky has flashbacks to just a few months before, when all was normal.

We learn that Dex, a college lecturer by day, is part of an anti-government organisation called Unicorn which meet secretly and aim to call out the government on false reporting, etc. They do not believe the global nature of the virus, and have doubts about Private Life.

We watch as the virus breaks upon their little town, and the military move to cordon it off. Dex was away on a Unicorn trip, so cannot make it back, though he had secretly been laying in survival provisions for Vicky & Lotte, should the need arise. He tells her of his preparations in their last phone call, before he turns off the phone.

We see the rather rapid collapse of Shipden society, the run on the supermarkets, the fear that takes hold when it’s a them-or-us scenario, the fact that paper money becomes worthless. As people start dying, unless you can prove you had the “vaccination” (which Dex got for Vicky and Lotte), you are outcast and shunned.

Society turns on itself, and the military operates a shoot-to-kill policy on the infected.

Ultimately, Vicky realises to survive they need to escape, and breaking the curfew they just about make it out of town. Thus begins their long journey to Jarrow, a “safe house” that Dex had told them about, with a few robbings and a few kindnesses along the way. When they finally get there, wiser and more street-savvy than when they started out, they must integrate with the other residents, and find a way all can live together. Slowly over time, the trappings of the modern world are stripped away one by one, the internet, the television, the electricity, and finally the running water fails. The world really has regressed.

Finally, another survivor finds them, and reveals to them the truth behind the pathogen outbreak. No spoilers! The group decide to head to Lindisfarne, for a safer environment.

There are two other stories going on in parallel. Travis is a government employee, who was working on “Project Renova”, but became trapped and abandoned along with his colleagues when the pathogen hit. He and a couple of colleagues (including Aria) slip away from the imploding team, and escape the building. He and Aria then team up. He falls in love with her, an obsessive type of love, even though he realises she is just using him. Their next move, driven by Aria who is bored with Travis and suffering from cabin fever, is to head to Lindisfarne.

Wedge breaks out from a maximum security prison (no security anymore), and goes home to find everyone dead, or disappeared. He runs amok for a while, a little bit of killing and raping, then discovers his girlfriend has run off to Lindisfarne with his biker Lieutenant. Wedge follows them.

What I Liked:
- The world building is excellent. You can see the familiar little streets of this northern town, and how British it all is. This makes the societal collapse worse, as you can truly visualise the streets where it is happening.
- Characterisation is strong. These are just normal people, lucky enough to survive, as opposed to having an ex-SAS soldier teaching them all survival-in-the-wild skills.
- There is a good dynamic between mother and daughter, and within the group at large.
- The first person narrative works well, giving us a great insight into Vicky, but of course the downside is we don’t get to see inside the heads of the other characters, whom we see either as a Vicky recollection, or third-person in their own story.

What I Didn’t Like:
- Vicky began to irritate me after a while. She has so much going for her, for example the strength of having brought up her daughter from when only eighteen herself, holding down a job, etc. She has no belief in her own strength, effectively giving control of her life over to Dex, who seemingly made all the decisions thereafter. I would have liked her with a bit more spine. I could not see how her and Dex were a couple, given how completely different they were. She does show signs of growing up near the end, though, and really dealing with her new reality.
- I thought the “Am I abandoned? Does he love me?” aspect went on a bit long, especially when Vicky started “having feelings” for someone else. Despite all she knew, she still could not decide whether to act or not. It is a bugbear for me when I read this in an otherwise pacy book, as for me it just slows things down, as authors tend to dwell on it, to the detriment of the overall story. The decision to be made is clear – it doesn’t need to be dragged out.

Overall:
Tipping Point is the first in a trilogy, so there’s quite a bit of initial world-building and scene setting, as well as letting us get to know the characters.

It is very well paced overall, and the storylines converge well at the end, setting up what looks to be an excellent second book.

It is a very quick read, as the main story keeps the tension well-balanced, and the moving between time-periods and the other parallel events meshes well, and does not distract from the overall dynamic.

Tipping Point has a great twist on a standard premise, and the familiarity of the setting, and the closeness in time, gives it a real creepy, too close to home feel.  The scenario does make you wonder (especially in light of the recent 2018 Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal, which broke after this book was written) what really happens to our data, and what is it being used for. How prescient is Tipping Point??

