Hell Ride

by Paul Hofrichter

The land was a charred ruin...the survivors struggled against starvation and sickness...the only winners were. those who had vaporized instantly in the white-hot hell of nuclear war.

Stack was trapped in California when the bombs hit, thousands of miles away from his family in New York. Deter-mined to learn their fate, Stack knew he would have to fight his way back through a land where gasoline was more precious than human life and a quart of oil could make a man king. With his knowledge of machinery, he figured he had an edge, but he would have to develop a killer instinct to survive the savage scum who littered the blasted countryside.

DEATH RIDE
Stack's ticket home was a half-wrecked bomber belonging to the remnants of the National Guard. But this particular ticket had a stiff price—track and kill Mohammed Yahzdi, a fanatical terrorist bent on destroying what was left of a dying world. Stack had a better chance of getting to hell and back.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I'm not mistaken, this book starts off just like David Alexander's "Dark Messiah." Book one of his Phoenix series. A man from New York is vacationing alone in the mountains of California when nuclear war breaks out. He plans on trekking across country to see if his wife and kids make it out alive. That's where the two books split apart and take different routes. Where this book is still violent and gory. The Phoenix series was way over the top.

There are many sub plots that all are on a collision course with each other. Our hero picks up a young girl and then decides to travel with a family of three to Fresno to see if anyone they knew survived. There are small towns in between with survivors. There's a vicious motorcycle gang out to take over those small towns. Then there is a US bomber with its full load that was on its way to attack Russia when they have mechanical trouble and land not too far from all the others.

Really good book. Though, in my opinion, not as good as the previously stated "Dark Messiah." Has all the feel of a good 80's trashy apocalypse story. Just the kind of stuff that keeps me reading this stuff.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think this was terribly well written but it was fairly enjoyable. It wandered a lot in the plot area and the characters weren't that compelling, but something about it held my interest and I'd say I liked it.

[Jeff Ranger · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be the worst book I've ever read.

Firstly, the cover art and jacket blurb do not--in any way--convey whats in the story. The blurb describes some kind of "wasteland super mechanic" trapped in a world very similar to the movie "The Road Warrior" and it that guy is just *not& present. The "Hero" isca Taxi Company owner on a hunting trip when the nuclear war happens.

None of the characters do anything for any reason. The main character makes zero effort to get back to his family, and just kind of bumbles around California, declining to do much of anything.

There is a *lot* of forced oral sex by the bad guy bikers, and it's pretty clear that *this* is the part that the author really enjoyed writing. The hero, by way of "rescuing" a girl he knows who is suffering this fate, elects to take his hunting rifle and shoot the bikers penis off while it's in her mouth (rather than, say, just killing him)

Anyways, I could go on but the book is misleading, nonsensical, clumsily pornographic, and really, truly not worth your time.

I was going to say "...even if you like this kind of thing", but i think it would make more sense to say "...*especially* if you like this kind of thing"