Link
I followed this over on survivalistboards for a long time and it was a great read. He finally got published and has Kindle and hard copies available. You will not be disappointed with this one, to me it is right up there with Lights Out and One Second After. He is working on a second part to this series and you can find alot of on his website. http://www.angeryamerican.com/

Has anyone else read it? I think it may have been discussed here before as he was writing the first book.

Thanks, I'm going to give it a go.

Thank you for mentioning this. I 've been looking for my next book in this genre. Finished reading Grid Down Reality Bites, which was pretty good too. The only problem with it is it almost seemed like the author only wrote the book to advertise his website and products.

Thanks. Picked it up, I'll read it tonight and tomorrow. Needed something to fill some time.

Can you let us know what you thought about it?

Read about half of it last night. Not bad, very detailed on equipment, what the guy is carrying. Gets violent pretty quick.

Looks like a twist in the plot is coming up, sorry no spoilers.

I'm 40% through the book and I'll give my thoughts on basically the first half.



Good plot. Actually a pretty decent plot so far. It gets somewhat unrealistic in a few spots but hey, it's fiction and it's got to stay interesting.



However.....while I know NOTHING about the author, my impression is that this book appears to be written by a survival message board junkie who is so proud to spot off all his cool message board lingo and favorite brands of gear. In the first 25-30% he (it's written in first person) throws out absolutely nonstop gear names and even takes the time to throw in digs at brands or items he doesn't like. He also comes across as the real keyboard commando because of the way he portrays himself as fearless, no concern with death or killing and basically tries to come across as military trained, even though he (the character) is not.



I could give alot more details in my gripes but it might be a spoiler. So my consensus is this, I've thought about stopping reading the book multiple times because I get so put out with the main character's ego and all the brand name dropping and "inside baseball" talk is really over the top. But....the plot is really good and I'm sucked in, so I'm still reading!



Another report later.

That was really the only thing I did not like, the fact that he keeps getting very specific on gear and brands. There were a few time I felt like it took away from the story. I thought it was a fun read though.

Ok I finished the book last night, so I'll give my final report.



Overall.....good book, I've read several and the storyline of an EMP and trying to get home all kind of start to sound familiar but this one is a good one. One of the best storylines I think. Are some of the scenarios and twists and turns in the book a little over the top and unreal? Yes but it's a fiction book and it kept it interesting and I enjoyed that.



The bad: it's what I've already stated. The author goes into WAY to much detail about his brand preferences etc. I don't read a fiction book and expect it to read like a magazine with non-stop advertisements. He also used alot of "inside baseball" jargon that seemed pretty forced...."opsec" for an example. I knew it was coming after all this gear brand names he'd been throwing out. I knew I'd eventually see him use the word and he did. Also, the ending....well without spoiling too much, the book gets divided into separate story lines towards the end, which is somewhat interesting but I felt like he got to the end and didn't know what to do. It's like the story just kinda...ends. But I can see where he is probably going with the story and he might be wanting to pick up where he left off and start another book. Maybe he's already done that, I don't know. Last gripe is something I mentioned already but it's how the main character starts out as a normal guy working a 9-5 job and he goes right into killing people, blood, guts and gore and it doesn't bother him at all. It bothers other people in the story and they seem to have normal/rational feelings about killing people, even bad people, but the author...nope he's GI Joe.



Ok, so I've thrown out alot of things I don't like but now that I'm done, I think it's probably a recommended reading for most people on this forum. I would not however, recommend it to people who aren't very familiar with these types of message boards, the lingo and alot of the gear names etc. It was overwhelming and distracting to me and I knew what most of the stuff was, but to the avg Joe, it would be very annoying. So again, great storyline, great plot, one of the best I've read but just too much inside baseball.

After finishing the book, I have to agree with 90% of this. I thought the one story line got a little 'out there' in respect to the characters, etc.

Totally agree with the highlighted part. Wierd.

Glad to know it wasn't just me.



 

Just started reading this last night before bed, will probably finish it tonight.   Looks like my initial take on the book has been confirmed by most readers.

Over done on the gear, blasts guys with pretty much no after thought.  But will see how it ends to make a final judgement.

That is what I was trying to say but in a nutshell. I bet you like it overall though. Ending could be better.



 

Ok, so finally finished reading this.  Overall it's a pretty good book. The ending kind of leaves you hanging, but I'm sure that's leading to a 2nd book, which I would read.  Honestly its probably
one of the better books in the genre.  

Thanks for recommendation. I bought the kindle addition last night and just now finished it. I enjoyed it.

I read it, I enjoyed it.  Yes, the gear-whoring is ... spectacular at time; but, it's also a pretty good read.  It is very much entertainment, not so much a "how-to" book.

Worth the $2.99 or whatever the Kindle cost.

I'm almost done with it and agree with many of the above posts.  I can't tell you how many times I had to shake my head at how much crap the main character is toting around with him in his pack.  And he keeps picking stuff up.

The story starts out clunky but the writing improves as you go on.  I could of done without the grand conspiracy crap, too, but you pretty much have to expect it in these kinds of books.

OK....  I'm 25% of the way in, and this character has an entire REI store in his pack!

As he pulls each new item out I'm like "WTF?"


Other than that, it's not too bad a story so far....



Spoiler alert-----


When he kills the two dudes with the truck he gives it away?  WTF???  I mean there's "nice" and all, but his wife and kids are at home without him, his job is to get there, and he gives the truck up right away?  Bullshit.  His wife and children should come first.  Call me a selfish prick, but that's just how it is.  He already killed for her, now his family's gotta come first!

