What do you think?
Rate this book
Automaton
America has fallen. Her states divided into haves and have nots. The East, a shell of its former glory, ravaged by a terrorist attack that has left them in darkness and now lead by Deluge Worldwide, the largest corporation on Earth. The West, a functioning society built on progressive values and looking to export their ideals back East.
Michael Connors is a Recruiter for Deluge's army. A former soldier and guinea pig for a government experiment gone wrong, Michael is uniquely adept at his job, rounding up new soldiers to retake the country. However, one day he is approached with a mission, even he may not be able to complete. Assassinate a scientist on the other side of the country.
Michael must survive the months-long journey across the US, partnered with the brutal and psychopathic Donahue, whose devil may care attitude makes life difficult for those in his way and those left behind in his wake. He has a whole world to contend with, but the most dangerous enemy may just be the one from within his own soul.
Michael Connors is a Recruiter for Deluge's army. A former soldier and guinea pig for a government experiment gone wrong, Michael is uniquely adept at his job, rounding up new soldiers to retake the country. However, one day he is approached with a mission, even he may not be able to complete. Assassinate a scientist on the other side of the country.
Michael must survive the months-long journey across the US, partnered with the brutal and psychopathic Donahue, whose devil may care attitude makes life difficult for those in his way and those left behind in his wake. He has a whole world to contend with, but the most dangerous enemy may just be the one from within his own soul.
- GenresFiction
223 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 3, 2022
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 31, 2022
Characters are interesting but not likable. The scenarios and the world building get you roped in for the first 1/2 of the book and its easy/short read to make you want to finish. Unfortunately some of the set ups don't pay off by the end or if they do, its unsatisfactory.
First half of the book feels like Walking Dead (minus the Zombies)... i.e. dealing with the terrible new societies that pop up in a post apocalypse world. Second half of the book feels like Grapes of Wrath (deadly, depressing journey across the barren wasteland of middle America).
First half of the book feels like Walking Dead (minus the Zombies)... i.e. dealing with the terrible new societies that pop up in a post apocalypse world. Second half of the book feels like Grapes of Wrath (deadly, depressing journey across the barren wasteland of middle America).
September 8, 2023
DNF 50%
Got no sense of the world. No purpose. Writing was alright.
Got no sense of the world. No purpose. Writing was alright.
July 1, 2025
Story and main character were excellent, but Donahue really ruined it for me.
March 1, 2025
Started in December 2024 then restarted on Tuesday January 2nd 2025 and finished on Friday January 10th 2025
After a large scale catastrophe America devolves into widespread autonomous zones held together by tribal warfare
Militant recruitment teams are then tasked with drafting citizens from these zones.
A recruiter operating at his most dangerous is assigned with going cross country in a convoy of survivors to carry out an assassination
Humanity has literalized into a survival of fittest animal kingdom
Formal aspects of the work were handled very well
Dark foreshadowing
Pulpy hefty violence with a lot of matter of fact punch
Demonstrations of unfortunate circumstantial survival instincts—the demise and leaving behind of innocents
War-like depravity third world tribalistic displays of power through gore
Well executed action and shocking blink and you miss brutality
Never beats you over the head with its thematics they are just present and assist in the storytelling
Sacrifice
Asserting hierarchical dominance
Accessing the Jungian shadow the repressed primal self
Being caught in a cycle of perpetuating violence in order to prevent it
Erasing the horrors of the past to pave brighter futures
Oregon trail/walking dead/ the road vibes
Said holy shit the exact same way and at the same time as a character did in the book
I wasn’t prepared for certain moments of great emotional depth
Between this and The Search For More Money I’m coming to expect this with Hudson’s writing now
He is able to pinpoint and capitalize on an incident in a way that just hits me right in the core
Feels like the entry to a trilogy
Leaves you wanting to see certain arcs fulfilled
An ultimately very satisfying entry into Hudson’s work
After a large scale catastrophe America devolves into widespread autonomous zones held together by tribal warfare
Militant recruitment teams are then tasked with drafting citizens from these zones.
A recruiter operating at his most dangerous is assigned with going cross country in a convoy of survivors to carry out an assassination
Humanity has literalized into a survival of fittest animal kingdom
Formal aspects of the work were handled very well
Dark foreshadowing
Pulpy hefty violence with a lot of matter of fact punch
Demonstrations of unfortunate circumstantial survival instincts—the demise and leaving behind of innocents
War-like depravity third world tribalistic displays of power through gore
Well executed action and shocking blink and you miss brutality
Never beats you over the head with its thematics they are just present and assist in the storytelling
Sacrifice
Asserting hierarchical dominance
Accessing the Jungian shadow the repressed primal self
Being caught in a cycle of perpetuating violence in order to prevent it
Erasing the horrors of the past to pave brighter futures
Oregon trail/walking dead/ the road vibes
Said holy shit the exact same way and at the same time as a character did in the book
I wasn’t prepared for certain moments of great emotional depth
Between this and The Search For More Money I’m coming to expect this with Hudson’s writing now
He is able to pinpoint and capitalize on an incident in a way that just hits me right in the core
Feels like the entry to a trilogy
Leaves you wanting to see certain arcs fulfilled
An ultimately very satisfying entry into Hudson’s work
February 20, 2023
Pedantic, long-winded and uninspired tripe that is equal parts 3rd rate Cormac McCarthy, John Steinbeck and the kind of self-indulgent tripe you'd expect from terminally online people with no redeeming social value outside online echo chambers and culture war circle jerks.
Exceptionally boring prose and tepid power fantasies in the form of action sequences that reek of soft, pampered, zero life experience giftwrapping one dull page after another.
The characters are boring to the point of being forgettable, the plot is practically non-existent and the book was an overall underwhelming ordeal in where time was spent I regret not diverting elsewhere.
Exceptionally boring prose and tepid power fantasies in the form of action sequences that reek of soft, pampered, zero life experience giftwrapping one dull page after another.
The characters are boring to the point of being forgettable, the plot is practically non-existent and the book was an overall underwhelming ordeal in where time was spent I regret not diverting elsewhere.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews