By: EE Isherwood

After surviving their first time in the world , the residents of Clownfish Cove will need to find many more things to survive long term. There are very few working vehicles left and since Frank and company seem to have more than one, they have opportunities that their neighbors do not. That also makes them targets…

This time they find a group of teenagers in the High School, and they must make decisions about what they can do to save them. 

Back when I was a kid, I loved reading survivalist books – they seemed so possible. The Russians lob a nuke, and only us country folk will survive… I knew it was not great fiction. And eventually I gave up on them becuase of the other themes…the racism, sexism, xenophobia. When Zombies and EMPs became popular a decade plus ago, I read some. Better written, mostly, more thought given. But often the same themes (especially the Xenophobia and racism) would emerge after 2-3 books. I’ll skip the political theorizing (often libertarian ish or ultra conservativism heading towards fascism or theocracy). 

What each tended to have was a protagonist, or a mentor figure who had done all of the right things to prepare. They had all of the training. They were righteous (however the author defines that) and resolute. And the plot armor (especially if that was the protagonist) was amazing. 

What I liked about this series at the start was Frank just being a recently retired guy, who’d read books, watched shows and movies, and had not spent the last few years on the perfect setup to survive the apocalypse. No bugging out to the mountains. He’s going to do his best in his new neighborhood. But the plot armor for him and certain others in his party (read the hot or at least attractive women who all want Frank). The series is a fun read, but is getting less believable as it moves along.

3/5

579 Pages