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Solitary Man

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Ten years after a brutal war, cannibals and humans fight over the pieces of a hardscrabble existence.

Former Navy SEAL Doyle has been prowling the broken remnants of a devastated America for years. Alone in an armored bus loaded with weapons and supplies, he's grateful for his solitude. Being alone makes it easier to survive, as others can become a liability in the end of the world. But when a particularly brutal attack leaves Doyle in need of fuel and repair, he has no choice but to venture into the nearest settlement.

Jonathan has been pastoring a small church of Christians in that same settlement, but when he meets Doyle he sees an opportunity to expand his ministry. Cannibals have kept everyone from traveling, but Doyle's armored transport and weapons bring hope to his small band of followers. The two men strike up a mutually beneficial bargain, but neither of them realizes that this journey will change them in ways they could never have imagined.

As they search for other believers, they must battle cannibals, militant atheists, and a mysterious super soldier. Doyle's unbelief and Jonathan's faith will collide in this action-packed wasteland.

Solitary Man is a gritty, action-packed post-apocalyptic story with a solid, Biblical worldview.

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2019

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Eric Landfried

4 books14 followers

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Darlene Bocek.
Author 7 books59 followers
October 25, 2019
In my opinion, this is what Christian fiction should be and needs to be.

1) Creative situation/scenario. Using the creativity God has given, being made in the image of a creative God, we should be forecasting, predicting, thinking what it would be like in this or that situation. In particular, speculation as to the fate of the Church if there were worldwide disaster.
2) Truth The author stayed true to Scripture without making this about biblical end-time prophecies. In fact, it is exactly the way Christ prophecies things would be for Christians “in the last days,” including the real risks of life and limb, without any shadow of pre-trib/post-mil types of arguments. Eric Landfried has created a clever but realistic thriller.
3) Encouraging The author has also clearly sought to build up the readers in their faith and courage. I was emboldened by reading this novel. He used his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God, which is, ultimately, what he was supposed to do for us. Even if you are not a Christian, the main character was a non-Christian man trying to understand these people.
I shut the book and zoomed over to the author’s FB page to find, to my delight, that he’s working as we speak on the sequel. Yes, it ends with a cliff-hanger.
Read and Enjoy.
Profile Image for Aaron Webber.
Author 3 books3 followers
February 25, 2020
What I liked
The author was straightforward. This is obviously a Christian book and he doesn't try to hide the fact that the message of the book is to persuade others to come unto Christ. He has a message and he tells it and does a pretty good job of weaving it into the narrative, without it detracting from the tension of the scenes too much.
I also liked that the ending didn't end with a predictable (spoiler) conversion of Doyle. I like that his future is left ambiguous, and he can make up his own mind, just like us.
I really liked how we learned more about the actual "apocalypse" and what happened. From the mysterious black ships in the sky to The General and his mission, and the ramblings of the crazy man in the Cannibal nest. It really made me more interested in the world, what happened, and what Doyle might discover.

What I thought the author did well
The book is also a great metaphor for life, and the challenges, people, and choices we have to make while going through it. I thought this was masterfully done, and each point of the story had me thinking about what part of life it referred to, and the different choices people can make at those stages. As we project ourselves onto Doyle and follow him as he goes through the various challenges of life, from beginning to end, we can decide, along with him, whether to listen to Johnathan or not. A very interesting way to write, my hat off to the author for accomplishing this feat.
The author also did a good job of sticking to the main characters but also switching to secondary characters when needed. It kept the story fresh and provided necessary exposition and background for when we needed it without getting too complicated by sticking with just the main protagonists.


What I didn't like
There were just a few things I didn't like, and looking back, they seem very nit-picky.
I didn't like how the people from all these settlements used all the same terms for things, even though they might have been separated for years without contact. They all called the enemy "cannibals" and they had "cannibal nests" and the people who didn't live in cities were called "scavengers" so on. I would think they might have come up with different names for things.
Also, I understand that Johnathan and his group are extremely faith-based, and so most of their conversations and dialogue revolve around their faith, but when each settlement they reach begins each encounter by explaining their relationship with religion, I found it hard to believe. If I encountered a settlement of people barely struggling to survive in the end of the world, I don't think their first words would be "we don't like Christians."

What I wish the author had done differently
Speaking of language in the previous part, my suspension of disbelief was disrupted every time Johnathan began to preach or speak because he sounded as if here were still in a born-again chapel before the world ended. Personally, I find it hard to believe that their language, slang, and even religion, would not evolve after such a (literally) world-shattering event twenty years before. Religions today are changing rapidly already, especially the typical "American" ones, so I found it hard to believe that Johnathan wouldn't have changed along with the world and the faith either.
This isn't necessarily unique to this book, either. This can be a critique of the end-of-the-world genre as a whole. Trying to balance relatability with a believable evolution of the future often ends up being more relatable
I would have liked to see the author use his talent for world-building and imagination, and apply it to what he might see as the evolution language, society, slang, and religion and faith might take after the apocalypse.

