Book picks similar to
Minute Zero by Chris Jayne


dystopia
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Earth


Jessica Frances - 2014
    There was no warning and no time to stage any kind of defence. Instead countries started to go silent. They were no longer reachable and no one knew what was happening. So when Canada went dark; everyone knew America would be next. My name is Matilda, but everyone calls me Mattie. I was at college in Oregon when the attack began. By the time Canada went quiet, we’d had enough. So two of my friends and I decided to join the fight in Vancouver and find out what was really happening. That is when everything changed. What we found was death, destruction and machines that were slaughtering humans. There would be no escape for us; no place to go where the machines couldn't reach us. I had no future, but then I met him. My name is Marduke and I’m part of the reason Earth is being invaded. I’m from a different planet and even though I look human, I’m not. But when Earth was invaded, I began running from my family and running for my life. Then she saved me. She made me feel something I’d never felt before. She saved my life and opened my heart to the possibility of love, she changed me forever. What are the chances of finding your true love right when the world is ending? What kind of cruel fate places them together under those circumstances? What is she supposed to do when he tells her he is not from Earth? When she finds out that he is one of the invaders? What does she do when she finds out everything she thought she knew was wrong? What does he do when he has to make a choice between protecting her and saving himself? How can they overcome everything standing in their way? Professionally edited by C&D Editing NA Science –Fiction Romance Approx 86,000 words Recommended for readers 17+ due to adult situations, violence and occasional swearing. Australian English used throughout story.

Origins


Kristen Middleton - 2012
    Seventeen year old Cassandra Wild thought living in the chaos of her mother’s home daycare and dealing with her developing feelings for Bryce, her new Martial Arts’ instructor, was a struggle, until the night her world turned upside down.When an untested vaccine kills more than just a rampant flu virus, Cassie learns how to survive in a world where the dead walk, and the living…run!

Double Down


Carolina Mac - 2018
    call from his ex-girlfriend's mother, he heads to Colombia to find Fabiana. Caught in a drug war between two cartels, the Blackmore team is in way over their heads. In a last-ditch effort, they pull out all the stops, but will it be enough?

Entanglement


Dan Rix - 2012
    Casler Selavio, on the entanglement of halves.In a world like ours, humans are born in pairs. When a newborn boy takes his first breath in the coastal town of Tularosa, the exact time is noted, recorded in the Registry, and later compared to the birth times of other newborns around the globe. There will be one identical match—his half. They will meet on their eighteenth birthday and they will spend their lives together. Except this time, there is no match.Hotheaded heartthrob Aaron Harper is scheduled to meet his half in twenty-nine days, and he doesn’t buy a word of that entanglement crap. So what if he and his half were born the same day and share a spooky psychic connection? Big deal. After breaking one too many teenage girls’ hearts, he’ll stick to brawling with the douchebag rugby players any day.Until the day a new girl arrives at school and threatens everything he takes for granted.Cold and unapproachable, Amber Lilian hates the growing list of similarities between her and the one boy she can’t read, Aaron: born the same day, both stubborn, both terrified of meeting their halves. . . . All the more reason not to trust him. That she would rather die than surrender herself as her half’s property is none of his damn business. But once lost in Aaron’s dangerous, jet black eyes, she’s already surrendered more than she cares to admit.Tangled in each other’s self-destructive lives, Aaron and Amber learn the secret behind their linked births and why they feel like halves—but unless they can prove it before they turn eighteen, Aaron faces a lifetime alone in a world where everyone else has a soul mate . . . and he’ll have to watch Amber give herself to a boy who intends to possess not only her body but also a chunk of her soul.ENTANGLEMENT, a 75,000 word YA thriller, will appeal to readers of Michael Grant's GONE and Ally Condie’s MATCHED.

Struck


Jennifer Bosworth - 2012
    She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Fight Like a Man


