Die Hard Meets 28 Days Later

This author must have gone to Stephan J. Cannell school. The action is intense, the bad guys are pure evil and protagonist constantly finds himself in situations that go from bad to worse. Unlike Cannell, this is much grittier and apocalyptic in scope.

I gave this series a try since the reviews were so positive, though I don't typically go for zombie type fiction. However, I was very surprised at the quality of writing and narration. I have gone on to listen to several more in this series and they all hold up to the same quality. I wouldn't call this a "zombie" series because the "infected" humans are more capable and enduring than walking corpses. They are relentless though. D.J. Molles does a terrific job of conjuring up a fairly unique story with good character development. The story is action packed and it's hard to pull away from, like getting on a roller coaster!

Be warned that there is a LOT of cursing. As the story advanced it seemed that the author took glee and inserting as many F words as possible. It does add reality to a point but at times it's too gratuitous.

Overall this is a wonderful audiobook to try if you are getting board with your other favorite audiobook series.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

85 people found this helpful

WOW......SHOCKINGLY BRILLIANT.

28 DAYS + WALKING DEAD + ZOMBIE FALLOUT + DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON = THE REMAINING!

AFTER SPENDING THE YEAR WADING THROUGH HORRIBLE ZOMBIE/APOCALYPTIC BOOKS I FINALLY FEEL THE WASTED CREDITS REDEEMED BY D.J. MOLLES THE REAMING SERIES. THOUGHT I WAS NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS SERIES AS MOST BOOKS INVOLVE EX MILITARY TRYING TO SURVIVE DURING A ZOMBIE OUTBREAK BUT WOW WAS I GLAD I TOOK A CHANCE. I HAVE FINISHED ALL FOUR BOOKS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN.

LEE (MAIN CHARACTER) IS MY HERO. I WOULD LIKE THIS BOOK TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE OR TELEVISION SERIES.

ZOMBIES IN THE STORY ARE HORRIFYING. SCENARIOS INVOLVING HUMANS ARE HORRIFYING. THIS IS A HORROR BOOK!

NARRATOR WAS EXCELLENT!!!!!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

68 people found this helpful

top notch! highly recommended!

If you could sum up The Remaining in three words, what would they be?

thrilling, creepy, realistic

Which scene was your favorite?

the infected hoard scene. reminded me of some of the scenes from the movie, world war z, with hard-charging zombies.

Any additional comments?

this is a great book! definitely in my top 5. the author does things right. w/o divulging too much, lee works for the dept. of homeland security. he is one of the 48 coordinators spread across the lower 48 states. his job is to get into a bunker whenever something big happens. sometimes, he's in for a couple of days, and sometimes he's in for a week or two. when the fury virus hits, frank lee's commander orders him into his bunker. as the story opens, lee is going stir crazy b/c this is the longest he's ever gone being cooped up in the bunker, and the news is not good- people are killing each other. it's july 3rd and all of the news web sites are stuck on news from june 28th. lee is eagerly awaiting his regularly scheduled call from frank, hoping frank will give him the low down. lee's only companion is his trained german shepherd, tango.

the author does a great job portraying the emotions lee goes through, from feeling antsy, anxious, and claustrophobic in his bunker to being jumpy and nervous when leaving his bunker for the first time. the range of emotions lee goes through is totally believable and realistic.you can feel what he is going through.

i found the pacing of the story to be perfect. the author doesn't rush the plot, and the plot keeps moving. there are no slow points, and you won't get bored at all. there's plenty of character development mixed in with the action.

while this is not a traditional zombie book, i really dug the spin the author put on it. the infected are alive, aggressive, and fast, reminiscent of 28 days later. just like in that movie, when the infected show up in this story, it is heart pounding!

christian rummel's narration perfectly fits lee. he was a pleasure to listen.

overall, a truly exceptional and realistic apocylaptic story. if you're into end of the world or zombie stories, you'll definitely want to add this to your library. i highly recommend it!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

58 people found this helpful

Highway robbery: Story chopped to sell next book

I've listened to a lot of audible books, but this is the very first one I've come across where they cut the story abruptly to sell the next book in the series. I'm all for authors getting paid, but this book is sold under false pretenses of being a complete story. What you should expect in a book is a complete story, even if it is part of a series. What you get at with this book is an interruption, followed by an ad saying if you want to hear the rest of it, buy the next book in the series. Poor marketing, and an obvious money-grab.

As for the quality of the story, it appears average. DJ Molles is a good writer, (Johnny, a self-contained book, was almost a masterpiece) but the plot of this is very predictable and droll. There's worse literature out there, but if you can get more out of this sandbag by watching a few episodes of The Walking Dead on Netflix instead, why bother spending money on this, 3 times over? That's closing in on $100 for a B-grade zombie novel.

There is nothing special or unique in this book. No underlying theme, unique concept, or special circumstances that would set it apart from other typical post-apocalyptic zombie adventures. It can't even bother to part company with the blueprint set by "The Walking Dead" enough to be set in some other location of the country. Mundane.

The story is a "realman" survivor meme, where the hero named "Lee", a US Army Colonel that faces a post-apocalyptic nightmare in the deep south. Lee has a mission, a very predictable one. That's pretty much it.

