American Exodus: A Post-Apocalyptic Journey

Catalyst

By: JK Franks

Narrated by: Steven Varnum

One man's desperate journey to get home in a post-apocalyptic world.

Steven Porter had a mostly charmed life, one that most people would envy, that is until it all vanished. He was far from home on that day when his world changed forever. How far does the devastation reach - the whole country, the world? Millions of people are fleeing the cities trying to find safety. Steve finds himself as one of those lost souls wandering the highways. Each step forward is fraught with peril. What will he find if he even makes it back home?

To survive the dangerous journey, he must battle hunger, thirst, and the relentless attacks by others as well as a seemingly brutal response by our government that raises more questions than answers. What's left of his world? Normal is a fading memory, survival is all that matters. His challenge is simple, adapt or die.

American Exodus is a companion novel to the popular Catalyst series. This gritty standalone get-home journey offers an intimate view of one man's harrowing mission to return to his family.

©2017, 2018 JK Franks (P)2017 JK Franks

Happy surprise

What did you love best about American Exodus: A Post-Apocalyptic Journey?

The character development of the characters through the story.

What did you like best about this story?

This book had great local detail of the route the characters traversed. A lot of thought went into this.

Have you listened to any of Steven Varnum’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. This book is on par. Excellent narration and emphasis at the right point. Multiple characters are easily distinguished with his use of different voices and ranges.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The death of Gerald and Trey

Any additional comments?

This book was provided for free in exchange for a review.

This book is in the same universe as the Downward Cycle but with different characters and slightly different local. It is highly realistic in the problems encountered trying to travel across any distance during such and event.

One might wish for more "good guys" but this is the author's choice. The level of fall from civilized behavior is quite believable as is the way the government works to depopulate the world after the event.

Look forward to more works in this universe.

Just WOW!

what an amazing series. Well worth every credit. Relatable characters and believable story line. It gives you smiles, tears and suspense. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Phenomenal story

Great side story to the catalyst series, hope it ties in to Scott’s journey need more of this

One of my favorite series continues!

I LOVE this series and I have recommended it to many people. I love how the characters grow from being every day normal people to survivors.
I hope Steve & JD meet up with Scott and the others from the first 2 books in the series in an upcoming story line. I love these two and I was so happy about Elvis. (That may be a tiny spoiler)
Franks is a master at creating characters you can relate to and love.
Varnum is an amazing narrator and does a fabulous job as expected.
I’m ready for the next installment in the catalyst world.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.

This is a Tale Set In the Catalyst Universe

JK Franks has crafted a wonderful separate story within the Catalyst Universe called American Exodus. I like to keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible so here we go. This book is noticeably shorter than Mr. Frank's other book in the series but this is a stand-alone story. The shorter length does not have any effect on the quality of the storytelling. This is the hero's journey type of story in the post-apocalyptic world. When the crap hits the rotary impeller a man who never had to survive by his wits and physical skills gets a crash course in reality. If he wants to get home alive he's going to have to work for it. I highly recommend this stand-alone book in the Catalyst Universe.

Steve Varnum once again provides excellent narration. Mr. Varnum does a great job with the different accents for all the characters. I really enjoyed his performance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

a nice side story in the series

A Solid side story, the ending felt a bit fairytale but it fed into the next book well enough.

Narrator is amazing!

finished the audio in 2 days it was so good! The story is very compelling and kept me on the edge of my seat. I hope the next book pulls together the previous stories

Another solid entry for the series.

While not a sequel in the Catalyst saga, American Exodus is more of a side story that takes place within the same world, telling the story of new characters dealing with the breakdown of society after massive solar flare devastates the world. I don't know if Mr. Franks plans to continue the story of these characters or have them show up at some point in future volumes of the main series, but as a stand alone story I found it quite enjoyable. Our main character, Steven Porter, is the typical fish out of water often seen in the genre, completely unprepared to deal with the end of the world as we know it. While not really breaking new ground for the genre (and lets face it these days is there much new ground to break?? not really) the story hits all the right tropes. More importantly Steven is a great character. Flawed sure, but also instantly likeable and relatable. And that is the most important thing is stories such as this, after all if you don't care about the character and what happens to him then why continue to read or in this case listen. But as I said, I did identify with Steven, and so I was completely with him on his journey, rooting for him all the way during his ordeal to reach home and find out what happened to his family. While Mr. Franks definitely ends the book in such a way that he could conceivably continue Steven and Co. journey if he wished, it was also satisfying enough to stand on it's on, leaving the reader/listener with a feeling of hope.

Steven Varnum, who also narrated the other books in the series if I remember correctly, does an excellent job, and I hope he continues to be the voice of the Catalyst series.


I received a copy of this audio title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

Another great book in the series

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This was such a great story and made me think, what would I do if I were in those circumstances. Steve has some major luck happen to him but at the same time, it all seems plausible. I found myself rooting for him to get home and find his son safe and every time something set him back, I worried with and for him that he'd never make it there. The people that fall apart seem to do it naturally and it doesn't seem like some of them turn into thugs and bandits right away, though some do and they're the ones that were probably bad people, to begin with. You can tell that most people just don't know what to do and rely on the government which isn't that good either.

It was also interesting to see a bit more of what those really in charge, not really the government anymore, were up to and what they were doing to maneuver things how they want them. When Steve finally does get home, I nearly cried with him over what he found and while I wish things had worked out better, I can see why they didn't. That didn't make me feel better though, but it was understandable. I'm hoping we see more of Steve now that he's contacted others and maybe he and Scott will run into each other.

Mr. Varnum again does an excellent job narrating and he really helped bring the characters to life and he did a very good job at distinguishing the characters from each other. He helped make the story more alive than it already was.

If you like survival/end-of-the-world type books, this book and the entire series are a great read, give them a shot.

Good series

This is a very interesting series. Different and gives you plenty to think about. I hope there’s more books to this series.