L.L. Akers - 2017
    They had everything they needed at their homestead. What he wasn't prepared for, was his family not being home if it ever happened.Olivia Rowan is with her sisters, Gabby and Emma, on a girls-only trip to Myrtle Beach. When chaos erupts and there's no gas, their journey home is a nightmare, filled with predators and danger--and apparently, Olivia hadn't learned a thing her husband tried to teach her. When your neighbors run out of food and water, and turn on each other, what will you do?Jake, a country boy mechanic, never believed in TEOTWAWKI, but he'd heard his brother-in-law preach about it many times. He knew what to do; but he didn't prepare. He lazily left it all up to Grayson--he was the prepper after all. When catastrophe strikes, will he continue to keep his head stuck in the sand while his clueless neighbors destroy each other, and his wife is stuck out on the road; or will he stand up and fight like a man? And if you're alone? Bug in or Bug out?Graysie Rowan, a freshman at University, just wants to go home. When no word comes from the government, and the state capital is overrun with looters, chaos and mayhem, the college administration puts the students on lock-down. But her dad, Grayson, had prepared her for this. Now, if she can only remember what it was he said to do...If they want to survive this post-apocalyptic event, they'll all have to learn to fight like a man.The end came not with boots on the ground, nuclear weapons or an EMP. It snuck in with a quiet clatter at the back door and flipped the switch, covering the states in darkness and sending this family on three divergent paths that ultimately lead home. When they collide in this surreal and gripping family drama, it won't be without bullets and bloodshed.

Sanctioned Catastrophe


Thomas A. Watson - 2014
    The ultimate prepper’s adventure. The journey begins here! Nathan Owens was just topping up his tank when the gas pump stopped working. So did the radio. And the lights. Then planes starting falling out of the sky, and plutonium-powered satellites began to explode. A massive solar storm–the Coronal Mass Event that had been predicted for years–finally hit Earth, and the electromagnetic pulse it created instantaneously threw the world back to the Bronze Age. Soon the radioactive fallout from space would spread death and disease across the globe. Owens and his friends had been preparing for something like this for years, and now it had finally happened. But when it came, it came at the worst possible time. He was a thousand miles away from his family and his redoubt – and his only chance to survive the dark days ahead. If he ever hoped to escape, he would have to draw together a team of survivalists to save those nearby before he could even begin the last, most important journey of his life. And there was one thing he hadn’t counted on at all: the EOTWAWKI wasn’t just a natural disaster. There was a sinister, almost omnipotent human force behind it…and it wanted him dead.

Edgewood


Karen McQuestion - 2012
    Before long Russ discovers he's developed incredible superpowers, and he’s not the only one. Three other young people—beautiful Mallory, arrogant Jameson, and mysterious Nadia—have had the same experience and all of them now have powers of their own. Mallory can control peoples’ minds, Jameson moves objects with his thoughts, and Nadia has empathic abilities.At first the four relish their newfound gifts, but things become serious when they learn they are being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes. When Russ’s family is threatened, he’s forced into action. What transpires will change all of them in ways they never imagined.

Collapse


Mark Lukens - 2019
    The governments of the world and the media tried to suppress it, but little by little the truth got out. The economy had been in a free-fall, banks closed, protests turned into riots, people began hoarding and panicking. And then on a Friday morning, the collapse came.After the government office where Ray Daniels works shuts down, he just wants to get home to his wife and kids. On his arduous journey home, Ray gets a phone call from Craig, his supervisor, inviting him and his family to his home where the answers to the collapse and the Ripper Plague are waiting for him, but the call breaks up and Ray only hears the word Avalon.When Ray gets home to his family, the TV stations have been replaced with a loop of the president of the United States declaring martial law. The electricity and water are shut off soon after that. They hole up in their bedroom for the night - they have no weapons, little food, and no information about why everything collapsed so quickly.After Ray's neighbor, Helen, holds a secret meeting to try to fight back against martial law, she asks Ray to help her blind daughter Emma, promising that Emma can help him and his family find the way to Avalon. But what is Avalon, and what does Emma know about it?Hours later, after soldiers in gas masks take Helen away, Ray has no choice but to flee with his family. Society has crumbled within the last twenty-four hours. Hordes of flesh-eating infected are loose on the streets. The police and military are doing their best to fight back, but they are losing the battle now. The collapse is here, and Ray wants the answers that Craig has, but he must keep his family alive first.

Travelers


Al Hess - 2019
     After a terrifying cliff fall nearly claims her life, a fellow wanderer comes to her aid. The nameless Islander, imposing and aloof, isn’t an ideal traveling companion, let alone someone Owl wants to get close to after her last devastating relationship. But there are worse dangers around each bend of the road—putrid trashdogs, blood-thirsty highwaymen, and foreign drones—and inviting him along as protection is safer than going it alone. When an encroaching slaver army threatens to destroy not only Owl’s intended destination, but her childhood home, it seems there are no more places of comfort left in the wasteland… except the enigmatic man traveling with her. He’s offered to take her farther than intended, to a place the army can’t reach. Despite her growing feelings, the pain and mistrust from old wounds is hard to heal. Following him to somewhere as mysterious as he is could lead to danger. But there might be a chance at a new home and fresh shot at love, if Owl can break down the walls around her heart. Book I of the Travelers Series by Alia Hess. Fans of the cozy, optimistic apocalypse of Carrie Vaughn's Bannerless, the character-driven journeys in Station Eleven, and Fallout's Wild Wasteland perk, will love TRAVELERS.

Sub-Human


David Simpson - 2012
    Craig Emilson is sent to take out a powerful artificial intelligence. Unexpectedly, he becomes the greatest hope for humanity. He must choose between saving mankind or saving himself as he faces impossible odds and an army of super soldiers on a mission to destroy him. "Sub-Human" is the first book in a new series of page turners that will keep you guessing until the very end. A mix between action thriller and science fiction, this novel will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. First in a new series!

The Butterfly Code


Sue Wyshynski - 2015
    I am a genetically modified human. PAINFUL SECRETS. STARTLING TRUTHS.UNDENIABLE LOVE.All it took was a chance meeting--one tingling glance across a darkened street to change my life.I'd been searching for my two best friends in the crowded Zenith Club, which was a really bad idea because I'm totally claustrophobic. I burst outside, and that's when I came face-to-face with the incredibly gorgeous Hunter Cayman. Dark-haired, tall, and leaning against an insane sports car, my pulse went haywire. Maybe things weren't so bad after all. The young doctor had his long muscular arms crossed over his leather jacket clad chest, and all his six-foot something would make any girl's knees turn weak. But then, if what Ella said was true, Hunter was the kind of guy who left behind a trail of broken hearts. And heartache was the last thing I needed right now.Yet there's something strange, something almost superhuman about Hunter. It's more than that infuriatingly knowing grin. I'm trying to stop thinking about him, and I get the feeling he's avoiding me, too. Yet Deep Cove is a tiny town and every time we run into each other the tension literally crackles, sparking around us. It just figures that when suddenly I'm in danger, he's there to save me.In truth, I should be dead. By all the logic in this world, I should be shattered to pieces. How fast was I going on that ATV when I smashed into those iron gates? Ninety? A hundred? And the men who were chasing me, where did they go?Somehow I'm whole.Maybe better than whole. There's no one I can talk to, not even my best friend, Gage. Gage hates Hunter. He wants Hunter's laboratory to be shut down. He thinks Hunter's a monster. And yet, if that's true, if Hunter's a monster...than what am I? I'm not sure what terrifies me more, the metamorphosis taking place inside me, or the intensely powerful connection with a guy whose heart and soul has become linked with mine.

Recoil


Joanne Macgregor - 2016
    The Game is real. Three years after a series of terrorist attacks flooded the US with a lethal plague, society has changed radically. Sixteen year-old Jinxy James spends her days trapped at home – immersed in virtual reality, worrying about the plague and longing for freedom. Then she wins a war simulation game and is recruited into a top-secret organisation where talented teenagers are trained to become agents in the war on terror. Eager to escape her mother’s over-protectiveness and to serve her country, Jinxy enlists and becomes an expert sniper of infected mutant rats. She’s immediately drawn to Quinn O’Riley, a charming and subversive intelligence analyst who knows more about the new order of government and society than he is telling. Then a shocking revelation forces Jinxy to make an impossible decision, and she risks losing everything. Recoil is the first book in a Young Adult dystopian romance trilogy, and makes great reading for lovers of Rick Yancey (The Fifth Wave), Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games), and Veronica Roth (Divergent). BONUS CONTENT! Chapter one of Refuse (book 2 in the Recoil series) included in this version!

Not a Drop to Drink


Mindy McGinnis - 2013
    She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

Devoured


Jason Brant - 2013
     Day Two: Higher brain function erodes in those exposed to the gas. Their bodies begin to distort, faces distending, skin sallowing, teeth elongating. Day Three: The infected disappear into the shadows, fleeing the harsh daylight which has begun to sear their flesh. Day Four: The world is DEVOURED. Life isn’t kind to Lance York. A full-time job has eluded him for years, his wife loathes the sight of him, his bank accounts are empty, and his wealthy father-in-law revels in his failures. After he lunges in front of a car to save a sick and disoriented woman, Lance awakens in a quarantined hospital. A devastating plague is spreading worldwide, driving those infected with it insane. Their bodies begin to mutate into horrors that have haunted mankind’s nightmares for centuries. The world descends into chaos as the infected flee to the shadows, emerging at night to devour the remnants of civilization. With the help of an unlikely ally, Lance must navigate through the collapsing city of Pittsburgh, striving to escape the madness of the apocalypse that unfolds around them.