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Surviving the Virus #1
Outbreak
A deadly virus. A society out of control. Who will survive the outbreak?
It all happens without warning. People drop dead in the streets. Violence erupts. As the government desperately struggle to control the outbreak, survivors battle for supplies and shelter in a terrifying new world.
Noah is in the city centre when the chaos strikes. Stranded in town and surrounded by panic and hysteria, he has no choice but to battle back to his flat. But will he make it through a city that is rapidly losing control?
Jasmine is a high-flying young professional. But everything changes when her boss drops dead before her, showing signs of a deadly new virus. In the midst of the drama, does she have what it takes to rescue her beloved dog and seek out shelter for the pair of them?
Outbreak is the first book in the Surviving the Virus post apocalyptic survival series. If you enjoy stories of ordinary people thrown into harrowing new circumstances, you'll love Outbreak.
It all happens without warning. People drop dead in the streets. Violence erupts. As the government desperately struggle to control the outbreak, survivors battle for supplies and shelter in a terrifying new world.
Noah is in the city centre when the chaos strikes. Stranded in town and surrounded by panic and hysteria, he has no choice but to battle back to his flat. But will he make it through a city that is rapidly losing control?
Jasmine is a high-flying young professional. But everything changes when her boss drops dead before her, showing signs of a deadly new virus. In the midst of the drama, does she have what it takes to rescue her beloved dog and seek out shelter for the pair of them?
Outbreak is the first book in the Surviving the Virus post apocalyptic survival series. If you enjoy stories of ordinary people thrown into harrowing new circumstances, you'll love Outbreak.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 11, 2020
1016 people are currently reading
223 people want to read
About the author
Ryan Casey
163 books181 followersRyan Casey is the author of over a dozen novels and a highly successful serial. He writes gritty post-apocalyptic fiction, throwing normal people into devastating situations and exploring how they react and adapt. He has also written several detective mysteries and thrillers. Across all genres, Casey's work is renowned for its rapid pacing, unforgettably complex characters, and knockout twists.
Casey lives in the United Kingdom. He has a BA degree in English with Creative Writing from the University of Birmingham, and has been writing stories for as long as he can remember. In his spare time, he can be spotted walking his West Highland White Terrier, has a passion for cinema and television, and probably spends a little bit too much time in the pub.
For more information on Ryan's books, visit http://ryancaseybooks.com/
Want to be notified about new releases? Sign up for the new release mailing list & get free books and other goodies!
http://ryancaseybooks.com/fanclub
Casey lives in the United Kingdom. He has a BA degree in English with Creative Writing from the University of Birmingham, and has been writing stories for as long as he can remember. In his spare time, he can be spotted walking his West Highland White Terrier, has a passion for cinema and television, and probably spends a little bit too much time in the pub.
For more information on Ryan's books, visit http://ryancaseybooks.com/
Want to be notified about new releases? Sign up for the new release mailing list & get free books and other goodies!
http://ryancaseybooks.com/fanclub
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 14, 2020
It wasn’t a bad book.
The main characters were not really likeable, none of them were. But they were thought through albeit lacking any good character traits that would make them more sympathetic or relatable.
Normal people can be likeable. And isn’t it the reason you read those books, this genre, that you want to see normal people jump over their shadow?
Normal people fight, learn and adapt?
The storyline was interesting but slow paced and the writing style was in desperate need of an editor and to be proof read.
I really wanted to like this book but in the end, I am not interested in continuing the book series.
The writing style, the characters along with their actions or non-actions more likely, coupled with the slow pace because we are stuck in their heads too many times, made it not a pleasant read. The inner monologues are not interesting if the theme is always the same, they drown in self pity and fears. Chewing on their emotional incapacities although the flavour has already faded and I don’t see any growth or development.
Not only the inner monologues, which took up way too much room, but also the short sentences prohibited a fluent read. I constantly stumbled over the shortness of it and even skipped some thoughts of the characters out of boredom and their over dramatic and way too much thinking.
