Review: Highly Recommended - another fresh take on the apocalypse
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2013
This is my first Scott Nicholson book, but for sure, it won't be my last. I just finished reading After: The Shock and fought with myself over whether I should go get After: The Echo and dive in, or review this one before I start to forget details and how I feel right now.It comes as no surprise to me that Mr. Nicholson has collaborated with J.R. Rain on a couple of books. J. R. Rain is a personal favorite of mine - his best (IMHO) are the Samantha Moon series. Such collaboration is a wonderful gift for those of us who love both authors writings.I loved this book. To be fair, I think this is really a four and a half because the distractions are minimal and probably in my expectations given the quality writing in this book. However, normally, I would have ranked it four stars if I'd like it to be between four and five. In the end, I had to go 5 stars because this book is simply that good! One reviewer here was underwhelmed with the similarity of this book and a lot of the other zombie apocalyptic fiction being written right now (yayyy!! Keep writing them you all. The more for us readers to enjoy!). Odd, because I read a lot of walking dead fiction, but I find each one is unique and these authors' endless different takes about how the dead behave, look, and the many ways they dream up to get an apocalyptic story's walking dead become, well, the walking dead is simply genius. So much imagination. So much knowledge of the human race and what could happen! Even though the subject matter is grizzly, I find it a magnificent gift has been given me in many of these books, but especially this one.I think Mr. Nicholson's sun burst theory is unique and while I don't understand it all yet (there will be two more stories in the series, After: The Echo and another I didn't find a name for (but will be showing up soon, I hope, I hope). I loved the depth of his characters. His prose is excellent, no grammatical errors I could find, and the pace is fast, starting at the first sentence. I am pretty much reading out all the Kindle zombie books offered by Amazon at this point, and After the Shock is one of the very few best I have read. What is interesting to me in all of my recent readings is that these self-published authors may just be edging out James Patterson, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, Kathy Reichs, Dan Brown, Lisa Scottoline, Jonathon Kellerman, Stephen King, and Teas Gerritsen as the cream of the crop. If a prolific thriller writer isn't on this list, then they are still the best (IMHO). I keep reading reviews warning me to stay away from these self-published authors! But in the year past the ONLY book I read on that list was Harlan Coben. The other several dozens were strictly self published and either I have been incredibly lucky or (fill in favorite conspiracy theory) is taking place!Back to this book: After: The Shock. I didn't just read this book, I watched it as a movie playing in my head. The descriptions were so perfect. From the many obnoxious odors to threading clandestinely through a woody area, to a barn, to the many houses these people used, the church steeple Campbell slept in when he rested as he was searching for his friend, Pete. The fire lit in a garage by Rachel to draw the Zapheads off the streets so they would be safer is still etched in my mind. I also really loved the inner conversations we are privvy to in most of the heads of the main characters. It simply felt REAL to me.This, to me, is an astonishingly excellent book by someone who doesn't have a big agent or company backing him. If the powers that be cannot see the brilliance of this writing, never mind it is in a fairly narrow niche genre, then boohoo for them, when, in ten years these self-published writing geniuses will (I count at least seven authors right now who could stand toe to toe with any famous writer on my list two paragraphs above) be knocked on their butts by the talent ready to spring up and replace them!In the end, Scott Nicholson hit a home run with this book. It is pretty brutal in places. I always like to caution people about probably not letting young teens on down read it. Also, if you are squeamish, you might not like it. You can have your 50 Shades Of Grey! Me? I'll keep watching on the sidelines as this brilliant writer comes into his own, and did it with a well told story and good grammar. Not S & M sex scenes that have cluttered the top of the bestsellers lists this past year! Also, there was a complaint in here about too much Bible thumping. Welllll, I am actually surprised that doesn't come up more often in these types of books. I can tell you where I will be if anything like this ever happens for real. I'll be on my knees begging Him to take me Home - ASAP! Thank you Mr. NICHOLSON for treating my beliefs with tender respect. I hope you continue to do so (and probably had just a tiny bit to do with giving this book five stars). I can tell you LIKE your characters. I love it when a writer becomes so close to their characters - it shows that you are writing from your heart, and not just writing to be the next Stephen King. Very well done, Scott Nicholson!! Off To get the Echo now. I hope I have done justice in this review, because if you like sci fi or paranormal type fiction, this one I highly recommend. Sheer entertainment but written by one of the best! When I can give a review like this, it makes me happy. I hope more people find you and start reading your books!