Book picks similar to
What Came After by Sam Winston
dystopian
sci-fi
post-apocalyptic
dystopia
The Rain
Virginia Bergin - 2014
Crowded in Zach's kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach's parents' frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, "It's in the rain! It's fatal, it's contagious, and there's no cure."Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who's been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby's only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he's even still alive.
Monster Island
David Wellington - 2004
The most "developed" nations of the world have fallen to the shambling zombie masses. Only a few pockets of humanity survive — in places rife with high-powered weaponry, such as Somalia. In New York City, the dead walk the streets, driven by an insatiable hunger for all things living. One amongst them is different; though he shares their appetites he has retained his human intelligence. Alone among the mindless zombies, Gary Fleck is an eyewitness to the end of the world — and perhaps the evil genius behind it all. From the other side of the planet, a small but heavily-armed group of schoolgirls-turned-soldiers has come in search of desperately needed medicine. Dekalb, a former United Nations weapons inspector, leads them as their local guide. Ayaan, a crack shot at the age of sixteen, will stop at nothing to complete her mission. They think they are prepared for anything. On Monster Island they will find that there is something worse even than being undead, as Gary learns the true price of survival.
Sick
Brett Battles - 2011
Just a bad dream, he thinks. She's had them before. Yet he can't help but worry when she cries out again as he pads down the hallway. Stepping through her doorway, he expects to find her sitting up in bed, frightened by a nightmare.But the nightmare is his. It's real. And it's just beginning...Something is burning Ash's daughter alive. Something horrible that is spreading beyond the walls of their home, and taking no prisoners.Thirty seconds later, Ash will discover his daughter isn't the only one in his family infected, and as his world spins, coming apart at the seams, a team of armed men in biohazard suits bursts into his house.But these aren't the good guys.They haven't come to save Ash's family. They've come to separate them, to finish what they started.The problem is Ash refuses to disappear. He wants only one thing: to find those responsible.Because humanity is on the brink of execution.And man is pulling the trigger.
15 Minutes
Jill Cooper - 2013
When Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever. A new house, new friends and a new boyfriend turns Lara’s life upside down. She thinks if she can save her father from prison, reunite him with her mother, everything will be fine.15 Minutes is an edgy high octane YA thriller where the people Lara trusts change in an instant. She is in a timeline she doesn't understand, and is about to make one fatal mistake as she faces an enemy so familiar, he’s family.
The Feed
Nick Clark Windo - 2018
It destroys us.The Feed is everywhere. It can be accessed by anyone, at any time. Every interaction, every emotion, every image can be shared through it.Tom and Kate use The Feed, but they have resisted addiction to it. And this will serve them well when The Feed collapses.Until their six-year-old daughter, Bea, goes missing.Because how do you find someone in a world devoid of technology? And what happens when you can no longer trust that your loved ones are really who they claim to be?
The City Center
Simone Pond - 2013
Not about her city. Not about their leader, Chief Morray. But when Joseph gives her a secret journal from the past, the truth is revealed. She escapes with Joseph to the Outside, sending Chief Morray on an obsessive pursuit to retrieve his property. Ava has to decide if she should keep running, or return to the city center to save her people.
RecruitZ
Karice Bolton - 2013
It's bitter and lingers in your mouth long after the moment has passed. That fear kept me alive during the apocalypse. I never stopped moving, and I never gave up hope. The outbreak is over and vaccinations have been administered, but I'm tasting that fear again. Why? Because the undead have returned, and this time there's no stopping them or the people who control them. But I refuse to give up. The outbreak might be over, but the nightmare is just beginning.
Seven Unholy Days
Jerry Hatchett - 2013
Written in a staccato style that will leave readers breathless and flipping pages long into the night, Hatchett's...novel, SEVEN UNHOLY DAYS, is a thriller not to be missed!" NYT & international bestselling author James RollinsMatt Decker is a celebrity geek, designer of the nation’s futuristic new power grid and a hero for lowering electric bills across the land. He’s a talk show favorite, rich, and living the American dream. Until the power fails, everywhere, throwing the techno-dependent United States into chaos.Decker’s “impenetrable” systems have been breached in the worst way, and it’s just the beginning. The country is under attack from Abraham Hart, an eccentric and unstable man with nearly unlimited resources, a man who believes himself to be a bizarre hybrid of Christ and Antichrist. Hart delivers a new attack each day as he works his way through his own personal version of Revelation’s famed seven seals, and he makes it personal between him and Decker.
Saving Mars
Cidney Swanson - 2012
Earth-Mars relations couldn’t be worse, and her brother is captured during the raid. Breaking rules of secrecy and no contact, Jess finds an ally in Pavel, nephew to a government official, but their friendship only makes more agonizing the choice before her: Save her brother or save her planet?
Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder
Derek Gunn - 2006
The drying up of the world's oil resources leads to the fabled End of Days. Technology stagnates and communities grow ever more insular. With communication between cities lost and attention turned inward, the vampires rise from the shadows where they have survived for centuries and sweep across the globe. By the time word spreads it is far too late and Vampires enslave humanity and keep them in walled cities to breed. The Vampires are masters of the darkness but maintain control by day through the use of Thralls - humans who have been bitten but have not yet crossed over, and whose inhuman lusts make daylight as terrifying as night. In the midst of chaos, a small band of rebels lead a terrified existence, but their survival is threatened by the Vampire's new scanning procedures. Peter Harris is an ordinary man. Young and reckless, he is frustrated with the group's stagnation and pushes for one more daring mission. His recklessness has exposed the group - but it has also increased the size of their community. Now, as circumstances force them to take the offensive, and accompanied by a small group of professional Vampire assassins, John will make one last stand for humanity's survival in the Vampire Apocalypse.
Run
Blake Crouch - 2011
Brutal. Seemingly unconnected. A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike. A mass of school shootings. Prison riots of unprecedented brutality. Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.4 D A Y S A G OThe murders increased ten-fold…3 D A Y S A G OThe President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…2 D A Y S A G OThe killers began to mobilize…Y E S T E R D A YAll the power went out…T O N I G H TThey’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more. You only have time to….R U NThis 80,000-word novel also contains a bonus interview with Blake, and excerpts from his other work.
Removed
S.J. Pajonas - 2013
After all, she’s living her dream with a job and life she loves. But when she’s reassigned as a data analyst for a mysterious, well-connected man, she starts to piece together the alarming reality. Corrupt clans vie for control of the city, desperate for a ticket off the dying planet.As war looms between the clans, Sanaa’s new boss sends her to train with Jiro, an expert swordsman. Forbidden to share the dangerous secrets she’s learned with her family, she confides in Jiro, bringing them closer with every word, strike, and parry. Together, they realize that Sanaa’s boss is keeping secrets of his own.When the truth comes to light, the war and Sanaa’s world could be changed forever. To save her family and forge a new peace for her city, Sanaa has no choice but to risk her life for the human race.Removed is the first installment in the Nogiku Series, a saga of post-apocalyptic sci-fi novels set in future Japan. If you like tenacious heroines, sizzling chemistry, and unique post-apoc settings, then you’ll love S. J. Pajonas’ dystopian adventure.
Meridian Six
Jaye Wells - 2013
She also remembers her mother, a freedom fighter murdered in the final battle between humans and vampires. But it is her mother's final words that have haunted her: Red means life.In the years since her mother's death, she has been used as both a propaganda tool and a blood slave by the Troika. She's withstood their indignities because the alternative meant bleeding out in a blood camp. But their abuses finally go too far, and she decides to run towards freedom and her mother's red light.On the other side, she finds the Sisters of Crimson. They help her just as her mother promised, but they also hand her to the human rebels. The vampires used her famous name to keep human slaves biddable, but now the humans want to use it inspire a revolution.When the world is at war, freedom is a luxury paid for with blood.
Broken World
Kate L. Mary - 2014
Then her car breaks down and she’s faced with a choice. Give up, or accept a ride from redneck brothers, Angus and Axl. Vivian knows the offer has more to do with her double D’s than kindness, but she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to reach her daughter.The virus is spreading, and by the time the group makes it to California, most of the population has been wiped out. When the dead start coming back, Vivian and the others realize that no electricity or running water are the least of their concerns. Now Vivian has to figure out how to be a mother under the most frightening circumstances, cope with Angus’s aggressive mood swings, and sort out her growing attraction to his brooding younger brother, Axl. While searching for a safe place to go, they pick up a pompous billionaire who may be the answer to all their problems. Trusting him means going into the middle of the Mojave Desert and possibly risking their lives, but with the streets overrun and nowhere else to turn, it seems he might be their only chance for survival.
Cure
Belinda Frisch - 2012
Howard Nixon whose medical research has him dabbling in the undead and has the women of Strandville disappearing.Desperate to find a cure for the lethal virus which turns its victims into zombies, Nixon kidnaps Miranda Penton, a security recruit with a past that won't let her go. He doesn't count on anyone coming looking for her, least of all her ex-husband, Scott.A warning call brings Scott to Strandville where he bands together with a team of locals determined to bring their own loved ones home. Together, they infiltrate Nixon's staff, hatching a plan that releases not only the surviving women, but the virus on those left in the hospital.Nixon locks down the center to contain the spread, turning patients, visitors, and staff into a dangerous horde that is almost impossible to escape. Miranda and the others fight for their lives. The town of Strandville is ground zero for the zombie apocalypse and Miranda must get free because the fate of humanity lies with her unborn child.