Review: One long run-on sentence
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2012
To say that this book is poorly written is a gross understatement.  Yes, the author does share some useful insight into a TEOTWAWKI scenario; but this has been laid out for us in countless other books that are far better.  There was nothing new in this book on that subject that I did not already know.  Actually, I could have forgiven that if the book had avoided so many flaws.  It was so bad, I almost gave up after about 10%.  But, I decided to make myself continue to the end to see if it got any better.  It did not.  It actually got worse as it went.Check out the earlier reviews by LJ (Va) "Could have been so much better" and TravelinLight "Decent at Best".  These reviewers hit the nail on the head.  And Kenneth Matney "Good Read" got it partially right, except when he wrote "SOME distracting spell check mistakes" - you think???  The constant writing errors were way more than distracting.  They were disastrous.  The problem went far beyond what a good spell check would correct.  This author has no clue as to how to use commas or punctuation in general.  Craig has mastered the run-on sentence and misuse of words.I am a prepper AND a very good writer.  The two do not have to be mutually exclusive.  It's books like this one that unfortunately turn off readers who expect better quality writing and proofing.  My wife, who is a voracious reader and even better writer than I am, refuses to share in my reading of this genre.  She simply cannot get past those quality issues, which seem to be prevalent to some degree in this genre.  After reading this book, I can hardly blame her.Having said the above, I will come to the author's defense regarding the review that paints him as obsessed with young girls.  Craig is knowledgeable about how things might evolve in a TEOTWAWKI scenario - I will give him that.  And young girls would indeed be highly vulnerable.  Whether for good or bad purposes, they would be a prominent part of the equation.But, again, his story style is simplistic, uninspiring, obviously unedited and predictable.  If it was edited, Craig needs to sue the editor for malpractice.  Even at $2.99 or 99 cents, this book is a rip-off.  I guess I should not be surprised; but it is so disconcerting to witness the appalling degradation of standards in American society - just look at the incredibly shallow TV shows that are renewed season after season.  Who watches and enjoys that garbage?  Obviously lots of folks do.  What a shame, both in that arena and in reading.  Do people take no pride in what they put out there anymore?There are many other books out there on this subject that are either better-written in terms of story line or quality of grammar and proofing, or both.  And Amazon carries them also.  "Lights Out" by David Crawford, despite having its own proofing issues, will keep you spellbound from beginning to end.  Its proofing issues are also insulting to the reader; but the story is so well written that I was able to get past those issues.  In comparison to Craig's work, "Lights Out" is a masterpiece of writing and editing.  And if you want great writing AND much better editing, get the "Enemies" trilogy by Matthew Bracken.We preppers are not all a bunch of uneducated lunatics.  We need resourceful and qualified writers who can educate, inspire and entertain us in such a way that readers may be able to gain respect for our point of view.  This is especially true when you invoke and use in your title the term TEOTWAWKI.  If you are going to write on this subject, please do it well or don't do it at all.In the end, I did change my rating from one star to two because Craig did provide a likely scenario.