Desperate Times

Desperate Times #1

by Nicholas Antinozzi

Jimmy Logan wakes up in the morning to find that the stock market is crashing and the dollar has collapsed. He makes a trip to town and finds the banks closed and hyperinflation has hit the streets. Many believe its the End of Times. Jimmy joins up with some friends and they head north to ride out the storm. That's when they find that everyone wants what they have, and will kill to get it.

Genres: Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Mystery, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Ebooks

Nook

First published April 4, 2010

Reviews

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8/1 - A really tense atmosphere and plenty of action make this quite the page turner. I didn't like Jimmy to start with, he reminded me of a character from the tv show Kingdom. He was way too ready to use his fists to solve his problems, but once the disaster struck his penchant for fighting became a logical response to what was going on around him rather than the easiest quick-fix option that's only going to make the situation worse.

I didn't realise this was the start of a series until I got to the end of the book and we're left with a cliff hanger. The idea that the police would turn up and declare "everything's fine now, you can all go back to your lives" was laughable and I'm surprised that so many people fell for it. How could they go back to their lives? If what happened to Jimmy and the others with him is any example 25% of the country (if not the world) is dead or injured as a result of most of the population going crazy. Every house, every place of business has been looted or even completely destroyed, most people wouldn't even have a home to go back to. Like in most disaster situations, it's going to take a very long time for things to go back to normal.

I'm not American and my government is not really like the American government, so maybe everything Antinozzi said about FEMA and the government is true or possible in the right situation, but I found it hard to believe the National Guard would behave as they were portrayed. Especially the 'shooting civilians without violent provocation' part. They were no better than the bikers. Frightened civilians were no safer with the people supposedly there to protect them than they were with those known for their violent and ruthless nature.

None of the above means that I didn't have problems with the book, I most certainly did, particularly in the editing department (I know, shock horror! :o).

The first thing I noticed (not an editing mistake) was that the opening words were 'Friday, September 24, 1869'. That's my birthday, 115 years before my birth.

Now onto the editing mistakes (sorry, no page numbers with this eBook):

Location 270
'Had Bill's booming voice waked her up?

That should be 'woken'.

Location 699
'Jimmy shook his head and unlocked the driver door.'

That should be either driver's or driver's side door.

Location 1021
'Carl must've known heard that in his voice.'

Even if you delete the mistakenly added known from that sentence it still needs work.

Location 1280
'Julie gave Jimmy a flash of smile...'

That should be a flash of a smile.

Location 1311
'...keeping together close as Ken had instructed.'

That should be keeping close together.

Location 1365
'He was relieved that Ken had finally made the peace.'

That whole sentence needs to be reworked, something like 'He was relieved that he and Ken were finally able to make peace with each other.' would work much better. To 'make one's peace with someone' means to reconcile with a person, it doesn't work when you change 'make' to 'made'.

Location 1739
'...a gun would become as much of his daily attire...'

The words a part are missing between much and of.

Location 1941
'There's always fish and worse comes to worse...'

The phrase is actually if worst comes to worst, sometimes if worse comes to worst but never as Antinozzi wrote above.

Location 2520
'Jimmy cocked his fists back and threw an exaggerated left hook...'

He only punched with one hand, so that should be fist.

Location 2623
'Many of Ken's people seemed most jealous...'

From the context of the sentence I think that's meant to be almost.

Location 2690
'Jimmy could count three people in that boat, one at the back and steering...'

That and is unnecessary.

Location 3454
'Buck says they even have the blocked on the far end of town.'

Whole sentence needs to be rewritten so that it actually makes sense.

Location 4294
'...raced up to Brenda with a buck and dumped its contents over Brenda's head.

From the context I'm going to assume Antinozzi's not talking about throwing money at Brenda, but a bucket of something.

Location 4444
'They rode in two abreast...'

That should either be they rode two abreast or they rode in pairs.

Location 4591
'Paula told Jimmy of how they'd fled the cities, barely escaping with their lives.'

Paula, her parents and Carl didn't flee multiple cities, they fled one. Therefore that should be city.

Location 4669
'Trying to makes some conversation...'

That should be make.

Location 5070
'Jimmy felt as if a light had just gone off in his head.'

The way that's written it sounds like the metaphorical light has been switched off instead of on, kind of the opposite of the idea I assume Antinozzi was trying to get across.

Location 5106
'"Ken and Patty talked me into leaving Tuscan and moving out here."'

