First Activation (The Activation Book 1)

Knowing very little about this story, I began reading it on a short flight back to the UK recently ... perhaps not the best time or place to really get into it properly without feeling more than a little spooked. However, as soon as the 2 main characters, (brothers), landed at JFK and events began to rapidly unfold, the book became a real page turner and I struggled to put it down. Even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it! And it's not like this is my first post-apocalyptic story either. I've read quite a few now. At first, the story had echoes of Stephen King's 'Cell' and the 'pulse' that turned ordinary people into blood thirsty maniacs, (and to a lesser extent, the movie called 'The Happening'), but whereas 'Cell' rambled a little in places, 'First Activation' was tense, well thought out and the objectives were clear.Although the main characters are brothers, they are both very different. Harry is more of a thinker, giving a considered and measured response to the situation on the ground in New York, while Jack is more impulsive and for that reason, slightly more dangerous. Bound for New York on a flight from Manchester that has suffered communication problems with air traffic control, Harry, Jack and the rest of the passengers on the plane find JFK strewn with corpses and nobody knows why. Being ex-British Army, Jack and Harry are selected to investigate and they take 2 other passengers with them to the airport terminal building in search of answers, rescue and food. I won't spoil the rest of the book as it's well worth a read. Suffice to say that it's gripping, fast paced and very enjoyable. It is true that some of the lesser characters are a little under-developed and they could perhaps do with a bit more depth. It is also true that some of Jack and Harry's plans for their continued survival seem somewhat naive and basic, but they're doing the best they can under the circumstances, especially once they realise that time is running out and a second post-apocalyptic event is nigh. I've just pre-ordered 'Second Activation' and I can't wait!

I wasn't expecting very much from this book, but I'm happy to say that my expectations were more than exceeded. While the quality of the writing could have been better, particularly in the first few pages, any shortcomings on this front are more than made up for in the quality of the story. I am huge fan of post-apocalyptic fiction (as well as TV and film), but the genre is more often than not let down by uninspired and uninspiring tales of alien attacks, natural disasters, or the dreaded zombie plague. What sets First Activation apart is that the authors have come up with something altogether more interesting and chilling, and more credit to them for that. I also appreciated that the book didn't at the end tie up all the strands in a nice, neat bow, which is trend that I find infuriating as it assumes that the reader lacks the imagination to conjure up for themselves where these strands might have led. While some reviewers found the premise of the book unbelievable, this is probably more down to the fact that they took the narrative at face value, rather than reading between the (extremely wide) lines. I believe that there is much more to this story than the narrator relates, or is able to relate, and as such there may be scope for further stories set against the backdrop of this particular apocalypse.Some reviewers have criticised the lack of character development in the story, but as the book is essentially a novella, I don't believe that the authors had the luxury of providing both significant character development and telling a good story. That they opted for the latter was a sensible decision, as a book can generally withstand minimal character development, but rarely can it withstand not having a good story.Another criticism that I found highly amusing is that the characters "blunder from one unlikely scenario to another in a kind of dream like state, not really knowing what, why or how they approach any given situation and never learning from what seems obvious!" Apart from the fact that this is for the most part completely untrue, I can only assume that this reviewer's regular brushes with apocalypses gives him or her a unique insight into how people would or should react in such situations. I can only say that, should I be unfortunate enough to find myself in the same situation as the characters, I would probably find it difficult to keep my composure. Yes, the characters occasionally make 'sub-optimal' decisions, but then I've seen people make stupid decisions when they were under no pressure or subject to any danger; go figure.All-in-all I really enjoyed First Activation and, if the authors have other similarly good stories to tell, I would be more than happy to purchase their books.