The writing style was what made it such a stringy read shown by the excerpts below.
...”The guy held his hands up. By his side, Jasmine. Kelly. Eddie. Barney. All of them standing there.”...
...”He looked at Jasmine. Eddie. Kelly. “Come on. We’ve got to get moving.”...
...”Noah looked at Kelly. At Jasmine. At Eddie. And he looked at Barney too. Standing there. Staring at Colin.”...
...”He looked at Eddie staring widely at this hold-up. Then at Kelly, at Barney, at Jasmine.”...
Small inconsistencies could be overlooked. Like them remaining standing in the middle of the road like idiots, or how one got infected blood all over his face or another one saliva and still they managed to not get themselves infected. Same goes with the dog who even licked it off of a face. Then the moments in which no one thinks of dressing properly, getting blood free clothes, like Noah when he was at home. Or what about food? Even for the bloody dog. No one packs a bag... or even thinks about medicine after being injured several times throughout the first hours of the outbreak... and many more.
At times the author showed real potential and other times he lost my attention completely or shows amateurish work.
The main characters were not really likeable, none of them were. But they were thought through albeit lacking any good character traits that would make them more sympathetic or relatable.
Normal people can be likeable. And isn’t it the reason you read those books, this genre, that you want to see normal people jump over their shadow?
Normal people fight, learn and adapt?
The storyline was interesting but slow paced and the writing style was in desperate need of an editor and to be proof read.
I really wanted to like this book but in the end, I am not interested in continuing the book series.
The writing style, the characters along with their actions or non-actions more likely, coupled with the slow pace because we are stuck in their heads too many times, made it not a pleasant read. The inner monologues are not interesting if the theme is always the same, they drown in self pity and fears. Chewing on their emotional incapacities although the flavour has already faded and I don’t see any growth or development.
Not only the inner monologues, which took up way too much room, but also the short sentences prohibited a fluent read. I constantly stumbled over the shortness of it and even skipped some thoughts of the characters out of boredom and their over dramatic and way too much thinking.
The writing style was what made it such a stringy read shown by the excerpts below.
...”The guy held his hands up. By his side, Jasmine. Kelly. Eddie. Barney. All of them standing there.”...
...”He looked at Jasmine. Eddie. Kelly. “Come on. We’ve got to get moving.”...
...”Noah looked at Kelly. At Jasmine. At Eddie. And he looked at Barney too. Standing there. Staring at Colin.”...
...”He looked at Eddie staring widely at this hold-up. Then at Kelly, at Barney, at Jasmine.”...
Small inconsistencies could be overlooked. Like them remaining standing in the middle of the road like idiots, or how one got infected blood all over his face or another one saliva and still they managed to not get themselves infected. Same goes with the dog who even licked it off of a face. Then the moments in which no one thinks of dressing properly, getting blood free clothes, like Noah when he was at home. Or what about food? Even for the bloody dog. No one packs a bag... or even thinks about medicine after being injured several times throughout the first hours of the outbreak... and many more.
At times the author showed real potential and other times he lost my attention completely or shows amateurish work.
May 15, 2020
It was a quick read for me (speed reader). A lot of gloom and doom scared me, but that's the norm for apocalyptic reads. Honestly, I enjoy reading these kinds of books. People ask me why and my response is "why not? what if something like this were to happen? Would you be ready?" So I see it more as a learning tool. The characters were well defined and the moments very suspenseful! I'll admit that after reading this, I had nightmares.
I've read other books like this that are so badly written (I'm sorry, I had to say this) and I stop following the authors. But, Ryan Casey is new to me and I'm reading the 2nd book in the series. I can hardly wait to see how this all plays out!
Prepare to be scared. :-)
I've read other books like this that are so badly written (I'm sorry, I had to say this) and I stop following the authors. But, Ryan Casey is new to me and I'm reading the 2nd book in the series. I can hardly wait to see how this all plays out!
