This was one of the best books I’ve read this year. Well, ok, I’ve only read 5 books this year but this was the best and it’s going to be hard to beat. I didn’t particularly like the first book, “Enclave”, in this series, but I certainly do like this book.
The world has gone to heck as you know from the first book. Someone released some kind of virus that quickly spread through the population causing people to turn into mindless zombies. If I had know that the first book involved zombies, I probably wouldn’t have read the book since I’m not that crazy about zombie sorties or even zombie PC games. Yet, getting through the first book wasn’t all that bad. We met Rob (Robert) Lewis and eventually Rebecca (Bec) who was a young woman that Rob or rather his sidekick, Gerry, almost shot dead near Enclave Twelve.
Now you know Bec has a history with the CIA. She was some how involved with that organization and fled Washington D. C. with a Congressman that was supposed to have some very vital information destined for the President of the United States. Unfortunately, that Congressman and his party had to travel to the Presidents new stronghold out in Colorado. They didn’t make it. Bec, as we know, managed to survive the convoy carnage and that’s how she stumbled into Rob and Gerry’s sights at Enclave Twelve.
Once Rob found that they hadn’t killed her, they brought her into Enclave Twelve where she was eventually put to work. She didn’t want to tell anyone what she had in her possession because she did know that some of it involved the military. Enclave Twelve is ran by a rather stern Army Colonel who wanted to know what Bec knew so that maybe he would become more important to his superiors in Enclave One where the President resided. Yet, Bec didn’t want to turn anything over to anyone expect the President himself. So, she managed to befriend Rob and he eventually agreed to help her escape Enclave Twelve.
Meanwhile, Enclave One had heard of the Congressman’s attempt to reach that Enclave and that his convoy had been intercepted by the zombies, a.k.a., “Zekes” and pretty much destroyed. What they didn’t know was whether the Congressman had survived the attack or if he still have the vital information he was bringing still with him. So, they sent a Special Operator to conduct a search and rescue if warranted. That is where Sergeant First Class Obi and Master Sergeant Gator come into the book. “Obi” as he calls himself is a one man army and Gator is his dog, attack dog if you make the wrong moves. He asks the Colonel of Enclave Twelve to send someone with him since it’s not good to go roaming about the country side on your lonesome. So, Rob gets the call. Here he learns a lot about how to stay alive in a world gone mad.
They don’t find anything while searching for the Congressman, oh, they find him alright, but he’s had a bullet through his skull by one of the military guys that had accompanied him on his trip. It seems the convoy got attacked, the Congressman and some of the military had fled to a vacant garage and stayed there until the Congressman got too scared of just staying put. He broke out of the garage and ran right into a bunch of Zekes. Of course he got bit and that’s all it takes to turn your brain to much, but you don’t die. You become a Zeke and your favorite meal is a fresh human! It seems that the last military guy with the Congressman saw him turn into a Zeke so he shot him through the brain to make him permanently dead. This he told to Obi and Rob before he put a bullet through his own brain!
Ok, so Obi says he likes working with Rob. Rob’s not military but he can shoot pretty well and he doesn’t blabber all the time nor does he panic when the going gets rough. So, he tells Rob that if he needs any help sometime to give him a call and give Rob on of his satellite radio/telephones. Rob uses it to tell Obi that he and Bec are leaving Enclave Twelve and they need some help getting to Enclave One and the President. Initially Obi says he can’t get them an airlift so he tells them to head out on a specific route and he’ll try to meet them later.
Bec and Rob find a functioning truck and head out on the route Obi gave them. Everything is going fine until the his this town that unknown to them has been taken over by a bunch of lawless thugs! Here’s where they manage to destroy the truck Rob was driving, capture Bec and stick her in some house while throwing Rob in a jail cell. They have set themselves up in the Sheriff’s office having killed the Sheriff and his Deputies in pretty much cold blood. These thugs just didn’t like taking orders from the Sheriff so they took things into their own hands.
Obi finally gets some airlift although it’s not necessarily to go and find Rob and Bec. He kind of threatens the Air Force pilots to take his Osprey and land when they see Rob’s overturned and destroyed truck. They know something isn’t right with this town since the first people they see start shooting at them. Oh, Obi is accompanied by another Special Forces guy and a Navy Seal that both volunteered to help with the situation and of course, Obi has Gator.
From here on you’ll read about some pretty good stuff on how a well trained Special Forces Operator operates. He’s good at what he does and amateurs really don’t stand a chance. It’s bad enough that he has to kill former humans who have become zombies, but he really hates to have to kill guys that have just turned into idiots. For the most of this book, Rob is out of action. He got pretty banged up in the truck collision so it’s taking him a while to get well. Bec, meanwhile, is more than willing to help out and she does in ways some unexpected.
You’ll also read that something isn’t right with conditions in Enclave One. It’s definitely a military ran operation but doesn’t seem to be what’s going to save the nation. We do have some very unfortunate action very late in the book. I was surprised it happen, but now I’m more then ever ready to read book 3, “Isolation”, as soon as possible. It doesn’t appear to be available until 24 February 2026, so we’ve got a little wait.
==[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]==
==[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]==