Outbreak (The Dark Days Series) by Christopher Cole
Cities are bombed out ruins and wilderness is humanity’s new home. The undead roam the earth, and the new world order is about the struggle to survive. Sonny Daniels begins an emotional and physical journey of personal survival and protecting those he loves.
While survival is a constant struggle, Sonny’s most desperate fight is the struggle preserve some semblance of a compassionate soul. Sonny and his parents are caught in the zombie outbreak in upstate New York. After the passage of the first year, their base is attacked by bandits and their safety has again been compromised. Fearing for their loved ones, Sonny’s parents send him and his orphaned childhood friends, Ashley and Carrie, to Fort Denver Colorado on a military plane.
When Fort Denver is overrun with zombies, the three are alone in a zombie infested wasteland without the army’s protection, forced to rely upon one another and a handful of equally desperate survivors they encounter along the journey. Sonny is determined to do whatever it takes to protect Ashley and Carrie while finding a safe place to call home, but survival can force you to make dark decisions.
Outbreak (The Dark Days Series) by Christopher Cole is an exceptional and compelling coming of age story set in a post-apocalyptic world. A zombie outbreak in upstate New York creates unfiltered tension and comprises the safety of Sonny Daniels and his parents. Their escape from the disease and mayhem at home to safety at Fort Drum was a perilous journey. Normal people now infected with an unknown disease became monsters attacking and killing anyone crossing their paths. The government is in disarray and survival depends on oneself.
Fearful of the future, Sonny’s parents had no choice but send him along with two or his orphaned friends to Fort Denver Colorado on a military plane. The parents’ nightmare soon becomes an epic story of survival of the fittest for their son and his friends.
Christopher Cole is a masterful writer who infuses catastrophic destruction into a city and plays out the outcome for the residents in bizarre circumstances. He has created a story of psychological warfare in a doomsday setting with young characters ill-equipped to withstand the pressure of securing physical safety for themselves.
The opening statement is taut and suspenseful. You immediately want to know what happened to change his belief and loss of hope. You’ll read page after page for the author draws you into the story and holds your attention to the end.
Christopher Cole has produced an outstanding SCI-FI action-adventure that touches on the fears and insecurities of coming of age. Add a new world order, where the undead roam the earth and invade the status-quo and you have an award-winning novel of epic proportion. A must-read for SCI-FI fans. Outbreak (The Dark Days Series) by Christopher Cole is highly recommended by Artisan Book Reviews. ~ Book review by CJ Bowen for ABR