Review: One-man wrecking crew and survivalist
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 5, 2013
Author Lloyd Tackitt takes the most dynamic character from his first novel in his "Distant Eden" series and places him in the starring role in this second installment. Adrian Hunter is a special forces soldier who was set adrift with his fellow soldiers after a solar storm ruined most of the globes electronics and sent society into a downward spiral. Tackitt doesn't spend much time on the details. His thing is survival. When everything goes to hell, what do you do? One thing he makes certain, you don't last long by blaming somebody else or whining. Adrian does better than most. He's a bona fide badass. However, the good life for him after the fall spans about 18 months. Then his new wife, a surgeon he rescued in the previous book, dies. She's a victim of a plague, likely released as a result of something from CDC labs no longer under lock-down. Trying to escape his sorrow, Adrian heads from rural Texas where his uncle Roman has created Fort Brazos with a few hundred other resourceful types to the mountains in Colorado. There he finds the solitude he craves and lives off the land, getting into a spat with a bear in the process. Tackitt includes all sorts of interesting tips on living off the land, getting the most from edible plants and resources, but it's his storytelling that keeps the reader interested. It's as if Tackitt's on the other side of the campfire, where the smoke doesn't drift, crafting a mesmerizing story of a guy who doesn't stand for inequity or injustice and kicks some serious butt. Adrian runs into a group of ex prisoners who terrorize remaining survivors. He doesn't lose.