A dystopian novel of our future after a worldwide economic and social collapse

I skipped the muff-diving and explicit sex scenes - I'm a healthy 59-year-old man - if I wanted porno I'd find someone better at it than this author - however, the story was good, it was long, and I'd buy the sequel.
Please bone up on the use of pronouns, compound words, hyphenated words, and the use of the words "your" and "you're". Possessive and plural possessive usage needs lots of work - the author obviously doesn't know the difference.
Hundreds of errors using the words "me, him, her, I, we, us, himself, herself".
Stan did have a lot of cash and a lot of luck with convenient ex-military neighbors.
My biggest disappointment in the book was getting to the part where Stan is finally going to take Stu down and finding that the two most climactic sentences in the whole book are so poorly written as to be almost unintelligible. What a letdown to have to stop and reread the sentences several times trying to make sense out of what had been miswritten.
Overall an interesting story, plenty of soul-searching and angst amongst the main characters, bad guys for the protagonists to do battle with, and realistic combat scenes.
Perhaps a bit heavy in the weaponry descriptions for the average reader, unless one is an arms dealer or military buff. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but aren't .223 and NATO 5.56 identical rounds of ammunition? The author treats them, as well as .308/NATO 7.62, as non-interchangable in the same weapon, respectively.
Mr. Author, hire an editor, try writing that a couple "enjoyed making love" at whatever time of the day you wish and leave the rest to our imaginations - kitchen table or otherwise, and educate yourself on the 5th grade rules of English you never learned properly and your next book will be dynamite. Use that dynamite to blow up some bridges between Woodland Park and Colorado Springs to stave off the migrating hordes.

Most books point to a specific event (or series of events) that brought about the collapse of society. But this book had a nebulous threat ("the Elite") and a nebulous cause ("the ruination of the financial markets/destabilization of the American dollar" - but didn't explain HOW it came about, just that it did).

Worse, the author hints at the destabilizing influence being things like political correctness, gay marriage being legalized, Democratic presidents, and any faith other than Christianity. He doesn't come right out and say it, but the implication is there. It's all the liberal far left's fault!

Our "hero" is an ex-Army Ranger, a "man's man", who early in the book spends over $40,000 on guns and ammo at the beginning of the Collapse to "supplement" his already impressive arsenal. The dog he adopts is almost supernaturally smart, learning years worth of training in a matter of weeks. His lovely but older wife died of cancer, and now he has no choice but to fall in love with a 21 year old girl he rescued - who is exactly like his wife in temperament and personality, but has a smoking hot, young, tight body, and who can't get pregnant because he's sterile, so yay, no condoms. To make it even better, his wife had given her blessing before she died, saying that God would send the right woman to him - so he doesn't have to feel a shred of guilt about it all. And they are so lovey-dovey with one another, so sappy sweet that I think I'm developing diabetes just reading it. One mutual love fest went on for over twenty pages, during which the new girl made reference to how large his manhood is.

This book is the stereotypical conservative "Manly man" wet dream. Seriously. Every month, some new "threat" shows up so that he can dramatically blow the bad guys away. Dozens of pages outline the exact types of guns he has, complete with specs, and he shows them off to his new girl and his prepper friends for their admiration and respect (complete with phrases like "hot damn" and "that's a sexy gun"). He plays judge, jury, and executioner, and while some of the people clearly needed killing, it's creepy how easily he does it, and how he has little if any qualms after.

This book treats so many of the redneck gun-loving ex-Army stereotypes as fact that I'm actually insulted on behalf of our veterans.

The only reason I'm continuing to read is because this is offering an unique insight into the minds of movements like paranoid individuals and conspiracy theorists.

Started out good if a bit heartbreaking. Has plenty of money for preps and extras but the situation is believable. And the collapse is scarily believable. Then it seems to go to erotic fantasy. Forty year old male rescues nineteen year old beauty and many, many sex scenes result. By then I wanted to know what happened to the story so I skipped, lots of skipping, the sex and corny dialog. Sir, you are not a romance novelist!

The premise is good and has the usual editing mistakes of self published books. That doesn't bother me. The storyline deteriorating into fantasy does. The male protagonist says more than once how very mature his teenage lover is so even in fiction he's having to justify himself. He rescues a lovely thirty five year old who would have been a good companion. And wierdly, the bad guy is holding women hostage, abusing them, and HE is a pervert because he likes them young. None of the rescuers seemed to get the irony of this. Our protagonist isn't a rapist, but he likes them young too.

If I had read the review about this having explicit sex I would have passed. Don't know about the sequel. I skipped a LOT. But the Collapse? I want to know. So I'll decide if and when one appears.