There's a lot of correctly-phrased gun and survival equipment fetishism to make up for the lack of plot. Details of gear is often used as filler when trying to prove the hero is a "realman" in these kinds of books. Real men know their survival gear, are trained killers and live by the credo: "Guns food and water". The rest is all about saving weeping women and children, meeting tough old survivor ex-military mountain men like themselves, shooting the dog.

This is the standard cliche wet dream of every weekend Field & Stream survivalist wannabe seeking male validation in a post-apocalyptic fantasy, wrapped up in an average, predictable linear plot, interrupted by a money-grab shakedown of the reader at the end. Thumbs down.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

50 people found this helpful

HELLP

THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY
All the hoopla is well deserved. This is an exceptionally good book. At least three of the people I am following have recommended this. I like this almost as well as Patient Zero by Maberry. This does not have the humor of Maberry, but has the build up and tension, that Patient Zero did not have. The tension builds as the book goes along. If you try to read this in one day, I guarantee it will affect your mind or your mood. There are parts in this book will you will scream in your head, no!, please don't let that happen to so and so. I can't tell you whom or whoms get knocked off or it will ruin the surprise. The third book is on sale today and I have bought it, knowing I will have to pay full price for book 2.

Christian Rummel is in the class of Ray Porter and Dick Hill. Excellent

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

29 people found this helpful

Have to commit to more than just this book

When are Zombies not Zombies? In “The Remaining” zombie like people are running amuck through the world and Captain Lee Harden is there to try and help bring civilization back from the brink! The story has a great premise but it lacks direction. The reader gets a pretty good idea of what’s going on, meeting various characters and is entertained with some great action, but the story doesn't go anywhere. The end leaves nothing wrapped up (which is one of my pet peeves) so that you have to read the second book. That being said, I've already picked up the second book and will be starting it soon. It has great writing and big potential; you just have to be prepared to read more than one book to get a complete picture.

Mr. Rummel does a great job in the narration, which really brings the story to life!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

Holy Crap Action and smart zombies

Please find this complete review and many others at audiobookreviewer dot com

I am so glad that I took a chance with The Remaining, turns out it is the first book of a series that I must now complete. D.J. Molles first introduces a secret "super solider" that is tucked away just in case the worst happens, if it does his orders are to eliminate the threat and to aid in the reestablishment of a government. Much of the audiobook is the internal dialog of this solider and the personal struggles of being isolated from the world for over a month to emerge to a different world. Turns out that the plague that ravaged the planet turns people into zombie like creatures that have some intelligence and some talk or communicate or scream which only adds to the soldiers torment of killing them. Filled with pulse pounding suspense, exquisitely engineered action and a truly terrifying take on zombies. I have already bought the second audiobook in the series and cannot wait to be further horrified.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

28 people found this helpful

Part of a book.

This book just stopped mid story. Like you just finished a chapter. I understand it’s a series but one book SHOULD be able to stand in its own. This one does not. Not too happy.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

24 people found this helpful

Is that all there is?

I have never had any interest in the living dead. I have seen a couple movies which, in the end, seemed rather unimaginative in their approach to generating a reliable adrenaline rush and not much more. Still, though I clearly don't share it, I have always recognized that the topic holds an intrinsic fascination for many people beyond the simple shoot-them-in-the-head-and-don't-get-bitten basics of the genre, and perhaps I was missing something I simply had not connected with as yet. So when I saw "The Remaining" at reduced price, I decided to take the plunge and see if I could get used to the water.

Unfortunately nothing about this book gave me any reason to read another zombie thriller, whether it be the next in this series or one of the others which have been so successful lately. Even these supercharged hordes were not enough to make up for the fact that the scope of the plot and the action is so limited by the basic premise. Even when you add the presence of petty local war lords energized by the loss of societal structure, the possibilities of situation and character are sadly circumscribed. A writer, certainly a run of the mill writer, has very little leeway given the requirements of the genre. It is not a formula which encourages really interesting character development or a finely crafted plot.

I suspect that the real appeal of the genre lies in the question, "What would I do and could I survive," and I might be able to get caught up in that challenging world of the imagination if it were not for the fact that nothing about the story line is believable. Main characters make foolish decisions to provide a path to the next confrontation with the hordes or the thugs. Then the characters we are supposed to care about overcome the swarms in completely unrealistic action sequences because they must in order for the story to go on. And the story going on seems, really, to be the actual point of this particular book. It is short and ends very much in the middle of things in hopes that our curiosity will drive the sale of the next in the series. Is that all there is? No, no, there is much much more to come, but I am reasonably certain that none of it will be anything "more" at all. I'm out.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

21 people found this helpful

Too much cursing.

If you could sum up The Remaining in three words, what would they be?

Plauge, Survival, Cursing

Who was your favorite character and why?

Definately Lee. He is described very well and is has very realistic relationships especially with is dog.

What about Christian Rummel’s performance did you like?

HE brought the words to life. He did much more than read it. He really PERFORMED it.

Any additional comments?

I love this series and can't wait for the newest book to come out. My only beef with this series is the cursing. I know that most apocalypse survival novels I have tried have had loads of cursing. I guess everyone in the apocalypse curses like a disgruntled sailor turned construction worker who has just slammed their thumb with a hammer. But I think it can be toned down a bit. I know there are many more words a person can use when they are pissed than the same F and S-Bombs over and over and over.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful