Good Fences: A Scorched Earth Novel

Quick read. The story is wealthy people buying everything they need to survive....not the regular Joe. Hoped for ideas from this book but got none. But it was OK. Wish I had not paid as much as I did.....not worth price.

Boyd Craven's writing is good enough to hold your interest. The story itself keeps your interest more as he does go into some detail of how the characters prepped or didn't prepare and how they react to situations which are fairly true to life. Kept me interested enough, I will purchase more of his books

This is an enjoyable story. However it drags on interminably until suddenly tshtf. Then it gets progressively less believable. The ending is absurd. And does it bother anybody else (spoiler alert) that the National Guard saves their bacon but nobody comments on the US soldier who is apparently AWOL?

Pure right wing survivalist propaganda. Poor editing. Bad grammar. Misspelled words. I’m sure it’s widely appreciated by trump humpers, but let’s hope the author improves as he moves from junior high to high school.

A for effort, but it’s just a long boring story. First the EMP doesn’t happen until half way thru the book (I think my kindle had it around 48%), so I hung in there with a lot of mundane setup. Once the EMP happened, I thought that now things will get exciting, but it just didn’t happen. Even the main antagonist goes out with a whimper and the protagonist isn’t even there and finds out later. I can’t believe all the 5 star ratings are legit. I won’t be reading anything else from this author.

Good writing, characters were well developed. But I did get really tired of the f-word popping up so often. I liked the Christian theme but seriously! In our home we don't use that language...and it is not very respectful for your readers. Why ruin a perfectly good book with that low class rhetoric?

I was spellbound from the beginning. This was the best book I have read in awhile. I love books that focus on prepping, it teaches me a lot that I may need to know someday. It was full of love and compassion the need to study and be prepared, what items are important, what you need to be educated about, tools and trades. The one thing that stood out to me in this book that is rarely mentioned in most prepping books and I read a lot of them were the games to occupy the children and the books for the adults especially the books teaching how to do necessary things once the grid is down. I myself am going to focus more on an established library of know how books, much thanks to the author for giving me hindsight to this prepping need in my supplies. You will not be disappointed with this book, it covers everything you could possibly want in a prepper fiction and then some. I gave the book 5 star rating because I personally learned from this book and to be honest I thought I had read and studied everything there was on prepping, just shows you we still need to keep on reading and keep on prepping.

Read this book in one sitting. I read a lot of "prepper" type books and this is one of the better ones. Yes, you can pick up a few tips here and there, but it wasn't just a laundry list of "gotta get gear". No superhuman military genius to survive being shot 50 times, stabbed 100 and blown up 25. Some of the dialog and character development could use a little work, but the primary characters in this book were far more realistic than we sometimes see in this genre and there was a twist in the story line that was a little different. Faith was a component in the story, but no sermons. This isn't a light porn book disguised as a prepper book. Every man isn't a muscle bound, special forces trained Adonis. Every woman isn't a super model.

This book will hit close to home for a lot of people who have the insight to contemplate how to deal with a scenario where the worst has happened and they have resources where their neighbors do not. Most people believe that they know how they would handle such a situation (or at least think that they do), but then there is the cold, hard reality of potentially having to confront this situation rather than just thinking about it, planning around it or fantasizing how they THINK they would react. Could you bring yourself to help people you don't like, maybe even people that had badly mistreated you? What if helping them was the best way, maybe the only way to help insure the survival of you and yours?

Should the unthinkable happen there will be no shortage of very difficult decisions to make, and not all of them will fall into the shoot/don't shoot category.

This is the first book I have purchased from Craven and nowhere near the last. Everything about the book is well done and I appreciated the humor that was mixed in as well.

I hate when romance is tossed into an action movie just to appease the wives and girlfriends who get dragged along to the movie they didnt want to see in the first place. So I worried when the first hints of a love story showed up in Good Fences.

However this is not romance, it is emotion. Emotion so well done that it had my constantly dry eyes misted up with empathy. The pain, healing and joy the main character Brian goes through as he discovers that surviving the apocalypse is not worth much if you're doing it alone really hit me hard. Live together or dont bother living at all.

