Family Reunion J by P. Mark DeBryan Narrator: Eric A. Shelman
Series: An Apocalypse Family #2
Published by IPC on 18 April 2017
Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Zombie, Dystopian, Fiction, Horror, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Zombie Apocalypse
Format: Audiobook
Source: Author, Submitted
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When the apocalypse happens only one thing matters...family.
From the author of the wildly successful debut novel Family Reunion, P. Mark DeBryan, comes a new and terrifying Apocalypse Family novel.
The South African flu had put the fear of God into the world. But the press and the government assured one and all that a revolutionary nanovaccine developed by Dr. Julian Ruegg had stopped the outbreak in its tracks.
The vaccine had stopped the flu, yes. But two weeks later a strange and deadly side effect became apparent, a side effect worse than the flu - far, far worse. Jay Brant, mother of two and ex-FBI fingerprint analyst, is trying to survive and get back to her kids as society unravels around her. Nothing matters more than getting her son Mark and his wife to safety in West Virginia, and then rescuing her daughter Auddy, who lives in South Carolina.
Jay had put her husband on a plane bound for his family reunion in Seattle, then set off on a road trip to the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Her job requires the trip once every two weeks, and the four-hour drive and overnight stay are completely routine.
As the day unfolds, she begins to realize that this trip will be anything but routine.
©2016 P. Mark DeBryan (P)2017 P. Mark DeBryan
ABR received this audiobook for free from the Author, Submitted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the audiobook or the content of our review.
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This is the story of a family separated by a disease which turns people into flesh eating monsters. Though not zombies in the sense they are still alive, but dangerous none-the-less. It mainly follows Jay, the mother of the besieged family trying to make their way back to each other, but also many other families and their travails.
It is a typical zombie novel in the sense that everyone is constantly on guard, society has fallen into violence and chaos. Gangs form and break apart, sex slaves and brutality, but also decent groups of people trying to hold the best of mankind together.
Jay is a likable character as she is a mom faced with the worst mankind can offer, intent on finding and protecting her family – if she can find them. She is resourceful, capable and discovers a badass quality she didn’t know she possessed. Why drive a car when a Harley is just more cool.
Family Reunion is suspenseful and full of zombie killing action. You just don’t know when you’ll get your next meal or even a decent night’s sleep. Without the hope of finding her family, Jay would lose her will to survive.
The story is performed by Eric A. Shelman who does a good job. He adds to the action and voices the many female characters well with plenty of differentiation to make it easy to know who is speaking.
Though this is book two in a series of unknown length, it can be read as a stand alone novel. It clearly leaves the door open for the sequel, but ends well enough to stand by itself.
If you enjoy zombie action novels, you should give this one a try. What sets this one apart from the many, many out there, is that the characters are human, flawed and sometimes just lucky enough to stay alive. A badass mom who is going to get her family back together in the face of impossible odds makes for a fun ride.
About Eric A. Shelman
When Eric started his writing career, an outsider would never have guessed he would eventually write about witches, serial killers and zombies. His first actual book release was Out of the Darkness: The Story of Mary Ellen Wilson, co-authored by Dr. Stephen Lazoritz. It is about the first successful rescue of an abused child in America. Little Mary Ellen was a 9-year-old who was rescued in 1874 by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA.
His writing career began in the late 1980s in a very low-key way; writing short horror story after short horror story with really no idea how to go about it. He had poor character development, minimal plot lines and probably every other bad habit of inexperienced authors.
After deciding he should write a book, he discovered a little blurb on Mary Ellen Wilson in a book of “Amazing But True!” stories. He knew he had to write Mary Ellen’s story. Result? He was a guest at the Museum of the City of New York. He was on CSPAN-2’s Book TV. Alliance Atlantis approached him about optioning the story for film. (That did not pan out.)
So … how did he get back to what he loved? Facebook, plain and simple. After Mary Ellen came out in 1999, he wrote a book called A Reason To Kill. Serial killer stuff. After completing it, he shelved it and began a book about witches and reincarnation. That confused the hell out of him, so he eventually stopped after 53,000 words. No idea where to go or how to finish it. He did not write again for 12 years.
Enter 2011 and Facebook. Tons of zombie people began to emerge, and he kept hearing about all these zombie books and how much people loved them. Mark Tufo, Rhiannon Frater, etc. etc. He thought, “I could write a zombie novel.”
And so he did. Dead Hunger was born and released in 2011. From there, you know where it went if you’re a reader of the series. And while there were some hints, nobody could have guessed where the series would go. Talk about evolution! Whoa.
The Dead Hunger series will likely go anywhere from eight to ten books, including prequels Eric intends to write. In his “other” spare time, he sings and sometimes paints. He owns several cool microphones, so if you’ve considered a gift for him (c’mon, you know you have!) that would be a good item to put on your list. 😉
Check him out on YouTube. Just punch in “Eric Shelman Brown Eyed Girl.” That video is approaching 4,000,000 hits.
So check out his writing. Download a sample for Kindle if you like. He thinks you’ll like his style, because he writes very conversationally – he’s not interested in creating prose that dances around your head before dropping into your ears. He gets to the point, but does it with some skill.
About P. Mark DeBryan
I have always been a bit of a vagabond. Born in Washington, raised in California. I joined the Coast Guard after high school. During my Coast Guard career I was an Admiral’s driver in San Francisco, a deckhand on a 378′ cutter in the Bering Sea, and an Aviation Electrician in North Carolina, Texas and Southern Florida. After I left the Coast Guard I worked security, first guarding MX nuclear missiles, then at a nuclear power plant in California. Eventually I went to college in Wisconsin, only to drop out after meeting my future wife. I went on to finish college at 36 and own a Miracle Ear franchise. I went into publishing for a short time before becoming an Information Systems Specialist. I currently split my time between West (by God) Virginia and Surfside Beach, SC.
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