Extinction New Zealand Book 1

 

Book One, The rule of three

By Adrian J Smith.

Publisher: ‎Great Wave Ink Publishing; 2nd edition (February 5, 2019)

Publication date: ‎February 5, 2019

Language: ‎English

Print length: 251 pages

This edition: Audio version

Narrator : Raphael Corkhill 

This book starts off hard and keeps ramping up the pressure. Jack Gee is out hiking. His phone is off. At the end of his three-day hike, he turns on his mobile and there are many messages from his wife. During his hike the Hemorrhage virus has taken over the world, turning people into Variants -- not exactly zombies, but much like zombies. Jack has only one goal, to get back to Hamilton and his wife Dee. 

Dee is facing her own problems. Waiting for Jack to reach her, she sets up camp in the basement of her house. Waiting for Jack, she helps a group of four, one a teenager called Boss. 

And that's the set up. Simple really, but also brilliant. The encounters Jack has trying to get home are interesting and wild. He learns things about the Variants and escapes them more than once. Meets unsavory characters, interested only in taking advantage of the situation. 

There are a few slow parts where the author is trying to cement the link between Dee and Jack, using  backstory via memories and Jack and Dee commenting to themselves about how great the other is and how that person completes them. Sorry. That failed. 

The character of Boss, is great. He keeps throwing out movie references, that I get. My only questions is: Why is a teenager addicted to old movies and not so recent movies when he is always online gaming?

Apart from that. This book is excellent. The narrator also does a brilliant job. 

7/10

Please ignore the error in the beginning with the backpack tossed onto the front passenger seat that is magically in the backseat when he risks his life to save a woman, who also magically vanishes from his car. I'm not sure if that woman is the mother of a family stuck on the motorway, like him, or a stranger. This was confusing. And there were a few other parts that knocked my from the story. That is why this book didn't get a higher rating. 

I have purchased book 2 and book 3 in audio format. I'm considering buying the paperbacks to add to my (near collapsing) bookcase.