Prepare to be scared. :-)
September 7, 2020
A solid start
This isn't a book that does anything terribly new and chugs along, happily embracing genre tropes. While this may sound like a criticism, it most certainly isn't one because if you like post apocalyptic fiction you'll probably like this. It ticks all the boxes, from the set piece fall of civilization moments, to the protagonists escaping from a collapsing town, to make for assumed safety.
It's a book that I'd describe as being like a comfy pair of slippers. You know exactly what to expect and sometimes that's all you want.
I read this on Kindle Unlimited and I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably burn through the rest of the series over the next week or two. I've read Ryan Casey's stuff before and so far it's always been time well spent.
This isn't a book that does anything terribly new and chugs along, happily embracing genre tropes. While this may sound like a criticism, it most certainly isn't one because if you like post apocalyptic fiction you'll probably like this. It ticks all the boxes, from the set piece fall of civilization moments, to the protagonists escaping from a collapsing town, to make for assumed safety.
It's a book that I'd describe as being like a comfy pair of slippers. You know exactly what to expect and sometimes that's all you want.
I read this on Kindle Unlimited and I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably burn through the rest of the series over the next week or two. I've read Ryan Casey's stuff before and so far it's always been time well spent.
December 14, 2020
REALLY shaky start...
OK. I'm only at page 86. So far. I don't know if I will read more or finish the book. So far the author has described symptoms and symptoms and MORE symptoms as they affect what I'm presuming to be his main characters. Plus Barney the dog. To tell the truth once or twice was enough. I'm bored and waiting for one of the characters to do something other than fail at life in general. Once this plague hits, I can only assume they'll devolve into blathering idiots.
Nope. I'm not going any further. Nothing against Mr. Casey, but I don't like the book. I'm surprised it got through editing and into e-print.
There was a movie years ago named "Outbreak." It was well-written and well acted. It could never have derived from this book.
OK. I'm only at page 86. So far. I don't know if I will read more or finish the book. So far the author has described symptoms and symptoms and MORE symptoms as they affect what I'm presuming to be his main characters. Plus Barney the dog. To tell the truth once or twice was enough. I'm bored and waiting for one of the characters to do something other than fail at life in general. Once this plague hits, I can only assume they'll devolve into blathering idiots.
Nope. I'm not going any further. Nothing against Mr. Casey, but I don't like the book. I'm surprised it got through editing and into e-print.
There was a movie years ago named "Outbreak." It was well-written and well acted. It could never have derived from this book.
January 20, 2024
Wow what a start to the series. I am really looking forward to the next book.
Before starting to write about this book I would like to tell one thing to other readers, which is to be patient for the first few chapters. If you get through the first few chapters I am sure you will surely like the book as I do.
One thing I kind of gathered from this book is everyone seems to be infected and we are yet to know how's and what's of the virus.
One question to the author is why did he injure Noah that much (glass from the bus, hammer to the face).
Overall a nice book with lots of unknown but not up to the mark of 5 stars.
Before starting to write about this book I would like to tell one thing to other readers, which is to be patient for the first few chapters. If you get through the first few chapters I am sure you will surely like the book as I do.
One thing I kind of gathered from this book is everyone seems to be infected and we are yet to know how's and what's of the virus.
One question to the author is why did he injure Noah that much (glass from the bus, hammer to the face).
Overall a nice book with lots of unknown but not up to the mark of 5 stars.
July 5, 2025
This author knows how to create suspense by ending each chapter on a cliffhanger, also he manages really well to give each character their own voice. However, this doesn't make the fact any better that none of the characters seems especially interesting or well-rounded, they're kinda bland, unlikeable, and you cannot really identify with any of them. That's why I won't read more than the first part of this series.
Plus, I also read the first part of another series by this author and he always builds his stories after the exact same plan, which was great for reading one book by him, but if you read more, it gets very repetitive very quickly.