Definitely an excellent read, and one I would fully recommend.

Acknowledgements:
I received a free Kindle copy of the book from the author, in return for an honest and objective review.

Full Disclosure:
I am part of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team, along with Terry. This also did not influence my review.

[Anthony Lavisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good dystopian novels act as a looking-glass into the future, shaping a vision for the reader that is both imaginative and thought-provoking – Great Dystopia, and Terry Tyler’s first book in the Project Renova series is highly placed amongst these, takes all of the above and underlines them chillingly with a warning aimed at just as much as where we are today in society, as to the future we are shaping for generations to come.

To review the book in depth would be to spoil the pleasure awaiting potential readers, and there is much pleasure to be found within those pages. Tyler’s writing is pacey, crisp, clean and fabulously well written (and, despite the subject matter, full of as much wit as tragedy). The future landscape she paints is vividly portrayed, with an authenticity that is well constructed and very well thought out.

I have read many great books over the last few years, some highly regarded and praised by the press, and I found the writer’s style and the story that unfolds to be as good as, if not better than, a great many of those receiving such accolades.

The central story focuses on lead character Vicky, and her daughter Lottie, monitoring the news and events starting to unfold in the world beyond their sleepy coastal town in Norfolk, via their technology. From the outset, their relationship is believable and you warm to them immediately, such is the writer’s skill, who paints a vivid portrayal of their home life in Shipden, and of the lives of the people who live there.

As events unfold (and to even talk about it would be to spoil it for you), the story starts to really bite.

There should be a stark warning in Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic novels, acting as a two-way mirror that looks into the future, whilst reflecting upon the present. Underlying this wonderful read, Tyler’s observations of modern life, however seemingly mundane, warn us about our increasingly addictive reliance upon the ever-advancing technology put before us, and of the social media platforms we choose to install upon them. It’s all so very plausible, and with each page, a chill starts to settle under your skin.

In the chaos of the modern world we live in today, every aspect is drawn together brilliantly by the author, whispering at first, then shouting at the reader to be aware of everything we have come to accept; the internet, the scandals of our data being shared, stolen, and who-knows what else – of our daily movements being monitored.

When you think of Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic novels, you imagine a futuristic world, crushed under the boot and heel of its dictators; you imagine the living, trying to survive being torn to pieces by the dead, of bands of heroic survivors fighting to survive in the aftermath of the future we made for ourselves. TippingPoint, Book One of the Project Renova series ticks all those boxes and Tyler’s skillful tale adds a great many unique ones of her own.

George Orwell warned us many years ago about this, and Terry Tyler’s wonderful read shouts as loudly as any Dystopian novel I have ever read.

Tipping Point will stay with you for a long time, and before you rush to delete your online accounts and ditch your tech, you should, with great anticipation, read this book, and then the rest of this wonderful series.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Tipping Point’ is the first book in the Project Renova series. And I’m so glad this is a series, because as soon as I’d finished this, I was straight onto the second instalment, ‘Lindisfarne’ (review to follow).
Terry Tyler is one of my favourite contemporary authors. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her, particularly her family sagas. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of dystopian fiction, but I do love ‘The Walking Dead’ so I may well be a convert, particularly if I can find anything as good as this to read in the genre.
Because it is really, really good. And quite uncomfortably chilling. The build-up to the inevitable spread of the disease and the breakdown of society happens so subtly, so quietly at first, that you realise how horribly feasible it actually is that something like this could happen. And the characters are so believable, so real, that it’s even easier to picture. These people are just like you and me, their lives are like ours – this could happen.
And that’s really what is at the heart of this, and all of Ms Tyler’s books – real people, real lives. She has such a knack of capturing a place, a person, a time that you find yourself completely drawn in, completely absorbed.
Vicky and her daughter Lottie have normal, happy lives. Vicky’s partner Dex is a bit of a conspiracy theorist (justifiably in this case), which annoys Vicky, but she’s happy, loves her home, her town, her job. She’s content. And this makes it so much more gripping and involving when the rug is (very slowly) pulled from under her, and she has to face up to what is really going on.
I like Vicky so much because she doesn’t suddenly turn into a competent, brave, knowledgeable superhero. She’s scared and worried and she misses her hair straighteners! And she’s also terrified for her child and would do anything to protect her. And relationships are really what this book is about – within families and within society as a whole – and what we do to protect those we love and to try to hold on to what makes us feel safe and secure.
This is so well-written and an absolute page-turner.

