Book picks similar to
The Last Light of Day by Ryan Schow


post-apocalyptic
1-cataloged
shtf-tyranny
techno

Shut In


Nathan Jones - 2019
     Ellie Feldman is on the way home from a business trip, looking forward to seeing her kids, when her plane is grounded on the tarmac in Hawaii. No one wants to tell her what's going on, until finally she learns of the virulent disease spreading over the globe. Now she has to find a way to get home to her family. Back at home her ex-husband, Nick Statton, thinks his problems revolve around financial hardships and helping their children as they continue to adjust to the recent divorce and going from parent to parent with shared custody. Then he discovers there's something far worse to worry about. As the nation descends into chaos around them, she must face the challenges of being out in a society falling apart, while he and their children face those of being shut in.

Unstable


Jack Hunt - 2018
    It’s not long before the U.S military instigates a cordon sanitaire to contain the contagious, and a small band of survivors find themselves at the center of a terrifying government experiment. At the onset of the devastation, Chief Brody Jackson is not only juggling a six month separation from his wife, dealing with an unruly son, and hunting down a homicidal maniac, but now he’s torn between protecting the town or saving his dysfunctional family. As the lights and communication go down, and the epidemic decimates the small population, only three things are certain — no one is safe, everyone is a threat, and family is everything.

EMP Antediluvian Purge


S.A. Ison - 2018
    Now, home on leave to visit his dying grandfather, Harry is shocked to learn the old man had secrets -- and before passing away, he tells Harry two of them. One will change Harry forever and one just may save his life when a massive EMP hits and rips apart the fabric of the U.S. and perhaps the world, trapping him in the one place he thought he'd left behind. His small town turns in on itself. Is this the work of the ubiquitous KKK, a homegrown terrorist group right from the heart of Harry's world? Time is running out for Harry and his family. Some secrets cannot and should not remain hidden, but will he have to risk everything to set the world right?

Long Haul Home Collection (A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller): Series Books 1-3


Dana Fraser - 2016
     Blind Spot Army veteran Cash Bishop chases little white lines around the South and Midwest, working as a long haul trucker to make ends meet until the homestead he is building with his mother and sister can support the family. When a security breach at Hoover Dam takes all the U.S. hydroelectric power stations offline the day after a category five hurricane hits the Gulf of Mexico, cutting off electricity to millions and threatening an already compromised fuel supply, Cash figures it's time to chase those white lines home to Tennessee. By the time he hits Chicago, the lights are out across the country, throwing America into a new dark age in which only the strong and the prepared will survive. Down Shift More than two days go by before solar scientist Hannah Carter realizes that the power and communication systems have gone out across America. Obtuse? No — her state-of-the-art research facility has all the power it needs and Hannah is elbows deep in a patent application. When she does wake up to the New America, her first thought is of her teenage brother, Ellis — stuck on his own in a boarding school with similarly troubled boys. To reach him, she’ll have to escape everything from riots to solitary killers on the road. First she has to escape her employer. The research company isn’t what she thought it was. And the men in the shadows know her name. Dead Head After weeks of traveling dangerous roads, Cash Bishop is almost home. But other forces are converging on Dover, each with their own plans for Cash and those he is sworn to protect. In a contest of who will live and who will die, sometimes it’s the lucky who win.

America Falls: The Complete Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series


Scott Medbury - 2020
    Invasion. Chaos. A weaponized virus ravages the U.S. and hundreds of millions die. For those left, surviving is only the beginning…Isaac Race thought he'd found a new family and home. A new Life. He had, but it's all about to be snatched away. When an ambitious enemy launches a sneak attack on the USA, his peaceful life is shattered and Isaac, by his very nature a loner, must band together with a ragtag group of survivors to make their way to a sanctuary, three states away in the depths of a vicious east coast winter.It won’t be easy, the invaders aren't the only dangers unleashed in a world suddenly turned upside down, and if they're going to survive, they'll need to be resourceful and ruthless and rely on others in a world where trust has been shattered.This 7 book bundle includes:Hell weekOn the RunCold ComfortRude ShockLuke's TrekCivil WarLone Wolf

The Lucky Prepper: A Gardener's Story of Surviving a Pandemic


Emma Zeth - 2019
    Then at school, people start falling ill.The virus is airborne and highly infectious. It starts with flu symptoms, confusion and sleepiness, which worsen until one day they just don’t wake up. It decimates the population and leaves chaos in its wake. Now Zoe has to find a way to survive.Luckily, when the pandemic strikes, she already has a greenhouse full of vegetable seedlings, but not everyone around is as prepared. Can she avoid the people hunting for food: the ‘knockers’ who don’t always just knock? And will her strategy of stay in, hide and wait, be enough? Released 9th November 2019 Reviews coming soon...'Actually not that bad.' The Authors brother (1st draft)'Enjoyed reading it very much.' The Authors Tai-Chi-teacher's wife (2nd draft)'Good suspense.'beta reader (2nd draft)

The World After, Book 3


Ryan Casey - 2017
    Scott Harvard is a survivor of that blast. He is alone, with just a young child and a dog for company, and has sworn to protect them both at any cost.When Scott learns of a rumoured military base one hundred miles away, he sees a potentially life-changing journey ahead of him. But no journey is without its challenges. A terrifying group with their own horrifying vision of the country's future are after him--and they want to take the young girl away.Now, with the harsh elements of winter rapidly worsening, and constantly facing the threat of starvation and dehydration, Scott must utilise his survival skills and get to this safe haven with the child and the dog by his side. But with threats around every corner, it might just be a journey too far...The World After: Book Three is the third book in a new post apocalyptic trilogy by Ryan Casey, author of Dead Days and Infection Z. It is sure to delight fans of the author's trademark complex characters, rapid pacing, and unexpected twists and turns.

Sudden Chaos


T.L. Payne - 2019
    A desperate race. So much at stake. Erick Wynn is about to be a new father. He and his wife, Amy, have prepared for nationwide financial collapse, but they never planned for coordinated EMP and Cyber Attacks to leave them separated, without power, communications or transportation. Erick had just arrived at the airport to head off on a business trip when the lights went out. Now, he must fight his way through the violent streets of Chicago to make it home to his wife and unborn child before the violence reaches them. Could you survive sudden chaos storming through the windy city to get home to your family? Sudden Chaos is a post-apocalyptic EMP survival short story of The Days of Want Series and contains a FREE two-chapter preview of Turbulent, book one in the series.

Drums of War


Timothy W. Long - 2017
    A government obsessed with power. A series of coordinated attacks on the largest cities in America. Bradley Adams, a former Army veteran, and prepper, is swept up in a web of lies following a politically motivated work place shooting. When martial law is declared, his life descends into a series of nightmares from which there may be no escape. This is the story of a man dedicated to defending his family, his home, and his country. "Timothy W. Long injects a stark degree of realism into everything he writes. His horror is more horrific, his heroics more heroic, I love reading his stuff." --Peter Clines, bestselling author of the Ex-Heroes series, 14, and The Fold "Reading Timothy W. Long is like being in a knife fight that doesn't end until the last page." --Nicholas Sansbury Smith, bestselling author of The Extinction Cycle

The Battles of Rock Harbor: A "Bugging In" Tale of the Apocalypse


J.B. Craig - 2018
    Even worse, this lifelong prepper has almost all of his preparing supplies at home in Atlanta! Torn between heading home, and rescuing his daughter at College, he opts to "bug-in", as everyone in the family has been trained, and knows to get to the river house if anything bad happens. He's terrified he'll pass them if he goes in either direction. Instead, he decides to pull together the full-time residents of this weekend community, even though only a small percentage of the homeowners are on the peninsula when the lights go out. What follows is a tale of leadership, survival, combat, romance and heartbreak as this veteran combat engineer uses every trick up his sleeve to hold off those that would take what they want from the community of Rock Harbor, VA. As the days go by, he builds an unexpectedly resilient team of retirees, stay-at-home mom's, Honduran construction workers and some neighbors from around the peninsula. This book of survival has some fishing stories, some romance, lots of things that go BOOM, and a group of interesting and diverse characters who are all just trying to survive when the United States is attacked. He builds a pack of Sheepdogs to protect the residents against the Wolves, who are constantly trying to conquer this seemingly unprotected community.

The Divide


Shelby Gallagher - 2018
    She works for a non-profit by day and clips coupons by night. The time in between is spent doing homework with her son. She wants a stable and secure life for him, but she needs a new start for herself. That won’t come easy, though. Julie is recently divorced, financially stressed, and still reeling from a violent attack in her past. She is determined to make it on her own, however. She learns self-defense skills and enrolls in a women’s-only firearms class. That’s where she meets a likeminded woman who helps take her skills to the next level. Julie’s personal evolution continues as she uses her couponing know-how to stockpile essential food and survival supplies. She will become self-reliant—and never be a victim again. The urgency of her efforts takes on new importance as society begins unraveling around her. America is divided. Conservatives and liberals are at war. Then the newly elected president cuts funding to so-called Sanctuary States, including her home state of Oregon. Julie loses her job. Everyone who lives off the government gets desperate. Riots. Crime. Fire. Julie needs to flee to the safety of her family cabin in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Can she get there, though? There is an exodus of people, and the conservative states—now called Great States—have established border checkpoints. Refugees are being turned away. Will she be one of them? Will Steve, her ex-husband, let her take their son far away? Will he demand to go with them? There is a wildfire at hand. Civilization is crumbling. And Julie is running out of time. The Divide is the first book in the A Great State trilogy.

The Ranch: A Legacy of Darkness (The Legacy Series Book 3)


Sean Liscom - 2019
    He had worked the same job his entire adult life, he had never married and he had no children. He was used to doing things on his own. His comfortable life was shaken to the core the day he learned of his fathers death. It set in motion life altering events and the allure of a new life that was too great to walk away from. When an Electromagnetic Pulse brings the modern world to its knees, Jason's choice proves to be the right one. EXCERPT “You should see yourselves,” the rough male voice said. There was something eerily familiar about it. He chuckled a little. “You see, I told you girls, didn’t I? The looks on their faces would be purely magical, priceless even!” the man said. The two women stepped farther into the light. They were identical twins. I knew one as Kari, Braden knew the other as Isabella. When the man stepped into the light. My heart stopped. “OH….” Jill said quietly. “MY….” I whispered. “GOD….” Braden finished. “Is that any way to greet your father and your sisters?” Jack Sterling asked as the trio closed to a few feet from us. I felt my knees go weak; my head was spinning. I wasn’t even sure if I was still breathing. The fine line that separates reality from imagination was suddenly gone. What had only a few minutes before been a straight, defined path, had become shrouded in a mist of skepticism and fear. Just before I’d lost sight of that path, I could swear I’d seen a “Dangerous Curves” road sign. I also knew things were travelling far too fast to even attempt negotiating those twists and turns. There are times when reacting too slowly can save your life. For instance; you have a blowout on your car at 70 MPH on the freeway. Reacting slowly can keep you from doing the opposite and rolling your car. This wasn’t one of those times. This wreck was going to happen. Just like the blowout, I was experiencing the sudden onslaught of emotions. Panic.... Surprise.... Anger.... Most of all was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. You know, the kind of fear that leaves you unable to speak or scream. The fear that leaves you unable to move, let alone run for your life. The fear that can cause time to stop along with your heart. A slight breeze picked up in the late summer night and it felt like a blast straight out of the arctic, in the dead of winter. I could feel the goosebumps on my arms and neck. Even though I was sweating profusely, my entire body was frozen. All I could do was stand there, mouth open, thoughts racing. My mind was beginning to explode with questions for the man before me, my father, Jack Sterling. Every thought stopped just short of exiting my mouth. The words prob-ably couldn’t get past the fact that my heart was jammed firmly in my throat. That’s probably the same reason I hadn’t taken a breath either. Was I dead? Was this the spirit of my father coming to take me into the light? That thought left as quickly as it had come only to be replaced by anoth-er, darker notion. Maybe he had come to take me to Hell.... I stood, unmoving, as he began to cover the last few steps between us. This was it. This is how it all ended. He stopped less than an arm’s length away. I could smell him now. The slightest hint of body odor with just a hint of diesel fuel. The only scent of him that I could remember was his cologne. He’d always been clean shaven, wearing a pressed blue or black suit and that damned cologne. He reached for me, and as much as I wanted to, I was unable to pull away. I wanted to run away screaming like a small child. I could feel my muscles tremble as his hand came ever closer.

Spore


Kenny Soward - 2020
    In the race to produce as much as we could... something went wrong.Tired of the usual post-apocalyptic tale? Welcome to your new addiction.SPORE is a new, thrilling post-apocalyptic survival saga from #1 best-selling authors Mike Kraus and Kenny Soward.A billion acres of food have been wiped off the map overnight.A mysterious illness, somehow connected to America's agriculture collapse, tears through the country - and the world - like a hot knife through butter, killing millions as it spreads.Pockets of survivors are forced to trek west, seeking shelter and food as they fight against the disease that lives in the air and soil around them.As death and destruction spread and the country collapses in upon itself, those left behind will be forced to work together to survive, lest they be consumed by the spores.

It Hit The Fan: Piney River Apocalypse


John Sullins - 2019
    When a Missouri school teacher is fired from his job, he heads to a small river to get away from his problems and the virus. It might be the best decision he ever made.

Stand Your Ground: A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Survival Fiction Series (American Strong Series)


Chris Pike - 2018
    Air Force One is down, infrastructure has failed, and enemies of the United States are after the President. Ella Strong and a group of survivors are thrust into a chaotic world of compromised infrastructure and unforeseen complications. They will have to fight traitorous villains, even those who have sworn their allegiance to protect the President. They will have to stand their ground to survive. But do they?