In regards to the narrator: Freaking Fantastic! Simple as that. Just a great audiobook all around.

PS - Brenda is my favorite character.

Brian Cartwright is a widower trying to rebuild his life on his family’s farm. His former boss and the father of the young man that is responsible for Brian’s loss has built a subdivision next to the farm. To try and buy the farm out from under Brian, George Landry uses his connections within the city and the HOA to force Brian to stop his farming activities. Then an EMP hits the entire country and suddenly Brian has what everyone else wants.

Craven’s stand-alone novel in the Scorched Earth world, Good Fences, follows Brian and his friends as they come together to survive in a world without electricity. It is such a compelling story that I had a hard time putting it down. The characters are so real I felt the same emotions as they displayed.

The only thing about this book that bothered me was why George was such a jerk to Brian. Brian has worked for George for 15 years prior to George, Jr. crashing into Brian’s vehicle. I just didn’t get it.

4 out of 5 stars.

A fantastic story from Mr. Craven! His character development was so incredibly detailed and the story was very entertaining. With the main point of view from Brian, a new widower, the reader gets to embrace the full experience of trying to slowly work into a preparedness lifestyle while still dealing with the challenges of daily life. When the power fails, Brian is thrust into a new and somewhat dangerous environment.

It was nice to realize that this was the same 'world' as in 'The World Burns' series and although there was a difference of location from Blake, the reality remained the same. The vote of four stars was only due to a good bit of editing problems that were apparent in the book. But the overall story was engrossing and unbelievably captivating. I fully enjoyed this book and look forward to more of this grid-down world!

I have read most of Mr. Craven's works and he is one of my favorite WSHTF authors. Great character development and descriptions. I highly recommend his books to anyone that enjoys stories about being prepared to take care of yourself.

Haven't given any survival book a 5. This one got it because 1.There is good information to actually check out on my own.2. The author though had a some goray details, yet was able to get a cross the terrible things that people do to each other with out going into full blown details. 3. All the key players were t killed off, seems other books always do this. 4. Living in Michigan made it more real.
Bottom line wealth of information and web sites to check out and spell bounding book.

This is the first time I've actually written a review of a book. I've read tons of prepper books and this one had a lot of good, how to get ready and prepare information. Plus, I enjoyed the story and characters. I would have liked to have my children read this book but I didn't appreciate the swearing and the descriptive sexual parts. I know.. they were only a paragraph or so in length and certainly didn't get into details but it was more than I'd allow my children to read. Young boys minds don't need those 'visuals' in their heads. (I would have given 5 stars except for the swearing and 'make -out' scene descriptions.)

This book was only OK. Far too much time spent on the set-up and not nearly enough time spent on the aftermath of the "apocalyptic" event. Characters introduced just disappeared, or were summarily killed off much any detail (including the nemesis of the first half of the novel). Also, everything was way too black and white. After the end of the world, you are either a gun-toting christian hero or a gun-toting misogynist rapist and torturer. Or you pimped out your wife - that was a gray as it got (and again, no details as to how that came about). A bit too two-dimensional . Still, I was able to read the whole thing and I did like the basic idea of the story, thus I thought is was OK.

A wonderful book filled with good people of character, courageous and trying to survive in a very grim and dangerous world.
I hope there will be more installments . The writing was really excellent and well developed. A lot of warmth in the book despite
the horrendous circumstances of deperate times. Thank you Mr. Craven. Looking forward to more of your writing. Freddy B

I read this after reading a series of Boyd Craven lll novels. This is set concurrently with " The World burns" series. The author is easy to read and follow. He offers authentic prepping information which a beginner will find informative and the seasoned Prepper will find correct! A great story line so read and learn. Thank you, Boyd. Obviously, I am waiting eagerly for another novel in this series.

Read this book in one sitting. I read a lot of "prepper" type books and this is one of the better ones. Yes, you can pick up a few tips here and there, but it wasn't just a laundry list of "gotta get gear". No superhuman military genius to survive being shot 50 times, stabbed 100 and blown up 25. Some of the dialog and character development could use a little work, but the primary characters in this book were far more realistic than we sometimes see in this genre and there was a twist in the story line that was a little different. Faith was a component in the story, but no sermons. This isn't a light porn book disguised as a prepper book. Every man isn't a muscle bound, special forces trained Adonis. Every woman isn't a super model.

This book will hit close to home for a lot of people who have the insight to contemplate how to deal with a scenario where the worst has happened and they have resources where their neighbors do not. Most people believe that they know how they would handle such a situation (or at least think that they do), but then there is the cold, hard reality of potentially having to confront this situation rather than just thinking about it, planning around it or fantasizing how they THINK they would react. Could you bring yourself to help people you don't like, maybe even people that had badly mistreated you? What if helping them was the best way, maybe the only way to help insure the survival of you and yours?

Should the unthinkable happen there will be no shortage of very difficult decisions to make, and not all of them will fall into the shoot/don't shoot category.

As writer's go, Boyd has the talent! Not many can catch my attention and his attention to detail grabbed my attention right away, this was a great story about the people, not the whole world, which was good , I only gave 4 stars because it would have been nice to know who caused t he event and why, who else was affected and such.

When I started reading this book, I was wondering where all the blood and gore was. I was used to reading that type. What surprised me was that it was a refreshing , alternative look at what could be. That with faith and humanity, people built what exists now, so why not believe that it could work again. Very much recommend

Well written book. While a lot of authors seem to have jumped on the EMP bandwagon with predictable plot twists and transparent characters, Good Fences is none of that. While it's not meant to be an instruction manual, there are lots of good hints for the people just starting to prepare for natural or man-made disasters.

http://www.xpgamesaves.com/topic/99514-v2assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-save-editor-xbox-360-mod-too Quite a bit of grammar and spelling errors, not to mention redundant word usage, but if you can look past that it's a pretty good story. The main character is a likable guy who isn't an end of the world superman. He and the other character are developed well through the book to the point you feel you know them. There are some parts of the story that require you to suspend your disbelief, but it's fiction and that's the point. All in all I enjoyed the book and has hesitant to put it down.

I read a lot of Apocalypse books and this one was refreshing as the main characters were good Christians and tried to help their neighbors. The world needs people like this especially in these troubling times.

A very good read. It lays out what could happen in the days ahead of us. This book will reinforce the idea of being prepared for whatever happens. Keep plenty of food,Ammo and water on hand at all times.

I liked this story. I found the characters interesting and believable. The setting and situations were plausible. This is one of my favorite genres, and this book delivered an enjoyable afternoon of reading, plus I learned a few more things.

The author creates a SHTF emp storyline that is just to sweet and includes the predictably perfect " good guy prepper ".I prefer my post-apocalyptic scenarios to have more flawed characters,that struggle to survive.Yet this is my own preference and might be perfectly acceptable to other readers.The narrator has a rough,gravely voice that I find distracting,but he reads the book adequately.I received an audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Good beginning but the book went downhill from there. The middle was ok the ending was mediocre. I've read 9 books from this author and the last several have seemed rushed and written w/o much thought or effort. He's an ok writer but after his latest books I'm not confident he will be a great writer. Perhaps if he spent more time developing the main characters and put a little more effort into the supporting characters while developing a realistic view on what murphy's law would be his novels might be worth purchasing for my library but as of right now kindle unlimited is as far as i will go in purchasing his books.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good, with a lot of detail put into the writing. For me, it just lacked that small, elusive something special, which would have put it over the top, and made it a great book. The book was a pleasure to read and at the end, it made me wish there had been more pages.

This book has interesting characters and a little different plot twist. I have read several of Mr. Craven's books and I have yet to be disappointed yet. The only reason this review is not a 5 is Mr. Craven has not reached Louis L'Amour status yet but he is getting close.

Sort of an unprepared prepper with a good heart. At least it was a hopeful struggle for the most part and not totally dark as a lot of science fiction is these days. Don't know if I think the decisions made to survive were consistent 100% but still an enjoyable read.

It was a good read, I'll be looking forward to reading more from Mr. Craven. His narrative style is unique, and genuine. The grim picture he paints is realistic, especially concerning the effects of an EMP.