[Olga Miret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the author who kindly offered me an ARC copy of this novel that I freely chose to review.
I’ve known Terry Tyler, the author of this book, for a while, mostly through her reviews of other writer’s books (we seem to share a similar taste in novels and she’s partly responsible for my starting to read more historical fiction), but although I’ve been aware of her books for some time, and I’ve read very good reviews of them, I found it difficult to decide which one of them to read first. When she offered me a copy of her new novel, the first in a trilogy (and there is a story arc that develops through it, so no, you should not expect a conventional ending if you read this novel, and you should read the series in order if you want to fully understand the story), I took her up on the offer, as I could kill two birds with one stone. I’d read a novel that sounded very intriguing and I would also have read a work by an author I’d wanted to check out for quite a while.
This book is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the near future (2024 to be precise) in the UK. Although some of the specific locations are fictional, the author explains in a note at the end where the original inspiration for some of them came from, and indeed, some are real. The setting is one of the great achievements of the novel. For those of us who live in the UK, it is all too real and familiar (with the shops, facilities, political and social organisation, TV programmes, food, language, and even typical behaviours of the population) and that makes it, in many ways, scarier than novels that are set either in imaginary locations, or in vague settings, that in their attempt at representing everywhere sometimes become too unfamiliar and alienating. Another one of the things that differentiate this novel from others in the genre (and I’m aware that the author writes in many different genres and is mostly interested in the stories rather than the labels attached to them) is its attention to characters. Whilst many post-apocalyptic novels spend a lot of the time, either on the cause and the development of the said apocalypse or on descriptions of the new world and post-apocalyptic society, sometimes the characters are little more than superheroes that had not discovered yet they had special survival skills, and spend most of the novel demonstrating us their awesomeness. Although I am not an expert in post-apocalyptic novels, I have read some (the one I best remember in recent times is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel) and I’d dare to say that some readers who might not usually read novels in this genre would enjoy this one.
The time frame of the story is somewhat fragmented. The novel starts plunging us in the middle of the action, as the two main characters, Vicky and her teenage daughter Lottie, are escaping from their town and the enforced isolation and transportation its inhabitants face due to the epidemic. The novel (mostly narrated in the first person by Vicky) then goes back to explain how the situation reached the ‘tipping point’ of the title. The first person narration makes us experience the story close and personal, whilst at the same time limiting the amount of information we get to what Vicky can get hold of. Although her partner, Dex, was well-informed and had been warning her about the world governments attempts at gathering information about the population through social media with shady intent, she always dismissed his concerns and now realises he might have been right all along. (As I have included the description of the novel and want to avoid spoilers, I won’t discuss the whole plot in detail, but let’s say population control is taken to the extreme).
As I have commented more than once regarding first-person narrations, there are readers who like them more than others, and often it depends on how we feel about the narrator. I must confess that on many occasions I found Vicky very annoying, especially at the beginning of the story. She refuses to believe anything that falls outside of her comfort zone, as if she was wearing blinkers; she is uncritical of official versions of the truth, despite her partner’s attempts at enlightening her. She has little confidence in herself (even when she acknowledges that she has brought up her daughter alone and has achieved much despite her difficult circumstances), and places a lot of responsibility and trust in Dex (although she does not share his ideas or even listen to him at times), her partner for the last six years. He is a fair bit older than her, savvier, and seems to be the one who has to make the decisions and who is expected to come up with answers and solutions to all the problems. (I thought the fact that when they moved they only kept a car, and now he’s the only one to drive and she has lost confidence in her driving seems to encapsulate their relationship). Of course, we do not know him directly, as we only have Vicky’s memories of him, and we learn later those might have been rose-tinted. From the little snippets we get, I found their relationship a bit difficult to understand, as they don’t seem to have much in common (as some of the other characters note, including her daughter) and we learn that she was quite naïve about him. But she grows and matures through the novel, and although, thankfully, she does not become Wonder Woman, she proves herself resourceful and capable, she dares to try new things and does whatever is necessary to ensure her survival and that of her daughter. I am curious to see how the character will develop in the coming books and also to find out what role she will ultimately end up playing (as the narration seems to be addressed at the readers at times, rather than just being something she is writing exclusively for herself).
I really liked Lottie. She is a credible teenager, determined where her mother is hesitant, flexible and adaptable while remaining a teenager, naïve at times, eager to discover who she is and what she likes, and to fight for her individuality and independence. She brings much of the humour to the story and the relationship mother-daughter is a joy to read (apocalypse or not).
There are some chapters told in the third-person by an omniscient narrator who gets into the head of different characters, some that will evidently play a part in future instalments of the series, and others that provide a clearer background and explanation of how and why everything developed.
The writing is fluid and flows well. The first-person narration is convincing and the reported speech patterns of the different characters are distinctive and help create a clear picture in the reader’s mind. The pacing is steady, at times faster (especially when there is an acute threat to deal with) but at others it slows down to allow for some moments of contemplation and reflection.
Although I said before that the story is not focused on the science behind the illness or on a blow-by-blow account of the spread of the epidemic, that does not mean we do not gain insight into the destruction the virus causes or how it results in a collapse of the usual niceties of civilisation, but rather that we see these on a small scale and from a human-sized perspective, that, if anything, makes it scarier, as it is easier to visualise how this could happen around us. And, as quite a few readers have commented, one feels very tempted to withdraw completely from social media after reading this book, so convincing its plot is.
This first novel in the Renova trilogy sets up the characters and the background situation for the rest of the series. I am intrigued by the number of diverse characters who are set to come together at Lindisfarne. Holy Island, a place I have visited, is fascinating, but not very large for such a crew of people, and it is not somewhere where one can easily hide or even escape from. The confluence of so many people with such different expectations and agendas is bound to be explosive, and I can’t wait for the next book, that luckily should be out in September 2017.
I recommend this novel not only to readers of post-apocalyptic literature, but also to those who enjoy stories that question our beliefs, our society, our values, and that are interested in people, their relationships, and the way they see themselves and others. I am sure this series will go from strength to strength and I look forward to the next two books.