Is that meant to be Tucson?

Location 5343
'"I didn't tell you that we were alone in the woods..."'

That sentence isn't correct, but if you make it correct with the easiest option the sentence ends up being a double negative - I didn't tell you that we weren't alone in the woods... - which while being correct, just doesn't sound right. The whole sentence needs to be reworked, and the following one too, to make it all work properly.

Location 5556
'For all he knew, everybody would have heard about it by now...'

That should be could.

Location 5736
'Fully half of Cleveland's workforce was unemployed...'

Is that an American idiom I'm unaware of? What is the point of the word fully in that sentence? It's not like the absence of the word fully will leave readers thinking that only a portion of half of the Cleveland population were unemployed. I don't get that at all.

Location 6006
'You could've lived the high life, gone to balls and played golf and did all that other stuff that rich people do.'

That should be done.

Location 6243
'He tried standing them off by himself...'

I think what Antinozzi was trying to say was He tried to make a stand....

Location 6280
'He suddenly remembered the backpacks that he and Jon had left them in the woods...'

The them is unnecessary.

Location 6303
'"She's telling them that God has provided plenty for them to eat, in the lakes and forests."
"You ever eat a pine tree?" asked Burt.
"No, I haven't," said Jon.
"Me either," said Jimmy. "Can you do that?"
Ken smiled. Sorry boys," he said, "that must've been before your time."
"Damn, I sure feel old," said Burt.'

What the hell are they on about? Does that mean anything to someone older than my (and Jimmy's) 31 years?

Location 6958
Chapters 6 and 28 have the same opening factoid about the powers of FEMA in an emergency.

Location 7073
Chapters 21 and 29 have the same opening factoid about who President Roosevelt blamed for the problems of his day.

Location 7180
'Unloading and reloading the truck took nearly the better part of an hour.'

It's either nearly an hour or the better part of an hour, it can't be both.

The same location
'...washing it down with bottles of generic soda.

Why do we care that the soda was generic?

Location 7568
'...he found a long-handled spade shovel...'

It's either a spade or a shovel, it can't be both. According to Wikipedia shovels 'generally are broad-bottomed tools for moving loose materials, whereas spades tend to have a flat bottom edge for digging.'

Same location
'He couldn't fight the hitch in his breathing any more than one could stanch a hiccup.

I think that's meant to be staunch, because stanch isn't a word (spell check keeps trying to change it to 'stanchion').

Location 7595
'Jimmy dug until the hole was three feet deep; then took the shovel from his hands and motioned for Jimmy to step out of the grave.'

They can't both be Jimmy, the second one should be changed to Dr Benson as in the next sentence he begins to 'attack the rocky soil'.

Location 7659
'The road seemed deserted and. He knew it wouldn't be for long.'

Bad punctuation to start with, but even if the full stop/capital letter mix up was fixed the sentence would still be awkward. If there was a comma after deserted followed by a but everything would work better.

Location 7742
'"Are you sure you're all right? Maybe Doc has something you could take."
"I'll be fine, Jimmy. I don't want to take anything. I need my wits about me."

Panadol is going to make you 'witless'? That's an extreme and slightly martyrish take on over the counter painkillers.

Location 8128
'That was out of the question since with Paula tied to his neck.'

I know what he's trying to say, but how did that turn into tied to his neck'?

Location 8294
'The last day at the Plant...'

Why is plant capitalised?

Location 8423
'...her eyes streaked with tears.'

Her eyes aren't streaked with anything (if they were she'd be moaning in pain), her cheeks are.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I did not realise how many notes I'd made. Once I started pointing them out I couldn't see any not worth bringing up, so I had to mention them all, all 37 of them. I still really enjoyed the story, but I'm wondering if four stars is the right rating for a book with that many errors. I've been writing this review for 2.5 hours and I'm down to under 10,000 characters left, which makes this the longest review I've ever written. Funny how that happens when there are things to complain about, but when you love the book so much you want to marry it you have no words except saying 'fantastic' over and over. I would definitely read the next book in the series, but for the right (cheap) price.

[LadyCalico · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down until it was finished--literally--staying up until the wee hours of the morning. It was an incredible concept--not always well-executed--but since it was such a well-conceived and thought-through concept, based on historical realities, I won't dock points for piddly details. I almost quit before getting started. I was gritting my teeth in the beginning while Jimmy spun his wheels and wasted all kinds of time before responding to Ken's pleas--personally, if I were Ken I'd have left without him. I found Jimmy's disorganization really getting on my nerves--it took him 15% of the book to get off his keister and get moving! However, after Jimmy grew a brain, the book became much more readable. The author took real events that have happened in history and posited how would modern America fare if these things happened here, and guess what--he figured spoiled, indulged modern Americans made overdependent on the Nanny State would not fare really well under adversity (Katrina, anybody?), and the Nanny might prove to be a stern and abusive Nanny when her charges get out of line. What would happen if our economy should falter again like it did in the Great Depression? All would work out and be well if people weren't schmucks, but since people are schmucks...we have this novel.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, Kindle freebie. It had entertaining aspects but overall rife with credibility and editing issues that could have been addressed with just a little more effort.

This is basically an apocalypse story, speculating what could happen if the US financial system were to melt down. Many comparisons made to the Great Depression, but I don't recall hearing of roving bands of murders on motorcycles taking over hospitals, hanging old-folks for the fun of it and entire cities becoming run by militants in the 1930s. The country in this story goes from "White-Picket-Fence-America" to "Mad-Max-Survival-of-the-Meanest" in exactly one day. Seems to me we'd stumble toward anarchy a bit slower than that. This is frustrating because it could have been fixed with a single sentence, "...it took a few weeks for things to devolve, but once the slide started, no one could stop it."

And why would the National Guard all of a sudden become cold blooded killers? Are they not made up of our sons and daughters? Would these kids just start killing their friends, neighbors and relatives? If so, for what reason? And certain groups of characters flip flop from "communal effort, everybody working together" to "burn 'em like witches" in exactly one night.

But two specific things that really irked me. First, during that first day when everything goes bad, the author says, "the last plug the government pulled was the one to the internet"... such a naive concept. As if the internet could be unplugged in one day, and as if the government had any ownership/ability to do so.

But most unforgivable of all, the repeated misuse of possessive "s" as a plural, i.e., the "Dahlgren's went to the cabin" or "the Dahlgren's never thought it would happen."

Sheesh, hard to let that go.

[Beth Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a 5 star book. It really could've. It lost 2 whole stars when the author decided to put an interruption in the beginning of each and every chapter. That drove me absolutely insane. The book is well thought out, fast reading, and thoroughly enjoyable. There were alot of problems with the last quarter of the book but otherwise you really got to love the characters and felt their pains that they went through. Who couldn't love a story about the crash of society and the havoc that comes afterwards? It did need a good editing job but I think it has alot of potential.

That said, this book got 3 stars because I HATED the author come the end of the book. Every single chapter had a commercial break that stopped the story for him to put in a little narrative that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I got to where I cringed everytime I saw a new chapter come up. "We'll return to the program after a word from our sponser", then some new conspiracy crap the author dreamed up that has nothing to do with the story, then "We now return you to your regularly scheduled program". It was an unwanted distraction and interruption to the story. At the end, I truely hdespised him and felt more like I was reading comments from the bottom of a yahoo article and not a book. It was disgusting.

[Wulfwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was not my usual type of read . I thought it was about the economy which I would really rather leave out of my reading. I can get depressed on my own without anybody's help. However this book really surprised me. I couldn't put it down. The story is told through the eyes of Jimmy. It is a story about what could happen. Here in the United States. The home of the brave. The land of the free. Where we have let much of our rights be put in jeopardy. Where we have handed over too much power to Washington D.C. and a few chosen agencies such as FEMA. This isn't about who is in the White House. It really doesn't matter - the power is given to whomever is sitting there. What matters is do we really want to give over all these rights? If not how can we get them back? Read this book and you will understand why I am questioning this.

[Brandy Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I liked this book, I had two problems with it. The reasons I didn't give this novel more stars is that the novel got a little repetitive and preachy toward the end, and it ended in a cliffhanger.

Now, I'm not saying the preachy part is necessarily bad. But toward the end it got repetitive. You can only say the same thing a few different ways before it doesn't matter anymore how you say it.

As for the cliffhanger, I will look into acquiring the second book, but I don't know if I will actually buy it. The sample would have to be stunning.

[Gillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hope the views expressed in this book don't reflect those of the author. "Send in your women and they can load up"... because women can't be a threat? "The women kept the house tidy, the dishes clean and had the meals ready at their allotted times" while the men did the real work.

Soooo... are the women unfit to mingle with the men? To share in the work? After the third or fourth comment about the inferiority of women I gave up and quit the book. That combined with the awful writing made it so not worth it.

[Gloria Moulder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick's book is a good read for those of us who are interested in what is happening in our world today. His book although it is fiction the possibility that we will live through just such an event someday is very possible. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I highly recommend it.

[Allan Ashinoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The economic collapse of the US brought on by the ineptitude and greed of our politicians. This book is far too close to reality. It feels wrong to say it was an enjoyable read. Well done. Aside from some needed editing,I highly recommend this book.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suspect something like this will happen in the last days, or even sooner. But the poor writing/editing made this book a bit painful. Nevertheless, food storage is on my mind!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engaging and gripping read - I couldn't seem to put this one down, and when I wasn't reading it I found myself thinking about it during the day ready to pick it up again.

The author does a good job of setting the stage for a believable "end of world" scenario with today's financial crisis. These end of the world as we know it books aren't unique, as there seem to be more of them appearing each week (or maybe I am just becoming more aware of them), but what really differentiated this one from others I have read is how the author focuses on a core group of people and following the trials and tribulations of their lives. He gets you into the heads of their characters, especially Jimmy the main character but even to the annoying Bill - all of us have an annoying Bill in our lives - that made you quickly relate and get into the characters and the story.

At the conclusion I found myself wanting more as he left you with a cliffhanger ending and I know there is a sequel - somehow that was pulled from the Amazon Kindle store and every other online Kindle-format bookseller I found. Maybe it was pulled to fix some of the Kindle formatting errors others have talked about in their reviews - while they were slightly annoying, they didn't detract from the story - so here's hoping the sequel gets back on the Kindle site before we all forget about it. It would be a shame to waste the free promotion currently going on with this book.

[Kat]

free ebook

the economy crashed, there was a run on banks, they closed. gas $20 gal , food hoarding

the mans boss told him he could come up to the lake , to get provisions and fill the truck. his girlfriend didnt want to go, but the neighbor did so he took him and his daughter

there was a large group at the boss' house, they all caravaned to the lake

they were attacked on the way, 2 men killed

they built a wall around the property. the neighbors group were drowning in the lake during a storm. the owner of the house went out and saved them, but was hit by lightening. he was taken to the hospital in town.

the neighbors forced them to give half their food

they had to fight off a lot of people, a lot of killing
his x girlfriend shows up with her parents, who later get killed
he has to decide which x girlfriend he wants
the rich one is happy she gets all their money
this book ends with them going back to the compound, they were tricked
so you have to read the next book

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this about ten years after it was published, but was amazed at recent events making this more possible then ever. It has moved from an obscure possibility to believable. Not to go into politics, the author obviously was trying to inform his audience about the path he saw. If you ever had a nagging feeling things were running off course this story is not surprising. Those that can't see a connection in history and the present will not like this view from the mountains. Is there a moral to the story? Maybe if this is a teaching guide. Is it alturnative history? We may know in the next couple of years.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was a good read. I liked the way the end of times came about. It was more believable and not the normal mystery plague or nuclear war, etc. And the band of survivors handled most things well - protecting their own and dealing effectively (mostly) with challenges to their survival. But the characters were honestly annoying. Jimmy was so wishy washy and I would have got rid of Paula right off. And the way that people moved from one group to another with no loyalty was annoying. I didn't get invested in the characters enough to want to finish the trilogy.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

I really thought this would be a book that I would start and never finish. Boy was I wrong. This book kept me guessing until the very last page. It has many twists and turns that keep you wanting to read more and more. Great read.

[Sharon Borders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and believable SHTF story.

How quickly would things fall apart in a grid down situation? How would people respond? It brings out the best and the worst in people, with a love story too!

[Ann237 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

Loved this series! The characters were well developed that it made it easy to love or hate them. I found even the story was completely engrossing & caused one to think.

[Jefferey R Coder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read and very contemporary to our current and unstable government

I read all 3 books in this series. We live in very perilous times. The author's message at the end of the book should be taken seriously.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has its flaws but a great story and I couldn't put it down!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

Hard to get into. Not that I didn't like it, but I had to fight to keep my attention on the story. The ebbs and flows were a little off.

[Robert Dickerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read

Pretty good dystopian story. I can see where this is going so I am not interested in reading the other books.

[Beverly J. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all three Desperate Times

I enjoyed all three Desperate Times. Each one is a page turner! Each one is scarily believable. Could the events recorded in these three books happen[I hope not] but really its possible .

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Desperate Times had some very good things going for it, but also a few negatives thrown into the mix.

Desperate Times is the story of Jimmy, an average blue-collar kinda guy, with an average job, living in an average home with an average live-in girlfriend but a boss and family friend who predicts a financial collapse in the very near future and has thought through the possible consequences. With his finger on the pulse, Ken, a friend of Jimmy’s deceased parents, has prepared his cabin in the woods and has invited a select groups of friends to join him ‘for the duration’, including Jimmy and his girlfriend Paula.

However, Ken’s wife Patty has other ideas, and invites along far more people than Ken wants, and, as the woman wearing the pants behind the scenes, gets her way, no arguments.

As the impact of the financial collapse spreads across the state, Jimmy and his group find themselves thrown into a world where humanity’s morals have also rapidly fallen to the wayside. Throw in a bunch of bad guys (motorcycle gang, insane extremist pastor etc.), some more good guys (the town doctor, Patty’s hair-stylist) and a whole lot of vulnerable people who are easily influenced, and you have the makings of a good PA drama.

The characters in Desperate times are a little bit cookie-cutter, but also have some flaws that make them much more realistic and likeable than the characters of some other PA novels I have read recently. They make mistakes, they don’t believe that everyone has a good side, they have complicated romantic and personal relationships and they can’t miraculously save themselves while defeating the baddies. And sometimes good characters die.

The small excerpts at the start of each chapter make for interesting reading and add some more realism to an already probably scenario.

On the negative side, the dialogue is a little stilted in places, there is no mention of what is happening outside the lake and small town where the book is set, no travelers turning up out of the blue bring news from other parts of the state/country/world. There are also some editing issues, but I’ve definitely seen worse!

[Dustin Schroer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the entire trilogy

First off, I really enjoy post-apocalyptic stories. For the most part, I enjoyed this series as well. Even so, there are a few problems with the story in my opinion. While the first installment was entertaining and flowed pretty well, the next two installments went downhill. The problem with the series as a whole was that I was constantly angry at the characters, all of them. (SPOILERS) The problem with the main characters was that they kept making the same mistakes over and over again, without end. The same problem kept occurring. Patty and Ken would allow a person that had betrayed their survival group back into their compound, then low and behold, that person would betrayed them again. If this had happened only one time then it would have been a good plot twist, but instead it happened at least five times if not more I can't quite remember. One character betrayed the group three separate times alone. At one point, the main characters allowed a antagonist to betray the group in the same exact manner in a very short amount of time. No matter the situation, I feel like the constant repetition of betrayal and forgiveness was very tiring and overall harmed the story line. One could say that the characters just couldn't accept the way of the new world, but that would be hypocritical because the characters themselves described their acceptance of the said new way of the world. If the author meant for the main characters to be unable to learn basic lessons and if they were meant to piss the reader off, then bravo sir. A big problem with the third installment was that it moved from A to Z in the blink of an eye. One minute they are still held up in their compound, the next min Ken is close to winning the presidency. The plot moved along so quickly that it was a bit hard to accept what was going on. I feel as if the author should have split the third book into two. There is so much that he could have expanded on that the story would have flowed ten times better. I don't regret reading the series. It did entertain me, although I can't decide what the series did more, make me angry or entertain me.

[Tracy Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me quite awhile to read this book.....it wasn't because it was a bad story.....I just had so many things going on in my life I simply didn't have the time to just sit and read it.....it probably would have been a short read......but there was also the fact that although the chapters were very short.....they were VERY intense and I would find that I would have to stop after a couple of chapters. I loved that the hero of the book, Jimmy, was a cool guy with studly attributes BUT he had a kind heart and he wasn't embarrassed to let people see him cry. He was a tough guy but sometimes he had to really talk himself into things because it just seemed like too much.....that is pretty much what I would do and probably most other people in stressful and crazy situations. There was a lot of crazy and gruesome activities going on thru the story and some had me just sitting with my jaw open....trying to comprehend what was really going on. It's definitely NOT a feel good book and the ending will not make you feel relieved.......but it will make you want to go ahead and read the next two books in the series....I am looking forward with a bit of hesitance to reading them....hesitating only because the first book was so intense....have to gear up for the next two. All in all.....a pretty good 'end of the world....distaster' type read.

[Erin Korbel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!! Couldn't put it down!!