Surprises and twists
There would be two things I would call a "surprise" or a "twist" in this book.
The first is that the main character, despite the constant pressure from his travel companions, does not end up converting to the Christian faith, though he does grow more sympathetic to it, even admitting in the end to a God of some kind.
The second is that the end of the world wasn't what we were lead to believe. At a couple of places in the book, it hints that other sinister forces might have been at work, and the book leaves us on a cliffhanger with the possibility that Doyle might find something out very soon.

Who is this a good book for?
If you're Christian (or faithful in any way, or non-religious, but don't mind a healthy dose of born-again preaching in your fiction). It does have an interesting take on the end of the world, and the "zombie" trope, which is a refreshing change from the norm that some readers might appreciate.

Who is this not a good book for?
Anyone who doesn't want religion in their fiction. The book is very heavy with the Christian dialogue, mostly Johnathan trying to convince Doyle, among others, to join him in his faith.

Similar books
I can't say I've read any books like this one before. There is always a huge amount of post-apocalyptic books out there, but ones that focus on the faith aspect of it, particularly from the perspective of a minister, is something I don't think I've seen before. So it might be unique, or it might only exist in some very local Christian markets.

Read more about it here: https://lostexplorersclub.com/book-re...
Profile Image for C.S. Wachter.
Author 10 books106 followers
April 13, 2020
3.5 Stars
After pastoring a small church in the safety of an established settlement ten years after the bombs fell and cannibals arose, Jonathan, his family and another family believe they are called to set out as missionaries. At the same time, lone traveler Doyle arrives in their settlement driving an armored bus and seeking to trade.

Doyle needs a new tire and rim and fuel. Jonathan and his church have both. They come to an agreement that places solitary Doyle in the position of driver and protector to both families as they set out to find other settlements with the goal of planting two churches.

There is the normal violence of apocalyptic zombie genre here, but this time it is mixed with the missionary zeal of Jonathan and the others. With a generous dose of preaching by Jonathan.

I personally had a difficult time with the POV/tense changes. (Doyle’s first person/present tense and everyone else’s third person/past tense). And, at times, I struggled with the settlements they stop at being such obvious platforms foing against other worldviews. That could have been done without setting them up as flat stereotypes.