[Liza Perrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a great fan of Terry Tyler’s books, mainly due to her great storytelling and character development. That’s the reason I tried Tipping Point even though I’m not generally a fan of post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories. And I’m so glad I did! I found this story scarily plausible and realistic, and could totally imagine it happening, especially since it’s set in 2024, not so far into our future.

It all stems from the new and highly popular social networking site, Private Life, something most of us are readily familiar with today. Our privacy is ensured, but is that what happens?

When a lethal and rapidly-spreading virus is discovered in Africa, and spreads through the UK, a nationwide vaccination programme is announced. However it soon becomes obvious that not everyone is being offered the vaccination, for example, the ill, old, mentally ill and unemployed are not entitled.

In the roller-coaster ride of this thriller that follows, the author deftly explores the vast conspiracy theory and evokes a sense of real fear into the reader, about gaining data from social media and that information being used against us. It is a worrying scenario, with terrifying consequences, that I can easily imagine happening.

That’s not to say this story is simply a dystopian horror tale, far from it. It also shows us, very realistically, human behaviour: how people behave in both negative and positive ways when society as we know it breaks down.

As in all her books, the author has created some compelling characters with whom I could readily identify and care about.

Tipping Point is the first book in what promises to be an excellent series, the Project Renova series and I’m eagerly looking forward to reading the second, Lindisfarne, which is waiting for me on my Kindle!

[Kurt Rackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest - when I see "post-apocalyptic" in any book description I run the "Zombie 101" program in my head and brace myself for the usual tropes: riots, desperate battles for survival, cardboard cutout characters, contrived action and a lot of brain-eating schlock.

That's possibly why I was so absorbed by this page-turning adventure about the gradual decline of a very recognisable British landscape. (SPOILER: this is zombie-free, at least by the conventional definition.)

Terry Tyler has the most amazing feel for the ordinary - we open the story with such well-observed characterisations and places that the whole premise feels tangibly real. Her characters talk and behave like normal everyday people. This enabled me to completely swallow the premise of the book and live beside the characters as their grip on the familiar becomes increasingly untenable.