If the World were to experience an "Economic Crash"... I truly believe you've portrayed insight into how the world would be & become literally within a few hours & massive change would happen overnight!!! I couldn't put it down! You're books actually caused me to have dreams about this subject! HAHA!! Anyhow, this book is written with ease, the characters flow & are described in such great detail, you're able to picture them & you start picking up on how certain characters will react to a situation because their personalities been portrayed so impeccably!! So when 1 character hates, you want to hate, when they love, etc etc etc... I'm not going to give anything away but I haven't been able to stop thinking about what Jimmy & Julie are going to do with their life changing situation... & will he ever tell her the truth about the procedure he had done?? So, just like the 1st book, the 2nd book (this 1), invoked emotions across the board/spectrum in/with me... I've read enough books to know that it's far & few to find a great book, such as this 1, that elicits such a real life dialog & drawn picture! I really hope you keep writing! Because if any of your other books are anywhere near as fabulous as the 1st & 2nd books in the Trilogy, I'll be a fan for life!!! :-)

[Rebel Rider · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this as a Kindle freebie so I didn’t expect much but since I’m an aspiring author of post-apocalyptic fiction and I’ve considered self-publishing, I wanted to like this story. When I started reading, I noticed the formatting was poor, so chapters come in the middle of the page and look the same as the rest of the text on the page, making things a little confusing. Soon, I realized the formatting kept dumping me on the same page so I had to make sure to add a note since the bookmark feature didn’t work. Because of the poor formatting, I decided it would cost the rating a star.
Next, I noticed the author was pushing a political agenda, and pushing it into places where it didn’t really need to be. Worse, it really stuck out because I didn’t agree with much of it. Later on in the book, I was surprised, and not in a good way, when I found out one of the characters was homosexual. Because of the political agenda being pushed, and in a very obvious way, I docked another star.
The characters in the book weren’t too flat, which was a pleasant surprise. The writing, apart from the peachiness, was also not too bad, though a little bit bellow most traditionally published books. The plotline, though a little unbelievable in places, was also okay.

[Felicia A Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This needs some editing work, and maybe some fact checking, but has a great base story. Non-zombie PA, economy collapses, one of the main characters, Ken Dahlgren, sees it coming well in advance (like we do right now), and prepares his isolated lake house with all the necessaries to sustain a good sized group. The other main character, Jimmy Logan, whose now dead parents had been best friends with the Dahlgrens and was like a son to them, ends up being one of the reluctant heroes of the book. The group has a run in with a biker gang on the way to the lake house, and very soon after they arrive, they are of course a target because of the amount of food and other stuff they have.

The National Guard is rounding up citizens (and shooting resisters) and hauling them to "refugee camps", big cities are chaos, and small towns are falling apart. Tragedies ensue, some unexpected characters die, and an unresolved love triangle between Jimmy and two women reaches a conclusion.

Interesting twist, a cliffhanger, which I hate, at the end, but it is intriguing enough that I want to get the second book, Desperate Times: Gun Control, right away.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Desperate Times” was published in 2011 and was written by Nicholas Antinozzi (http://nicholasantinozzi.com). This is the first book of the “Desperate Times” trilogy. Mr. Antinozzi has written 6 novels.

This book is a thriller with the story set in New York state in a near future. An apocalypse occurs when there is a sudden financial collapse in the US and around the world. A few have seen the disaster coming and have been planning. The story is of a group that comes together to escape the city and try to survive the crisis at a lake home in rural New York.

As would be expected in such a crisis, some decide to use force to take from those who have thought ahead. The group endures many trials as they struggle to survive. While the story does reach a conclusion, the bigger story continues on in the next volumes of the trilogy.

I enjoyed the seven hours I spent reading this novel. I would rate it as an “R” due to the Violence and Mature Language. I rate this book as a 4 out of 5.

Other book reviews I have written can be found at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more like 2.5 stars. The idea of this book is great. And it kept me reading until the end. But. I feel the author might have been a tad heavy handed in his use of those little tidbits about the Great Depression and all those cute little facts about the government stripping us of rights in times of crisis. Gee, did you have an agenda? So. I didn't appreciate that much. Really didn't help the story and just turns the reader off. Let us draw our own conclusions please. The end also left a lot to be desired. Just. Ta da. We are done now and everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow. You didn't get a continuation of the whole revolution thread that I would have really enjoyed reading. Instead it was just- Everything is awesome again. Oh well. It was an interesting idea and overall a fun book with realistic characters that we do care about, minus the little lessons that detracted from the overall enjoyment.