An Apocalypse of Our Own

By: Jeff Strand

Narrated by: Nadia Mori

Can the friend zone survive the end of the world?

Missy and Kevin are friends. Just friends. They’d never actually date each other, because they’ve been friends since childhood, and that would be weird.

Now it’s the apocalypse. People are leaking blood from their eyeballs and turning into homicidal oozing mutants. Fortunately, Kevin has access to an underground shelter, and he and Missy make it there in time to avoid a horrible gruesome death.

But they’re trapped down there.

Things are going to get weird.

A gooey 24,000-word novella from the four-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of such demented horror/comedies as Blister, Wolf Hunt, Dead Clown Barbecue, and Benjamin's Parasite.

©2017 Jeff Strand (P)2018 Jeff Strand

A decent story hurt by a substandard read.

Look, I'm a Jeff Strand fanboy, and I've yet to be disappointed with anything he puts out, including this. But dang if the performance didn't hurt the enjoyment of this book.

Missy and Kevin are two friends who manage to make it to Kevin's uncle's bunker right when the apocalypse starts. Then, due to a comedy of events, the trio becomes a duo and Missy and Kevin are locked in said bunker without the code to escape, nothing to entertain them (not even a book!), and limited food. Good times.

As I said, Strand always delivers, and while this might not be his best work, it's still a fun jaunt into his world of madness. The majority of the novella takes place with two characters in a single room, and normally I would be bored with this sort of setup. However, it's Strand we're talking about here, and he makes it fun, bloody, and fearless. The guy just rules.

However, I would *highly* recommend you read this book as opposed to listening to it, as there are numerous issues with Nadia Mori's performance. The first is there is very little change in pitch. It's not quite robotic, but there's a lack of emotion in her read. And when there is emotion, it's...wrong. It's like a part not intended to be excited, for example, is read in an excited voice. Also, there are times when it seems she didn't know the sentence she is reading is a question, and her voice lifts at the end to compensate. This happens often. This very much feels like a cold read, and the book suffers for it. It's unfortunate, because this may be the introduction to Strand's work, and it will turn people off.

At the end of the day, I can't recommend the *audio* book, but if you dig end-of-the-world tales, pick up the Kindle or paperback version of this and you'll have a good time.

A Good time at the End of it All

Writing this review from the 2020 quarantine.

First of all, the narrator is just okay. Many sentences aren't delivered with the intent on which they were written. Her accent is endearing and she grew on me.

As for the story, it's short and fun. I wouldn't think that two people stuck in a bunker would be interesting, but it's funny enough to keep your attention. Good stuff.

Frustrating Narrator

Good Lord. I'm glad that's over, and thankfully it wasn't longer. This story is good, typical Jeff Strand. However, the narrator absolutely did not fit. The tendency to be monotone when the story called for excitement was bad enough. However, the pronunciation due to accent was so bad that I was constantly distracted, and it grated on my nerves. The first time I heard her say the word "squirrel", I laughed out loud. Not in a good way. A poor choice of narrator can totally ruin a good book. It's not like the people who make the decisions haven't heard this before. I'd go back and actually read it but I'm pretty sure I'd just keep hearing that voice in my head.

excellent sorry married by bad reader

Not sure how Nadia got her as a narrator. not only is her accent bad, but she sounds like a robot. if the story hadn't been so good, I would've finished.

Jeff does it again!

Great

Great stuff! However the voice talent is what it should be. Best writer out there.

Horrible

Worst reader in the history of audio books. I hated this and I don’t know why I even finished it.

couldn't finish

I love Jeff and all his works. I have read or listened to every book he has done. I don't know if this is a good story or not. I could not finish this. The narration was so bad I just couldn't believe it. I did not even get through 20 minutes of this atrocity. Sorry Jeff but you really should preview before allowing your works butchered like this

Quick read

It was ok not my favorite book by strand but, I did enjoy it. I finished it in less than a day. The narrator’s accent was definitely not that of someone from Florida tho and took a bit to get used to. But once you just put aside what sounds like deep feminine Russian voice which again wasn’t bad just not what you would picture for this particular story or characters, it wasn’t a terrible story. Just quick short humorous if anything story about possibly the end of the world. If that’s your thing than yes I would recommend this story. Enjoy. I was given this audio in exchange for honest and voluntary review.

Worst Narrator Ever

I have hundreds of audio books in my library, and without a doubt, Nadia Mori is the worst narrator I've ever heard. I got through 5 minutes and couldn't stand it any more. I'm returning the book.