Surviving the Fall is a 12 Volume Series Box Set written by Mike Kraus who writes a lot of apocalyptic stories. I would categorize it as Survival Horror / Thriller / Apocalyptic fiction. It is currently being offered by Amazon online book services for .99 cents. I would say that if any of that appeals to you, I would encourage you to check it out. Not just because of the price, but because I found myself riveted. Load it on your Kindle and get transported. The entire series is about 850 pages with each “book” being approximately 72 pages. The set is serialized with cliffhangers between books, but because you have the entire set, you don’t have to wait. It’s a surprisingly quick read.
An international attack has occurred turning every electronic and internet connected device into a smoldering pile of junk. Imagine every bit of technology has been set to combust at a specific time. Planes dropping out of the sky. Cars exploding into conflagrations. Phones and laptops smoking before they spark, sputter, and burn. Rick Waters’ flight has just landed in California, when he texts his wife a note that he just landed. He is walking out of the airport, and approaching his rental when a plane explodes on the tarmac. Then other planes start falling from the sky. Cars begin to explode. The telephones combust. And Rick Waters is stuck in the middle of Armageddon, far from his wife and children who are at home in Virginia more than 1000 miles away.
Meanwhile, Dianne Waters receives the text from Rick and is happy he’s landed. He’d gone to California to sell some electronics to a big tech company housed in Los Angeles. Dianne stayed home to take care of her children when the apocalyptic event crashes in on her and her kids in dramatic fashion. Luckily Dianne has been a survivalist, prepper all her life, but even acknowledging the possibility of a cataclysmic event, it ill-prepares you to embrace the darkness that abides in the human heart when all the constructs of our day to day existence are torn down. She doesn’t recognize that she will have to find reserves inside of her to protect her children, while keeping the home-fires burning for Rick to get home.
Stranded in California, without transportation, Rick must make his way across the country to his family. Not only must he protect himself, but he is burdened with the fear that something might be happening back home to his wife and children. He is confident in the resourcefulness of his wife, but he knows her to be a decent and loving woman. The possibility exists that she might not be capable of confronting the savagery that he witnesses on his trek from one side of the country to the other. As we read about his resourcefulness, we witness his being drawn into the conspiracy that created the event and slowly the story unravels.
I was extremely impressed by the story. It was action-packed, moving with tremendous energy, from book to book. Dianne is an absolute Bad@$$ and Rick is a quick-thinking strategist that plans his moves. Despite being wonderful characters, they are shown to be heroic, realistic, and human. They err, are flawed, and sometimes do dumb things which enhances the drama. Listen, IMHO this is an organic portrayal of how people behave in a post-apocalyptic milieu. The story beats are not at all predictable. There is real horror and suspense. This was thoroughly enjoyable and I give it a very high recommendation of 4.5 Grey Geeks.
The Mustache and The Beard 