This was a good listen. The story was told in first person by a widowed 'prepper' and what happened to him and his neighbors after an emp destroyed all the electronics in the US. The narration was excellent and the story was steady.

"This audio book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Decent book but too much touchy-feely stuff and too little exploring the problems that have to be solved. As usual with these EMP stories, the EMP just magically happens and the only clue is that things stop working. I do not think that is physically realistic but let's give the author his reality. But if the EMP really wipes out all transportation, infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, etc. the characters have much bigger problems than they consider. The hero's farm is said to be about 400 acres. How can this land produce the food for all the people who come to the farm and in the neighboring subdivision? How can the farm continue to produce food without fuel for the tractors or fertilizers and insecticides? The author mentions that the farm has a septic field but how long will that function and how about the neighboring subdivision. These kind of questions interest me more than huge battles with mutant zombie bikers. The story ends by just dribbling off with the hero living happily ever after. I know I am probably being too critical but I might as well let the author know what interests one reader. edit: I should mention that the author does work in some of these problems but the emphasis is on just surviving the immediate aftermath of the EMP not on what happens in the long term.

I enjoyed the book for the most part. All I can say it is a good thing Brian has his best friend Randy to keep him in touch with reality. If not Brian would be dead a victim of his own sensitivity. When the SHTF you don't get out of your truck unarmed to talk to a bunch of druggies who threw a bottle and hit your truck. Touchy feely people will not survive SHTF events.

Decent book but too much touchy-feely stuff and too little exploring the problems that have to be solved. As usual with these EMP stories, the EMP just magically happens and the only clue is that things stop working. I do not think that is physically realistic but let's give the author his reality. But if the EMP really wipes out all transportation, infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, etc. the characters have much bigger problems than they consider. The hero's farm is said to be about 400 acres. How can this land produce the food for all the people who come to the farm and in the neighboring subdivision? How can the farm continue to produce food without fuel for the tractors or fertilizers and insecticides? The author mentions that the farm has a septic field but how long will that function and how about the neighboring subdivision. These kind of questions interest me more than huge battles with mutant zombie bikers. The story ends by just dribbling off with the hero living happily ever after. I know I am probably being too critical but I might as well let the author know what interests one reader. edit: I should mention that the author does work in some of these problems but the emphasis is on just surviving the immediate aftermath of the EMP not on what happens in the long term.

I enjoyed the book for the most part. All I can say it is a good thing Brian has his best friend Randy to keep him in touch with reality. If not Brian would be dead a victim of his own sensitivity. When the SHTF you don't get out of your truck unarmed to talk to a bunch of druggies who threw a bottle and hit your truck. Touchy feely people will not survive SHTF events.

That was painfully slow.

It was a good idea for a story and some of the prepping ideas were good also. It's just that most of us won't have thousands of dollars to spend, hundreds of acres, and lots of guns & ammo to spare.

Did I mention it was a little slow.

I am not one that enjoys the religious beliefs of the characters and for me they subtracted from the story. But the writing was very enjoyable and they felt accurate to me, and by no means was it overdone or preaching.
While not a new plot detail, I question whether during such an event would the prisons ever really release the inmates except for maybe the minimum security prison. Seems like this plot device is getting way overused lately.

I gave this three stars because I finished the book and the story kept me fairly interested, but the story felt like a framework on which to hang a list of things you would buy and prepare if you had loads of money and wanted to painlessly survive for a year after an EMP.

This was the first book i read by you two authors & after reading it i was addicted. I thought it was a 5 star book. Then came Northern Lights. I have really enjoyed the fact that you two could write books that have a, Once Upon a time & The End, in one book. I will admit, i have also read your series books. Keep writing as fast as you can & i will be waiting…… Moma cj, Maumelle, Ar.

Don't miss this amazing tale from Boyd Craven. Fall in love with this community, filled with very real characters with real life flaws, emotions, and mistakes. This book is very well written, at a pace that grabs you at times until you can't read fast enough, and then allows you to slow down a bit and savor. Another winning novel from an extremely gifted author!