Plus, I also read the first part of another series by this author and he always builds his stories after the exact same plan, which was great for reading one book by him, but if you read more, it gets very repetitive very quickly.
May 7, 2020
I generally liked this book and it was written with a decent style and few editing errors. The onset of a deadly virus occurs with horror coming to the characters on a gradual basis as the reality sets in. I had some problems connecting with the characters (except Barney the dog). There was a lot of repetitive introspection which tended to slow the action. I am curious enough as to what happens and especially what happened to Eddie to read the next book.
October 30, 2020
I want to say the writing was done well in the sense we got to know the characters but the whole virus thing was confusing. I didn’t know if we were dealing with zombies or the beginning of zombies or just a virus. Plus I was confused at the symptoms forward. So maybe I will read the next in series to see how it all plays out. Hopefully things will get sorted out and who knows Eddie might get the girl.
March 13, 2021
I really wanted to like this book. I’m a huge series reader and as soon as I saw a post apocalyptic series I was sold, however this one just kinda let me down.
I just feel like it lacked some editing and the scenario just felt too far fetched for me with the way the virus started and behaved, I rounded up to 2 stars because I felt it had potential to be good with some changes but the characters just did nothing for me and I couldn’t wait to finish it. Sadly I won’t be continuing the series.
I just feel like it lacked some editing and the scenario just felt too far fetched for me with the way the virus started and behaved, I rounded up to 2 stars because I felt it had potential to be good with some changes but the characters just did nothing for me and I couldn’t wait to finish it. Sadly I won’t be continuing the series.
March 25, 2020
Fast, gruesome, but with bits of fun!
This was a quick read, good timeline, had different points of views, and established characterization. It had fantastic moments that kept you on the edge in anticipation, and it didn't have your typical cheesy romance, seemed real and authentic for what it was about. Gave me a wide range of emotions! Very enjoyable read!
This was a quick read, good timeline, had different points of views, and established characterization. It had fantastic moments that kept you on the edge in anticipation, and it didn't have your typical cheesy romance, seemed real and authentic for what it was about. Gave me a wide range of emotions! Very enjoyable read!
March 30, 2020
It Keeps You Turning the Pages...
This is a really fast paced book one with a good deal going on around multiple characters....it kept me interested throughout. I am really looking forward to the next book. I really like these characters and look forward to learning more about each one.
This is a really fast paced book one with a good deal going on around multiple characters....it kept me interested throughout. I am really looking forward to the next book. I really like these characters and look forward to learning more about each one.
Read
July 22, 2020This is a very suspenseful & very realistic book. I feel that in these times, it gives you a look into possibilities of what's to come or could possibly happen. It also gives you an insight into how to handle, to a certain extent, what could possibly happen around you & in the world. I really enjoyed it!
April 24, 2020
Outbreak
Surviving this virus is going to be harder than these young character can believe. This virus does not play fair, right when you think you have the virus you get well. What's up with that, so I'm order to find out you must read book one and the book two and so on until you have read the series.
Surviving this virus is going to be harder than these young character can believe. This virus does not play fair, right when you think you have the virus you get well. What's up with that, so I'm order to find out you must read book one and the book two and so on until you have read the series.
June 5, 2020
Quick and easy read. Makes the covid outbreak seem easier. Storyline is interesting but characters change crazy fast. Lots of short sentences and phrases to create anxiety and mania but overused and brings me out of story. Id like more description. I will read the next book!
June 14, 2020
Fantastic
What an enthralling book. I couldn't put it down! With heartache and twists and turns I love each character and how they step up to the mark. A must read book! Can't wait for the second book now!! Fantastic!
What an enthralling book. I couldn't put it down! With heartache and twists and turns I love each character and how they step up to the mark. A must read book! Can't wait for the second book now!! Fantastic!