I have to agree with several other reviewers that this book is more of a prepper fantasy novel than dystopian fiction. I didn't run into the May - December porn so perhaps some of that has been edited out of this edition but the so called romance was still disgusting in an incestual way. A forty something man hooks up with a 21 year old (previous reviewers said 19 so perhaps another edit?). On the one hand he treats her like a daughter that is terribly sorry that she disappointed him in some action and on the other is turned on by her skimpy outfit. The conversation between them is all about how wonderful he is and how she'll learn not to disappoint. Anyway it creeped me out a bit. I was additionally freaked by the continous distribution of Ativan. He not only takes it with his booze but he gives it to the girl because she was anxious and at another point someone even asks for Ativan. The stuff is extremely dangerous with booze and giving it to someone that might have drastic side effects is crazy and it causes birth defects. He didn't know anything about her when he's tossing her pills and she blindly takes them. Oh yes, and it's addicting. The preps that go on are madhouse expensive and outrageous. Fantasy, as I said before. I found myself skipping pages and pages of self ego masturbation by Stan. No one is that perfect thank goodness. Otherwise, the storyline had some merit and could easily happen today. For that reason alone I tolerated the repeated 'Oh Stan, you're so wonderful and I'm so lucky to have you'. Be aware that most preppers wouldn't be able to duplicate this guys treasures in a lifetime.

I rarely review the dozens of stories I read each month cause I'm just lazy like that lol. This story is one I want to recommend to reader though. This scenario unfortunately is NOT as far fetched as too many Americans might think...I've done the research...I see the writing on the wall. We have as a nation become sheep and one day will be taken to slaughter. Just from the quotes from world leaders at the end who saw clearly what America was and has started to become this book is worth reading. Also for the entertainment and touching stories of the individual characters it's a great read to be enjoyed.
I am not a prepper but this past year I have become a huge fan of the prepper genre and see it's times to take steps to ensure my family will be ok even if it's just a hurricane we have to worry about living in Florida. Read this story and others like it, they are worth your time and consideration in today's world for sure.
The government would so like you to believe prepper a are nit jobs but it's just another way to control us as is the increased fear mongering and trying to take away our constitutional right to bear arms so we can not fight back during a SHTF time...no I am not a gun owner! Just awake and aware...I hope you join me in that!

I love apocalyptic fare so I thought this would be right up my alley. I couldn't read the whole thing, sad to say. Not that it didn't have a good story line. I liked the main character and thought I might enjoy it, then the author got in his own way.
The story might have been a good one but became one of gun porn and a man's unrealistic version of being a "feeling" hero. The self-reflection of the main character drones on and on. The dialogue is unrealistic and once again focuses on a 40-year-old man's dream of how a grateful teen he saves, without getting a scratch, would submit to hero worship and scamper after him with starry eyes and wanton abandon.
There is a problem with editing which is not particularly distracting. The storyline is good but because of the extended segments of gushing unrealistic dialogue and droning descriptions of guns it finally got to the point I couldn't continue. I think if he did a real harsh edit and trimmed some of the problems, it might be worth picking up again.

This author could use a good editor. There were grammatical errors through out and in multiple places he repeats the same passages nearly verbatim several times. A good editor would have streamlined the story and made it flow much better. The scenario is realistic although the use of the amorphous "elite" as the bad guys left me a little cold. The prep story line is interesting if somewhat unrealistic. Anyone with basically unlimited resources could be prepared for TEOTWAWKI. I would like to have seen a little more struggle to survive. Over all not a terrible story but not worth investing my time in any follow ups.

As a dystopian work this fits the bill nicely. Now I am no prude and I must say the description of the book warned that there was sexual activity in it. I just didn't realize the extent. A little is ok Bunbury in my opinion, the Uthor went a tad overboard. If that's your thing, read it and enjoy. The story line does not disappoint. I read some to.e ago what one of my favorite authors said about rude language and discontent. Paraphrasing him, he said that he never felt it necessary to include all that stuff. He said (and indeed he did) that he would make a story just as captivating and interesting without it. He further stated that in his opinion, those thAt employed such content in their fighting used it as a substitute for talent. He might have been on to something. Mr. Stinnis, your story would have been just as interesting and good without all the sexual content. As I said, I'm no prude, but try a story without all that stuff and see if it's not just as popular. Just my opinion.

The financial collapse was a bit scary which was the first part especially when you realise this could be happening already today.The middle part of this book l disliked ,our hero had turned into a middle aged sex machine ,the explicit sex scenes turned me right off and l must admit to turning a few pages without reading them through that part of the book but l keep reading and l am glad l did ,really enjoyed the last part of the book and hope the author will continue on to Book 2 .For a first book it was well worth the read and at such a cheap price for the amount of pages it was brilliant.
PS...After reading the discussions ,the author has writing out a lot of the sexual scenes which is due out at the end of May ,this should make this book a really good read.

I was reluctant too read this book since the reviews are mixed. Eventually I started it and I am thrilled that I did. This book is awesome! I couldn't put it down.

Contrary to what some critics have said, the sex is not graphic and the amount of sex involved is reflective of a new relationship in an era where there is not much to do at night after society collapses and it is unknown whether the next day will be your last day. A man calling his wife or girlfriend "honey" , "sweetie" or any other term of endearment strikes me as being realistic and indicative of a closeness between them.

I strongly recommend this book and cannot wait for the follow up book to be released.