All in all, a unique twist on the typical zombie apocalypse and an interesting read.
Profile Image for RANGER.
315 reviews29 followers
September 1, 2023
Uniquely familiar; a fresh Christian take on an old TEOTWAWKI theme -
Ahhh… The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI)! One of my favorite genres... and one that has been rehashed in so many ways and so many times it takes a unique perspective to give such familiar novels a fresh feel. And that is exactly what Eric Landfried has done with Solitary Man.
First of all, this is a book about (oddly enough) church planting. Most people know about mission work overseas but few American Christians ever concern themselves with domestic missions work which is usually called church planting. As a church planting pastor in a church planting organization, I absolutely did NOT expect church planting to be the theme of a Christian end-of-the-world yarn. But it is the theme of Solitary Man. Kudos to the author for that!
Secondly, the plot and characters around which the church planting take place are recognizable. Doyle, the protagonist here, is a thinly veiled carbon copy of the character Rourke from Daylight's Edge (the best 21st century zombie movie, in my humble opinion). The plot is similar, too. Doyle/Rourke is a highly skilled, military vet drifter crisscrossing an American post-apocalyptic landscape in an armored vehicle, dispatching zombies in the movie, cannibals in this novel. Both stumble across a community of well-organized survivors in search of a bus to take them to a safe haven. Meanwhile, zombies/cannibals led by a demented or zombified military man, are showing an advanced capability to organize, thus putting all survivors at enhanced risk. This is where the similarities between this novel and that movie end. In Solitary Man, Doyle, a Navy SEAL combat vet, is DRIVING an armored bus. And the survivors he finds include a thriving church in search of safe transport to launch two families into nearby survivor communities to start new churches. They convince the confirmed skeptic Doyle to take them in exchange for some fuel and off they go. It's a great take on a familiar plot. Along the way, they save a girl from her cannibal lifestyle, have run-ins with The General, a steroid enhanced military man organizing cannibals as part of a government conspiracy, establish church footholds in two stereotypically hostile societies and open the door for a sequel that just might explain how the United States fell into such a wasteland state. It's a fantastic ride and I look forward to the sequel.
Now there are some issues with this novel. It's Eric Landfried's first, after all. The two tiered POV, Doyle's in first person, everyone else in third, is not fun to read. Landfried should have picked a POV and stuck with it. Putting them in the same chapters together is confusing and much better writers have failed to pull this off. Some scenes are a bit fanciful, almost farcical -- resembling an allegory like Pilgrim's Progress more than a serious TEOTWAWKI yarn. Especially as the church-planting group finds itself preaching the Gospel in a hostile socialist community and then a hostile New Age egalitarian society. In these scenes, both Christians and non-believers come across as unoriginal stereotypes mouthing clichés we've heard before on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and TBN. I prefer more descriptive words and atmosphere to develop the mood, not clichés from the mouth of stock characters.
And finally, some elements of the story are rushed. Hopefully the sequel will explain a few things that are glossed over.
But first novel errors shouldn't stop people from reading this fine debut. Especially Christian fiction fans. This is way more interesting than the latest Amish Romance or Boy Scout Military Thriller. Recommended.
Profile Image for Terry Conrad.
292 reviews20 followers
April 29, 2019
I love finding new authors with different stories. I have a couple friends on Goodreads where they comment on new authors who write unique story lines. I look them up, if they capture my attention I read them. That's how I found this book.
This is a story about our world after a devastating war. We have cannibals in this story. Oh Yea! This got my attention right away. Cannibals in Christian Fiction. I wasn't disappointed. The author did a great job mixing these 2 ideas into a story. It was action packed without compromising Christian beliefs.
My only problem with this book was the character Jonathon. He wouldn't fight or even kill a cannibal because of his faith, not even to protect his family. He doesn't even want the person hired to protect them to even kill a cannibal. So, is Jonathon going to sit there and let them take his family and kill them? Maybe the author needed to write it this way to have more of a story and a spiritual lesson.
My only other issue is the writing. Some of the book is written in present tense and some in past tense. I ran into this about 6 books ago. I prefer past tense. It's hard to get emotionally involved in a book written in present tense.
My favorite character is definitely Doyle. The tough guy hired to protect. He's not going to open his heart or show any emotion, so he thinks. I think there's another story here for Doyle.
A good strong 4 stars but I'm going to 5 stars. I like different and I got it.
Profile Image for Leticia Glidewell.
28 reviews
May 10, 2019
For those that enjoy stories about the end of the world, this is definitely the book for you. It has a lot of action, very vivid and graphic details, which you would expect from a world that has been shattered by war, starvation, and violence. Survival of the fittest takes on a whole new avenue.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It has all the elements of a post-apocalyptic adventure. Doyle, the protagonist and unbeliever, is a tough Navy SEAL, who survives by his instincts and training. Being alone has its advantages, no one to worry about except for himself, until he meets a small group of Christians that changes everything for him. He faces new dangers and situations that test him to the limit of his abilities.
Profile Image for Tessa Stockton.
Author 20 books50 followers
August 21, 2019
Post-apocalyptic mission and missionary, a test of survival for life and belief. Solitary Man is good Christian speculative fiction with a raw and driven plot, realistic action, likable and often relatable characters, and then there are those dreaded zombie-esque cannibals to shun. The faith-filled conversations were long and plentiful, and felt at times somewhat contrived. Other than that, this is a book to catch.
Profile Image for Dylan West.
Author 4 books68 followers
January 22, 2024
Beautiful writing for a brutal world

This book uses so many concrete, sensory details to put me right there in the scene. And the scenes painted here are quite stark. I like the realistic details the author uses to depict a post-apocalyptic world. It's very well thought out. And the Christian aspects are strong throughout. Sometimes a bit preachy, but always authentic, even dealing with the hard issues like self-defense killing vs pacifism. The characters are well-developed and totally believable--especially Doyle as a soldier--and the action never really stops. Even in the lulls, there's plenty of tension.

Parts I found memorable:
-"I admit I've sometimes taken my Glock and just stared at it for long periods of time, holding it up to my face, taking in the smells of gun oil and the faint residue of gunpowder."
-"Even at night, a city this size would have been humming with life and noise: the sodium-vapor buzz of streetlights, the dull hiss of car tires on the streets, the honks of impatient drivers, the occasional shrieking wail of ambulances and police cars..."
-"I miss her, too, Daddy, but I'm so glad she gets to meet Jesus. And then, when we get up there, she can introduce us to Him, and that way it won't be so awkward meeting Him for the first time."

I've read LOTS of post-apocalyptic books and they start to feel the same. This book had plenty of new things to add to the usual fare that kept it fresh. Give this book a try. You may find yourself engrossed in it just as I was.
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