June 30, 2020
Keeps me wanting MORE... :-)
Very nice character building... nice suspense. Need more environmental descriptions, and perhaps more “tempo!?)....otherwise very exciting! Keeps me wanting MORE!
I’m reading book two in the series now. :-)
Very nice character building... nice suspense. Need more environmental descriptions, and perhaps more “tempo!?)....otherwise very exciting! Keeps me wanting MORE!
I’m reading book two in the series now. :-)
September 18, 2020
For me the book started slowly, but after the foundation was laid it grabbed my interest more and more. it reminds me Ebola, but a far distant mutation. It will be interesting to see how story evolve without hydration or simple body functions.
December 3, 2020
Started so well
I think I will read the rest but I got really bored toward the end. The “virus” doesn’t make much sense, the characters I felt were very shallow I didn’t like any of them. The start really captured me but I felt the story just struggled to get going
I think I will read the rest but I got really bored toward the end. The “virus” doesn’t make much sense, the characters I felt were very shallow I didn’t like any of them. The start really captured me but I felt the story just struggled to get going
January 29, 2021
Normal Heroes
This book reminded me that we all have a past, pain, weakness, and fears. None of that has a bearing on whether we'll be heroes during an apocalypse. Sometimes those weaknesses are what make us strong.
This book reminded me that we all have a past, pain, weakness, and fears. None of that has a bearing on whether we'll be heroes during an apocalypse. Sometimes those weaknesses are what make us strong.
March 20, 2020
Good read
Fast moving story. Easy read. I plan on reading the next book in the series. Definitely can't wait for more.
Fast moving story. Easy read. I plan on reading the next book in the series. Definitely can't wait for more.
April 9, 2020
Boring characters
Interesting premise, but I couldn't care less about a British Otaku, his ex girlfriend, and what seems to be her token black friend. I like the dogs though...
Interesting premise, but I couldn't care less about a British Otaku, his ex girlfriend, and what seems to be her token black friend. I like the dogs though...
April 14, 2020
Another....
......great book by Ryan Casey!!!! Lots of action, emotion and blood & guts!!!! Really looking forward to reading the next book in this series!!!
......great book by Ryan Casey!!!! Lots of action, emotion and blood & guts!!!! Really looking forward to reading the next book in this series!!!
April 15, 2020
I like it a lot so far
I really enjoyed this. I like it better now that it's not constantly going back and forth between characters! I'm especially rooting for Eddie.
I really enjoyed this. I like it better now that it's not constantly going back and forth between characters! I'm especially rooting for Eddie.
May 12, 2020
Not especially riveting
Opening was interesting but then the story went into a rambling narative about 4 friends. It doesn't really keep it interesting.
Opening was interesting but then the story went into a rambling narative about 4 friends. It doesn't really keep it interesting.
August 9, 2020
Enjoyable read.
Really liked the characters. Dog lover so dog in story is good character too.. love the way bad guy was killed..
Really liked the characters. Dog lover so dog in story is good character too.. love the way bad guy was killed..
September 27, 2020
This is fabulous!! Can’t wait to read the next one.
October 4, 2020
Apocalyptic thriller!
Good read! As usual, when reading non-American author, I sometimes have problems with slang. With Covid at the forefront, this really hits home!
Good read! As usual, when reading non-American author, I sometimes have problems with slang. With Covid at the forefront, this really hits home!
May 30, 2021
Good end of world by virus book
Not perfect but decent plot will be interesting if next book keeps suspense. Is a good summer vacation read. Have fun
Not perfect but decent plot will be interesting if next book keeps suspense. Is a good summer vacation read. Have fun
October 29, 2022
Another great read.
This book had me sitting on the edge off my bed ,it was so interesting and made you think what if ????
This book had me sitting on the edge off my bed ,it was so interesting and made you think what if ????
October 20, 2023
Good read
Really great start to the series . Enjoying it so far looking forward to the next book in the series.
Really great start to the series . Enjoying it so far looking forward to the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews