Review: John Burke: newest addition to my short "good" author list
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 16, 2013
I couldn't disagree more with Ancestor Lady in her 2-star "Most helpful critical" review.  I've read a huge number of SHTF books, and this is one of the best.  Yes, there are some characters who are introduced that don't play a significant role in this first book of the series.  I have no doubt that we will see how they play into the overall picture as the series evolves.  Is that an inappropriate strategy?  Absolutely not.  Is it a good tactic to make the reader speculate about how some characters will fit into the story down the line?  Of course!  There's a big difference between throwing in peripheral characters that add nothing to a story and what Burke does.  Some authors just muddy up the waters with folks whose presence makes no sense at all.  This author's writing style tells me that he clearly intends to bring into sequels various characters that he spent time introducing in book-1.  And that's OK.  The main sequence of events with the primary characters was where the focus needed to remain in this first book; and it did.Burke could have brought on the extreme violence and mayhem in a cheap fashion to suit those that feed solely on that.  There are plenty of books out there that do just that.  The situation in RA actually does evolve rapidly, just not into constant heavy violence; although the confrontation near the end before reaching their final BOL was pretty dramatic.  I think Burke has taken a careful strategy that allows events to unfold in a very plausible manner, one that even those not steeped in SHTF literature can believe.  The ending was one of the best I've experienced.  It left me satisfied with the first book and definitely wanting more.The huge bonus in RA is the quality of the writing itself.  There were almost no grammar errors, and very few errors of any kind.  If you read my other reviews, you will see that I hold authors to account for poor grammar and spelling to a much higher degree than most reviewers.  I have severely chastised them for lack of proofing and editing.  The few errors that do occur in RA are mostly just a missing word.  To get a well-written story with characters the reader can relate to, and not get distracted with proofing issues, is pure delight.If while reading the above commentary you get the impression that I'm a milk-toast reviewer who abhors violence in books, that would not be the case.  I'm a serious prepper who has lots of weapons and gear, and the expertise to use them if necessary in a SHTF scenario.  I might have even taken the first encounter in the book with the sheriff a step further in light of the circumstances, just to be sure.  But I must again applaud Burke for playing out the story line the way he did.  This is not a quick-fix book for the violence junkie.  I really appreciated the repeated and various explanations of how the crisis happened in easy-to-understand economic terms.  This is exactly what is needed for our time in history, an entertaining and engaging novel that mixes in some real education on a timely and pertinent subject.For me, the fact that much of the action takes place in locations I know in my home state of Georgia was a bonus.  Of course it could have even taken place in my neighborhood and still gotten a bad review had the writing been inferior.  Fortunately, Mr. Burke is an excellent author.  In fact, John Burke is now number 14 on my list of excellent SHTF authors, while the "Don't read" list is now up to 65.  Bravo to this author.  Keep the good books coming.