The great strength of this book is that the 'tipping point' of the title creeps up so subtly I couldn't help becoming a believer. If the apocalypse doesn't come through something like this, then it isn't going to happen!

The book ends not so much on a cliffhanger but a tantalising glimpse of something new to come, which means it was fine to read as a standalone and makes me very keen to get started on the next one.

I'll give this five stars - good writing, excellent pace, and completely immersive characters and story. Not your standard apocalyptic novel, and all the better and fresher for it.

[Barb Taub · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few days ago, I offered in a private message to help someone with his resume. Within the hour, almost every application I opened was inundated with ads for resume editing and assistance. Big Brother might not have been watching me, but big business certainly was.

Terry Tyler starts with a similar premise, and like the excellent writer she is, she pushes into its most extreme potential ‘what if’. What if big brother really IS watching you? What if ‘they’ know every single thing about you, your family, your favorite brands of coffee, chocolate, porn? Nothing new here, right? Well, then what if ‘they’ want to do more with that info than try to sell you more things? What if ‘they’ are going to use that info to decide who gets to live and who will die?

What if those flu vaccinations everyone is urged to get are actually a way to inject you with something far more sinister? And what if ‘they’ are prepared to make that happen?

Is there a point of no return, the tipping point where all the what-ifs add up to an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it shift? Where all the conspiracy theories you’ve laughed about are suddenly not paranoia, not when your friends and family are dying.

[QUOTE] "In the case of a pandemic,” he said, “it’s when there are more cases of infection than can be controlled by isolation—and, later, when there are simply not enough healthy people in authority to keep the basic needs of a society going, or to maintain order. Which is when chaos takes over. The problem is that no one recognises that the tipping point is about to be reached until it’s already passed." [END QUOTE]

Terry Tyler pulls together a dystopian cocktail with a distinctly current recipe: a shot of populism, a dash of Nazi racial cleansing/holocaust, stir in bubonic plague references, and top it with a jaunty paper umbrella that neatly covers all conspiracy theories.

After a rocky start as a teenage mother, Vicky Keating is finally happy with her life. She loves her coastal town of Shipden, her pretty house, her quirky daughter Lotte, and especially her smart boyfriend Dex. She laughs at his conspiracy theories, but reluctantly goes along with his request not to open an account on the new social media site, Private Life. Even as all of Dex’s conspiracy theories begin to come true, Vicky still believes that her world will continue. But as things start to break down, infrastructure topples, and people are dying in ever greater numbers, Vicky sees a corresponding breakdown of the things that glue a society together. Trust. Honesty. Friendship. Love.

Dex has disappeared, her town is under military quarantine, people are being killed by disease and increasingly, by each other. Realizing that her paramount responsibility is to keep her daughter safe, Vicky takes Lotte and flees across England to a safe house Dex had told her about. As social order completely breaks down, a tiny group of survivors has to invent a new reality, one in which you must be prepared to kill if you want to live.

In short, brilliant episodes, Tipping Point also tells other stories. At first they seem unrelated to Vicky and Lotte. Travis is a young worker who begins to realize the sinister implications of the project he’s working on. Scott, a hacker with the Unicorn group working to uncover and expose the conspiracy, is arrested, jailed, and forgotten. And as conventional checks and balances disappear, there are the ones whose violent behavior and self-gratification become their own justification—the criminally insane Wedge who escapes from the prison that no longer functions, the anger-fuelled clerk whose spur-of-the-moment action changes the course of the pandemic, and the many monsters who see the lack of police and government presence as license to butcher, rape, and steal.

As I was reading Tipping Point, I realized that it’s not so much about figuring out the world-ending conspiracy or stopping the forces of evil. (Which is actually lucky, considering that the economics and science involved here are sketchy at best, and ultimately irrelevant.) Instead, it’s the zombie apocalypse. “Dex said that the whole zombie thing was symbolic, that zombies were a metaphor for the masses who believed what they were told, had no nose for danger, didn’t have the survival instinct and believed that the authorities would save them.” As director George Romero said of the 1968 trope-defining classic, Night of the Living Dead, “Zombies don’t represent anything in my mind except a global change of some kind. And the stories are about how people respond or fail to respond to this. That’s really all they’ve represented to me.”