Great characters and good story. Lots of interesting and educational information for those who like the survival genre. One tip that I have never seen another writer mention is this: Even if you live at the end of an obscure dirt road, remove your mailbox out on the highway. If there is a collapse, remove lines that no longer work like overhead phone or electric lines. No sense indicating that someone lives down that way. Another tip was to download google pictures of your neighborhood or bug out location and load them to a device that will not be affected by electricity or a EMP.. Cool tip.

Rangers don't cry. Too much bawling and honey poo baloney to be entertaining. I had to skip alot of pages
I know it is just a story but try to be realistic if possible. Who would wait a month for a young girl to "come around" to take action on "the camp" when they knew what was going on. No-one in their right mind would even be debating the legality of whacking those scumbags. ASAP
A Ranger with knowledge of the times of regular travel on a road, that did not set up an ambush and take out a few of those trucks is...arghh to many issues with that...
Also, is the author a sales rep for Ativan? Good grief.
Move this book to the fantasy column...

A realistic look at what would happen if our banking system collapsed. I skipped over some, a lot of weapons and ammo write up, but if you want to be a real prepper you need to know the ammo, and body armor that you will need to defend yourself. Yes he went into a lot of detail on protection and maybe not enough on survival. He was a person that had more money than 99% of us do, to set up a survival system. The picture painted on how our banking system can fail should wake up everyone. and sad to say the masses refuse to see what is happening. I wish I had the money to set myself up.

I found the story was very good. However the narrative was long and redundant. It took pages upon pages for the author to make a point that was evident in the first sentence. Further facts and events were repeated again and again. With an accomplished editor, this would have been a great book. Not sorry I read it though. I am looking forward to reading the squeal in hopes it is edited properly.

Finnish does a great job of leading you,the reader,into a reality that blends man, romance,Ranger training,Colorado,and many other fascists that roll and draw you into the plot with enough information to keep you reading way into the night. Less sleep creates hard mornings so be prepared.

I can't wait to see if more is coming!!

This is essentially one of those prepper list book with a male romance novel thrown on top of it. Way too slow, way too repetitive, and no real action. Lots of sex, sex, and more sex. Hell, it looks like the apocalypse will have ready to order 19 year old nymphs waiting for you. Actually that part is likely true. The economic crash is a nice plot that many have gotten lax on in the last few years. It's more likely than EMP/CME and the like in all honesty.
If you are a prepper looking to prepare a mountain bug out house do read this book. That is its value...

Couldn't finish it. I wanted Prepper Fiction, not a Romance novel. He's 40, she is 19 and falls heads over heels in love for him and only him. He gets in gun battles and doesn't get a scratch.He has the perfect set up, for food/water/shelter, and only has to go to get her clothing.

The author had a problem with repeating parts of the story over and over again. He also had his characters cry at the drop of a hat. Some of it could be justified but not to the extent he made to the story line. I just wish my wife was so accommodating as his wife in the story!

Money... Is what makes the world go round. The loss not only cripples society; it leads to its demise as we know it. I hope that this will be a series as the characters have developed so much, I view them as friends.

The author would greatly benefit from the services of a good proofreader. The lack of editing made this book excruciatingly difficult to read. The dialogue between Stan and Erica as they were "falling in love" was ludicrous and painful. The plotline did get better but it was not worth the effort of reading.

The scenarios are spot on, but the author spends too much time where people are sharing their feelings about each other.it's important, but there is a lot of redundancy and it begins to get a bit cheesy. the action is great but too predictable as the author spends too much time setting the stage. The authors views on central banking and the monetary system collapse are great and accurate,. Bottom line, good story, but it could have been written in 1/3 of the amount of pages and not lost anything

I found this book excellent and well done. I look forward to a sequel. Stan Dalton is a very good main character. Perhaps a little too touchy feely for my tastes, but a good read that leaves me wanting more. Well done...

I am frightened by the events depicted in this book, our once patriotic country is headed for doom. After reading this, we will continue to prepare, now at a faster rate, and pray we are wrong though the writing is on the wall.

The story is very emotional, and the characters are developed well. At times however, the emotional dialogue feels to long and forced out. The action sequences in this novel shine, short and brutal, like most action seen in modern war. The author is highly informed on survival and combat tactics and that allows him to stand above many peers in the genre. A good read, and one I couldn't put down.

Good start and then: far too much repetition, again and again. Love scenes and dialogue written by a 12 year old. Far to much mundane detail interspersed with too little action. Try again. You seem to have the basic tools to write a good story.

This new author started out very intelligent and articulate but quickly degraded to a love sick pedophile with all the usual justification " she is so mature" so on. Many of the preps were well thought out if a bit short sighted. By the time I was half way through the book it was just plain painful to keep reading. Don't waste you time.

Well written with just a few grammatical/spelling errors but not so many that they pulled you out of the story. The primary one was the repeated use of you're for your. I will be looking for more from this author.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Kept me interested and entertained throughout. I laughed, I cried, I cheered right along with the characters in the book. Highly recommend for those that like to read and also provokes thought about prepping.