I am 75% through it. Overall it's a good storyline, but he gets into too much detail about irrelevant shit (I don't need to read 2 paragraphs detailing every ingredient of every meal). Also, it appears to be self edited (typos out the ass). If not then he should fire the editor.
Overall it has one of the best story lines I have read, and the character development is pretty good. I would recommend it.

Just finished it.  I agree with posts above.  How much shit can you cram in a pack?

Overall, I would recommend it.

Just bought it based on the feedback here.

I've got this and some others on my Kindle, I can lend them once for 14 days.  Anyone interested?

Done reading and can lend to Kindle owner or if you have a free Kindle reader on you computer
Lights Out
77 Days in September
Going Home


going to read first
Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises loaned out
The Pulse of Allah

I'd be interested in borrowing Patriot Dawn when you are done with it.  I'll have to figure out how to loan you something back.  

On Amazon it will tell you how, IM me your name and email address and when I finish it I will send you an email which you click a link to download it and they give you 14 days to read it.  Not all books are loanable but the ones I listed are.  When you pull up your Amazon account it will show which of the books you bought and then you go to the books page and it will say if you can loan it once or not.

IM sent!  Thanks!


ETA: Got It!!!!

Book is on the way to you via email link.

Thanks!  "Grid Down Reality Bites" is headed to you.

Finally finished "Going Home".  I was pleasantly surprised.  I actually liked it.  The main characters bottomless pack was an annoyance as I already mentioned, but overall it was a great story.  It had some meat to it as well.  Not one of those "poof it's already over" books.  

I pulled up the characters locations in a Trimble map app on my ipad and followed them along the way.  That was fun also.

Sarge and his crew get a major thumbs up, and I can't wait to follow more of this story!

Here is his website. It looks like he is expecting book two to come out sometime in March.

Finished the book yesterday myself.  The story line was good, but I sure hope the writer looks at these reviews.  I don't need to know what brand everything is, nor do I need detailed instructions on how to make a cup of coffee or eat an MRE.

Cool, thanks for the link!  I read his excerpt of "Cry Havoc", and it looks really good too!

I guess I'm the contrarian.  I actually don't mind that kind of stuff as long as it doesn't get too excessive.  To me it helps paint in the filler in the mental picture while I'm reading.  If things are too vague the story suffers in my opinion.

He left it open
damn it man !

I want more
lol
Great book looking forward to the next one
and who are the three guys  that are looking for Sarge ??

+1

I took it as a work of fiction, and enjoyed it.  But it could have been a lot better without all the "Rambo the Gear Queer" stuff.

This book is the reason I bought an Esbit stove for my BOB. I'm also going to get a couple of woobies. I'm kind of a gear head, so I don't mind the references to specific items.

Half way through it...VERY good book...

The second book is out at Amazon.  If you have Prime you can supposedly borrow it for free, but I couldn't figure out how to borrow it so maybe I already have a borrowed book on my Kindle that kept me from downloading it.  I bought it as it was cheap.

Surviving Home

Just got it.  Thanks for the heads up.

Got through over half the second book last night.  It is free with Prime but you have to know how to borrow it from the Kindle library.  I've done it before but couldn't remember how yesterday.

So far I think his style improved in this second installment.

Almost Lights Out/Patriot Dawn clone.

Agreed, I really liked the second one as well.  He is getting pretty good, and I really enjoyed them both.  Now I'm jonesing for part three!

If anyone is looking for something to read, this series is turning out to be pretty decent.

How is this compared to "Lights Out" or "One Second After"?

The second part of "Going Home" is "Surviving Home" and it seems to borrow heavily from both "Lights Out" and "One Second After" in my opinion, with "Patriot Dawn, The Resistance Rises" thrown into the mix.  I think the writer probably borrowed from each of those stories.

If you've read all of them you will see the similarity.

I liked it and now have to wait for the 3rd installment.

I am almost through book two. I am really enjoying this story. Great character development and storyline. The second book does not seem to go into the gear details quite as much as the first.

He signed a deal with Penguin books.  They bought all rights to publish 4 books in the series which will all come out before the end of year.

Cool!

The second book slumps into a confused paranoid mess.  Any level of federal government, even the US Postal Service (???), is culpable in the wanton slaughter of innocent citizens.  There's little of survival or prepper value here.  Only cardboard cutout villains and clueless protagonists who do little to advance much of a story.  Disappointing as I liked the first book.

BTW, the military seems exempt from A. American's scorn for the federal government (except the Coast Guard).  When a man proudly proclaims that he doesn't need help from the government in one breath he gladly accepts medical help for his daughter from a military medic with the next.  So Army, good.  Post Office, bad.  Got it.  

Can anyone comment on the editing of the first book?  Amazon reviews were less than kind.

There's lots of good fiction out there (much written here by ARFCOM members), and I don't have enough free time to muddle through crap.

90% of the books I read on kindle have issues with editing, including ones that don't have the same problems in paper format.

That being said, I do my best to enjoy the characters and plot without paying attention to the editing. I don't remember specifically if this series was worse than others or about the same.

I have enjoyed this series so far. It keeps you engaged in the story. I wish the author would quit killing of characters I like but that is his prerogative.

I just saw that the 3rd book is coming out later this month. I thought the first was much better than the second. I will stick with it and see how the third one turns out.

I think the book probably was like others that were posted on blogs or survival sites and got feedback from members etc. as it was written.  Can't remember if Going Home was the book or not that someone was paid to edit the book and greatly failed.  One of these kindle books I read the author mentioned such.  Anyway, Penguin books is re-editing his books I believe for reissue.  If you want a better edit job buy the physical books.  I mean the kindle versions are usually a couple bucks if not free with prime.

Thanks for the heads up. I preordered.

Escaping Home