Book picks similar to
Downdraft by Marcus Richardson


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The Courier


Ernest Dempsey - 2021
    Some of the same soldiers who left him for dead in the Middle East still want his head. And they’re getting closer.So far, he’s been lucky. But Dak is low on money and nearly out of time.All he needs is an easy gig. A place to lie low, bank some cash, and quietly figure out his next move.That’s not exactly what he finds.Some rich kid with more money than he knows what to do with wants to open his own museum. But first, he’s got to fill it, and that’s where Dak comes in.Not sure if his gift for hunting bad guys will translate to finding priceless artifacts, Dak’s willing to give it a shot. He needs this job. The kid will pay him a lot of money and ask no questions.Before he knows it, Dak’s on the first flight to South America, chasing his big payday. But Dak’s about to trade one set of problems for something even worse: the deadliest mission of his life.

DRYP: The Final Pandemic


R.A. Scheuring - 2020
    The Race is On to Stop a Catastrophic Pandemic.After an exchange student with bubonic plague turns up in a Reno hospital, a contractor with identical symptoms dies in Los Angeles.The government‘s official stance is that the cases are isolated, and the outbreak is under control. But George Mack, a 30-year public health veteran, quickly realizes this is no ordinary plague. The death toll is too high, and the spread pattern make no sense. As Reno’s hospitals fill with plague victims, Mack begins to believe that there is more to the epidemic than the CDC is letting on—and that he must take drastic steps if he hopes to save his city.Medical resident Dr. Susan Barry just wants to finish her training and get a real job. But when plague patients start showing up in her Los Angeles hospital, her plans for the future suddenly go off the rails. Faced with a growing crisis, Susan teams up with an old research mentor to determine the unthinkable: is the rapidly spreading plague an act of bioterrorism? Racing against the clock, Susan must also confront another disturbing possibility. She may be one of the plague’s few survivors.In Eastern Oregon, John Harr makes a pact with his fellow ranchers to keep the “California” plague out of the high desert where they live. Using roadblocks and quarantine, Harr and his neighbors think they’ve secured their home—until a mysterious and heavily armed convoy comes to town, and Harr must use his training from his past life in the military to protect the people he loves.

Endless Winter


Riley Miller - 2021
    This man-made eternal winter shows no signs of stopping, and with temperatures continuing to plummet, fears of a new ice age drive survivors into a panic.Jarred and Hope don’t have the wilderness skills needed to survive this disaster. But when their car spins out of control, they’re forced to fend for themselves in the ruthless and unforgiving forest surrounding them. And as they journey through the snow-swept wilderness, they slowly discover they are not alone…Survivalist Fiona knows how to deal with a harsh winter on her own, but this new world is deadly. She’s got a cabin stockpiled, and is all alone until she runs across Benjy, a forest ranger who’s ready to help, but has his own reasons for staying with her.Civilization is crumbling. There’s no electricity. The cold is getting worse, and resources are scarce. To survive, Jarred and Hope will have to find allies they can trust, and push themselves harder than they ever imagined. Because even a moment’s weakness in this harsh icy wasteland can mean only one thing.Freezing to death in the merciless cold…

Walkers: A Serious Parody of the Walking Dead Series


G.B. Banks - 2013
    It is the start of the journey for an entirely different group of survivors and begins with their desperate battle to escape what has become ground zero for the sudden apocalypse, the mecca for hundreds upon hundreds of the Walking Dead.

Narrow Escape


Stephen Leather - 2014
    Mid-way through the exercise Shepherd realises that all is not as it seems - and his life is on the line. Narrow Escape is about 12,000 words, about thirty pages, perfect if you have half an hour to spare. Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers. He was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue. He began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. Two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were made into movies. You can find out more from his website, www.stephenleather.com.

Rise of the Dead


Jeremy Dyson
    He lived in a world of formulas and equations. A statistician in a controlled society where everything had become predictably mundane. That world disappeared the day the dead got up and began attacking the living.Now, the end is here. Blake finds himself fighting for his life in a world that is rapidly spiraling out of control. He struggles to keep himself alive and must risk everything to find his family.Along the way, Blake finds himself thrust among other unlikely survivors. Together they must adapt to the realities of the undead world, or join the legion of zombies. The characters must overcome their conditioned human apathy and come together if they have any chance of survival. Rise of the Dead chronicles the first moments of the zombie apocalypse. While the story is a fast-paced thrill ride through an ever-growing zombie horde, the novel aims to draw upon familiar themes as those found in the Romero classic films.

Standing the Final Watch


William Alan Webb - 2016
     Lt. General Nick Angriff has spent his adult life protecting family and country from a world of terrorism spinning out of control. On the battlefield, off the grid, in clandestine special task forces and outright black ops, Angriff never wavers from duty. But when a terror attack on Lake Tahoe kills his family, he’s left with only the corrosive acid of revenge… that is, until a hated superior officer reveals the deepest of all secret operations. Against the day of national collapse, a heavily-armed military unit rests in cryogenic storage, to be awakened when needed, and Angriff is named its commander. Fifty years later he wakes to find the USA destroyed and predatory warlords roaming the ruins. Stalked by assassins bent on seizing his command for their own purposes, Angriff has to prepare for war while avoiding murder. Because the only wall still shielding survivors from slavery and death are the men and women of The Last Brigade.

The Dead Don't Turn


Phil Maxey - 2018
    Turning man, woman and child into blood thirsty animals. When Joel Garret, a member of an elite tactical unit of the FBI woke up on a fine Californian day, he had no idea the world had already ended. Most of those around him in Los Angeles had no idea either. But as the scourge took full affect and the blood started to flow in the streets, Joel found himself fighting to survive against those that had changed. Three months later he is running from the things that destroyed the world, while trying to deal with his own demons. A chance encounter with a woman searching for her husband, forces him to confront his past while giving him some hope for the future.

Days of Fire


Rebecca Fernfield - 2018
    She even joined up to help protect them amidst the growing terrorist threats. If the worst happens she’s made a promise and has a plan: get her mother and sister out of the city then wait out the danger in the family’s safehouse. 20,000 feet in the air, her worst fears come true when a devastating electromagnetic pulse takes out the entire grid. As she watches the city below descend into darkness, and the plane begins to fall from the sky, Jessie’s only thought is of home and the last desperate phone call from her sister. With her mother missing, and the country descending into chaos, Jessie is confronted by a criminal underbelly more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. To keep her promise, she’ll have to face her fears and use every ounce of her training and ingenuity to get the people she loves to safety. But is it enough? Scroll up and buy today! *** Days of Fire is an intense, post-apocalyptic EMP survival thriller series with a twist.

Long Road to Survival: The Prepper Series (Book 2)


William H. Weber - 2015
    With deadly clouds of radiation swooping in from the wasteland of American port cities, Paul Edwards and his father-in-law Buck seek shelter in a spectacular government bunker, the likes of which has never been seen. They've succeeded in finding safety from the dangers outside, but in a world without rules, trust can be a deadly thing.

The Angola Deception


D.C. Alden - 2015
    Delta Force, US Navy SEALs and the CIA’s Special Operations Group, all of them unaware of the conspiracy swirling around them and the politicians determined to see them fail.From the ice-capped mountains of Switzerland to the burning deserts of Iraq, from the grimy streets of south London to the teeming metropolis of Shanghai, the battle to seize ultimate control of the planet threatens every corner of the globe.The virus is out there. And humanity has never been closer to extermination.

Relics of Dawn: A Story Carved in Time


A.W. Davidson - 2021
    Cities crumble to dust.As Kaia’s world dies, who should she trust?Part hard sci-fi, part epic mystery, Relics of Dawn is a time-twisting tale of audacity, conspiracy, and survival at all costs.On a blistering day in 2296, the Council unveiled the Dawn Project. Artificial volcanic eruptions and precision meteor impacts flashed on the viewscreens in every home. In that instant, everyone understood there was no safe way out of this mess. To save the planet, they must first leave it behind. And so, a civilization on the brink began its exodus to the heavens.Biologist Kaia Badra and her small team of scientists are keeping an eye on phase one from orbit. She is dreaming about life after the project when her friend discovers an anomaly in the data stream. The updated simulation shows their daring act of creation could tip toward apocalyptic destruction, but why?A controversial theory from a geologist named Alan Pearce may be the answer. His peers called the backup plan insane because he claims it came from buried clues in Earth’s ancient ruins. Separated by time and bound by courage, Kaia and Alan work to combine long-lost knowledge with cutting-edge science in a desperate attempt to rewrite the past and save their future.“Relics of Dawn is such a nice mix of believable science fiction and character development. It sucked me in - which doesn't happen very often - and kept me hooked until the end. All in all, a lot of fun!”“Without being preachy, this ambitious epic tale weaves anthropology, climate science, physics, politics, and science fiction into a truly deep time saga. It makes critical connections from our past roots to our future potential, whether that be salvation or ruin. Amazing!”The complete trilogy includes:• Prologue• Act 1: Eruption• Act 2: Impact• Act 3: Revelation• Epilogue• Afterword• Research notes from the authorThird Edition updated based on reader input, with corrections, improved pacing, and the latest science.

Shadow Soldiers


Jim Heskett - 2018
    A quick and clean assassin. But he's burned out and ready to quit.Trained by a government agency with no name, Layne Parrish can snap a neck with one hand. But tea parties and cartoons with his three-year-old daughter is where his priorities are. After retiring to the mountains of Colorado for a simpler life, Layne thought that perilous world was behind him.He was wrong--dead wrong.When his former boss begs for his expertise, Layne knows he has one mission:  Eliminate an assassin to save a life. It's a job he can't refuse. This particular assassin is a ghost from his past--a murky past he wants destroyed.  But when Layne picks up his pistol for the last time, will his plan backfire?

Melt


J.J. Pike - 2019
    A bold scientific breakthrough? Or an end to modern society as we know it It was supposed to be a ground-breaking demonstration: "Melt" a newly created compound, promised to revolutionize waste processing. When things don't go as planned and the city begins to implode, Bill and Alice Everlee are caught on opposite sides of the divide. Stuck at ground zero as the city begins to sink around her, Alice races to discover what is causing the disaster and how to stop it - if she even can. Meanwhile, having received a frightening message from his wife, Bill hurries to pack everyone up at home before racing to a remote cottage in upstate New York to begin preparing for the coming storm... A new, intensely thrilling series, "Melt" has received unanimous praise from beta readers and early reviewers alike. Written by J.J. Pike and Mike Kraus, "Melt" examines a part of our world that we often take for granted. Add in a dash of real science and a glimpse of what the future might hold in store and you're presented with the recipe for "Melt" a frighteningly real post-apocalyptic thriller. "Melt" is a novel-length series will be released on a monthly basis.

Outbreak


Alister Hodge - 2018
    While her body awaits transfer to the morgue, Harry is stunned to witness the corpse lurch off the bed and attack his staff. It’s not an isolated incident. Lysan Plague has crossed the species divide from bat to human and mutated with devastating effect. Burning across the country in a tide of bloody violence, it overwhelms an unprepared police force and government. Bite victims re-animate as plague ‘Carriers’, creatures lost to conscious thought, consumed by rage and an urge to feed on the non-infected. No-one is safe in the apocalypse, and only those who are willing to fight will survive. Harry forms an alliance with several other survivors, but will it be enough for them to hold out until the Army regroups to fight back?