This started really well but switched to plot auto-pilot for the last 3/4s of the book. The story device for the apocalypse is pretty unique and worthy of the sort of thing secret service agents have been battling against since Sean Connery, and the "heroes" are quite likeable but, unfortunately, also pretty shallow. The writing style is borderline school essay, amply demonstrated by the lead character names; Jack and Harry - expect Bob and Dave in the second book.All the key post apocalypse elements are in here; scavenging around shopping centres, breaking into deserted houses, saving a woman and taking her along, lots of guns and shooting, taking abandoned cars, hostile gangs - its got the lot. The north of England gets mentioned a few times and it would have been interesting to have the same event set outside of America where most normal people don't know which bit of a pistol you're meant to hold, let alone have wet dreams over owning specific guns like Jack does. The balance of power would certainly be different and the carnage even more brutal I suspect.Jack and Harry prove that the training in the British Army is the best in the world, because despite serving some years back as non-combative soldiers (I forget - plumbers or something) they behave like Rambo and go looking for baddies to kill.Anyway, it's all good fun and, unlike some reviewers, I liked the ending. But I wouldn't actively recommend it to anyone I liked and doubt if I'll ever pay for the sequel.

Good read. A real page Turner with interesting plot twists. Easy to read, well written. I can't wait to read part 2.

For what it is worth, this is a fast paced, decently written book. It is like watching a Hollywood style action movie in print. Yes, the plot is slightly better than wafer thin so revealing it would be an unnecessary spoiler. It is best enjoyed as it unfolds. Think of it as a less linguistically accomplished modern day James Bond novel set in a zombie apocalypse.I started it on a lazy sunday morning waiting for my girl to make an appearance at my door, and I finished it by the time we were ready to have our slightly late afternoon lunch. It is an entertaining way to spend three hours quickly. If you are looking to cleanse you palate before switching genres or if you simply want to get back to some reading after a long break, this novel will be the perfect place to do it, provided you like zombie-apocaplyse-suspense-action-thrillers.The ending is pretty neat and paves the way for the second book which I think I am going to buy just so that these two blokes would have some encouragement.Pitted against the sort of trash that passes for literature these days, this book is potty reading gold.Just do not make the mistake of comparing it with Solzhenitsyn, Bulgakov, Flemming, Pratchett, or the likes. This is something that is meant as an easy read, and that purpose it serves spectacularly!

If you like end of the world genre its a good read. No over the top hero's and realistic expectations of the characters skills.

Mai troppo credibile, ma ben scritto e divertente, fa venir voglia di andare avanti. I due autori sono dei furbetti, ogni "puntata" finisce con un cliffhanger che ti fa venir voglia di cominciare il successivo. Poco male, ne vale la pena per qualche ora di relax.

What to say about this one... Allow me to start with this: the premise was clever. I can honestly say that I liked where this was going from the first ten pages. You know everything that the characters do. While this can cause some frustration in other books, or movies, or TV shows, the author(s?) really make it work. The writing is excellent, and I can voice no complaints there. The author, despite being unknown/new, manages to tie together a very convincing feel of confusion and paranoia that would follow the sort of apocalypse one finds in this book. It's times like this where I really wish the Amazon rating system was more concise than the five star game. For the writing: brilliant. The only thing I can think of to whine about here, is that it seemed a little short. That's it. Now for the part where I complain about the book. The main characters were... disappointing. For characters that the authors intended to portray as hard ex-soldiers... they fell horribly flat. The two "heroes" of the book were depressingly two dimensional. They fulfill the epitome of the do-no-wrong good guys. Sadly... as a combat veteran, I can honestly say that you will not find these kinds of super-saint, politically correct good guys in any real army. I found this upsetting, for the simple fact that all the other characters in the book were brilliant. Well written, flawed and believable. But our intrepid heroes... no. Not a small matter, but the book was still exceptional. I was also very much surprised by the ending. It was neither good nor bad, simply sudden. I'm not sure if there was a sequel planned, but if there is, the authors will have a hard time writing themselves out of the rather tight spot they left their main characters in on the last page. Overall: read it. I found it compelling, a fun "what if" sort of scenario. Especially when the odds of survival are all resting on the hand you got dealt.