What Tipping Point adds to this are the individual faces and their responses to their new world. With the brilliant writing we’ve come to expect of her, Terry Tyler has created a character-driven story in the best zombie apocalypse tradition. Ordinary people step up to extraordinary deeds, learn how to defend themselves and their little group from the monsters, and try to hang onto the shreds of their humanity. As the various story arcs begin to converge, we realize that (with the possible exception of the criminally insane Wedge) the group of people at the end of Tipping Point are dramatically different from their beginnings.

I’m delighted to give Tipping Point five stars, and I look forward to reading the rest of this terrific new series.

***I received this book from the publisher or author to facilitate an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***

[Georgia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has always shocked me how quickly a community, of whatever size, can succumb when put under pressure. How neighbour can turn on neighbour when they’d previously lived contentedly side by side, how a population can lose its humanity and atrocious deeds can be carried out in the name of peace keeping or self-preservation. Tipping Point covered all this, and more, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading how life in Shipden, and then everywhere else, unravelled.

The story is told mostly from Vicky’s point of view and I have to say that she really grated on me to begin with. Her boyfriend, Dex, was heavily involved with an underground group, Unicorn, who had whistle-blower type connections and were investigating the possibility of some sort of Armageddon like scenario. However, the self-obsessed Vicky was totally dismissive of his warnings being more concerned about the fact that he didn’t want her, or her daughter Lottie, joining the latest social media platform, Private Lives, and she was also convinced he was playing-away.

Lottie was a typical teenager, only interested in the present moment and without the same regard for life that you gain with age. One day, she and Vicky spent the day eating cheesecake and watching DVD’s as the world as they knew it was collapsing around them.

Gradually I started to soften towards Vicky, not because of her whining about Dex leaving them to cope alone but because of her naivety. Despite Dex’s warnings she had the same slow dawning that I think would come across most of us should something like this happen. Things clicking into place as small moments seem unbelievable but eventually enough of them happen to make you wake up to reality.

The rapid breakdown of society was very well covered. I have long been sceptical of online data collection, of being ‘watched’ by social media and Big Brother like surveillance. I was fascinated by the control of the media, of government manipulation over what was aired and I was so involved in the storyline at this point it came as something of a surprise to watch the news and not find some ‘reassuring’ message on there about Shipden as the equivalent of the plague struck it. Even though I knew Shipden was fictional!

Vicky eventually wakes up to the new reality, not a moment too soon, and fortunately for her and Lottie Dex has prepared an exit plan for them. They meet up with others and soon learn a new way of living. This part of the story slowed a little for me as I guess life would and it’s not long before the group start to get restless and look to move elsewhere. But they are not the only ones, and there is a particularly volatile character, Wedge, who could prove to be an interesting person for them to have to get along with. I shall be looking forward to that.

The ending leaves you with a satisfied feeling while plenty of threads remain to be continued in the next book of the series. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys well written character led fiction.

[Laurette Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sleepy seaside town on the east coast of England. Summer barbecues, drinks at the pub a band playing on the pier. A cottage by the sea with cheerful paintwork and gleaming floorboards, home to Vicky, her partner Dex and her teenage daughter Lottie.
It’s 2024, not too far in the future. Society hasn’t changed that much, and Terry Tyler’s perfectly rendered portrait of ordinary families living in a small village community is instantly recognisable .It’s so reassuringly familiar, so normal, that our sense of shock is all the greater when normal tips into nightmare, society breaks down completely, and the world we believe in is turned on its head.
‘It’s amazing how quickly the appalling can become the norm.’
Also shocking is the suddenness and speed with which things disintegrate followed by the revelation that what is happening is not random, not the result of a terrible accident or a natural catastrophe. It is part of a plan. The idea of a social networking site gathering information to use by an elite group who aim to change society in the most terrifying way–through targeted depopulation– may seem farfetched, but such is the author’s gift for brilliant story-telling that the far-fetched begins to feel uncomfortably credible, particularly in the light of current alarming disclosures about data collection and data leakage.
The main characters – the ‘goodies’, especially Vicky, the narrator, and her daughter- are skilfully portrayed. Little by little we are drawn in, sharing their fears, their struggles to adapt both physically and mentally, their urge to survive, their tentative hopes as new possibilities arise. The ‘baddies’ are utterly chilling, (especially the one who pops up at the end as the books draws to its stunning conclusion). Our unease about what’s going to happen in the inevitable confrontations and clashes becomes a gnawing anxiety. The tension mounts inexorably against a filmic background of sunny pastoral, the English landscapes and villages of ‘before’ and the desolate post-apocalyptic scenery of ‘after’.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and a genre I’m not too familiar with. But I was hooked from page 1 and read it in a couple of days, becoming hyper-stressed whenever real life intervened and I was forced to break off to do the washing up (Hallelujah! We still have water!) or some shopping (Hurray! The shops still have fresh food!).
A great read not just for fans of the genre but for anyone who likes an edge of the seat ride along with a cast of believable and engaging characters. When you’ve turned the last page, you’ll be relieved to know there’s a Book 2 in the series. You may however find yourself closing all your social media accounts, cancelling your Internet subscription and investing in a family of carrier pigeons…

[Shelley Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a few of Terry Tyler’s suspense books and thoroughly enjoyed them, so I was delighted when she chose to write a dystopian series as this is one genre I adore reading. One of the things I love the most about this author is how she develops such likeable characters. No matter what situation they are thrown into you can’t help but feel a connection.

Tipping Point is no different. Straight away I was rooting for Vicky and her teenage daughter, Lottie, to survive the horrors of a deadly virus that sweeps across England. Set in the not too distant future (2024), Tipping Point explores the terrifying prospect of social media being used against the general populace and the terror that would follow if society crashed around us.

On more than one occasion while reading this book I came close to shutting down my Facebook and Twitter accounts – just in case! Tyler does an expert job of bringing our deepest fears to life in such an accessible way.

The story is told predominantly from Vicky’s point of view as she learns about the spread of a deadly virus and is quarantined within her sleepy seaside town. She escapes with her teenage daughter in tow, and they flee in search of a safe house. Vicky evolves over the course of this novel but her reactions to what she witnesses and copes with are realistic to the situation she finds herself in. I look forward to seeing how she develops over the series.

As with all of Tyler’s novels, there is a wonderful mix of characters, and their unique tales are interwoven as the novel progresses. We are introduced briefly to people who, I believe, will make a larger impact in future books – Wedge!

Although the bigger picture, which is the destruction of the human race, is at the forefront of the novel, I loved the personal stories of the characters as they do what I hope we would all do in their situation – strive to survive!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tipping Point and think it’s a perfect read for any dystopian fan. I would also highly recommend it whether you like this genre or not – if only to teach you about social media awareness! I can’t wait for the release of the second book in the series.

[Karl Relf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tipping Point is the first in the Project Renova series, and depicts the trials facing the survivors of an unknown virus that is ravaging the UK (and, we later discover, the world) as society begins to collapse.

This scenario is fairly standard in apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction, but in Tipping Point Terry presents The End Of The World As We Know It largely through the eyes of Vicky, a regular everyday woman, and in doing so, departs from the usual tropes of the über-capable survivor who’s just been itching for the end times to start, or the lucky bumbler whose ongoing survival is, ultimately, a mystery by a third of the way through the book. It’s true that Vicky has a head-start, via her partner, Dex, who is a member of Unicorn, a group of conspiracy theorists/truth seekers (take your pick), but it is also true that despite her feelings for Dex, Vicky is deeply sceptical, albeit in a quiet, don’t-rock-the-boat kind of way and her ultimate survival is much more about her qualities of thought, resourcefulness and determination than mere chance.

The characterisation is good, particularly of Lottie (Vicky’s daughter), Kara, a fellow survivor and colleague of Dex’s in Unicorn, and even Dex himself, though there is a wider cast of characters, some clearly destined to be major, others much more on the periphery, who are not mere bags of bones or cardboard cut-out placeholders but people who matter; there is usually a strong sense that they really did all have lives before, and even the unfortunates who don’t survive are written well enough to get the idea that these were lives cut short. Setting also plays its part, and again these are well-described and vivid.

Since it is book one in a series there are plot strands aplenty that aren’t neatly tied up by the end, but Terry still manages to bring Tipping Point to a close in a natural, logical and satisfying manner rather than an abrupt, purely ‘if you want to know any more, buy the next book’ kind of way; a difficult thing to carry off in itself.

If book one is this good, bring on book two!