Gone to Ground

By: Cheryl F. Taylor

Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price

Following a deadly outbreak of influenza which decimates the population of the planet, the government issues orders that all remaining citizens are to report to designated authorized population zones so that resources may be fairly distributed.

Journalist Maggie Langton, determined not to let her son, Mark, grow up in the dangerous environment of the APZ, decides to run for the empty ranch land of northwestern Arizona. When she runs into O’Reilly, a fugitive ex-Enforcer, she grudgingly admits she needs help developing those skills needed to live on a small ranch camp. What she doesn’t expect, however, is that with knowledge of how to live rough, O’Reilly also possesses a darker knowledge: knowledge much more dangerous, and knowledge which the government will do anything to suppress.

Maggie and O’Reilly find themselves in a fight to keep their newly formed family safe and secure, and out from under the rule of the controlling new government. At the same time they discover a conspiracy much deeper than anyone had believed possible.

©2014 Cheryl Taylor (P)2019 Cheryl Taylor

Excellent

This apocalyptic adventure is not one full of action. It does have “oh crap” moments. It’s more about three adults with different agendas intertwined in surviving a ending of life as we know it. Not you usual flu killed everybody type novel. Enjoyed this thoroughly and listened non stop.

If possible would give more than 5 stars

This is a story like none I have read from the beginning to the end you find yourself in an America that no one think possible not a country after nuclear war but a country and world were a disease is created to wipe the population out and create cities were people would live not believing that they are a prison and being forced to have a chip placed under the skin to keep them inline for food and a place to live. Without the chip you are killed and if you ran you was called a ghost and hunted down and killed. At the same time squads going around burning and destroying towns, homes and ranches.
I highly recommend this auibal book for anyone to listen to.
There was an issue that stood out to me and that was the narrator he did a great job but he could not change his voice to fit the characters the children both male and female and Maggie all sound the same and the voice he used I found very irritating.

Good story, poor narration

This is not the typical post-apocalyptic story. It's made somewhat more realistic by the inclusion of characters of all ages. Although Rhett Samuel Price attempts to give distinctive voices to these characters, he can't pull it off. Furthermore, his narration is overly melodramatic and he mispronounces several words such as modern and pattern. His performance is below par. The story is good, though, and worth enduring the lackluster performance.

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

Gone to Ground

I absolutely loved this book!It was suspensful right to the end and hints at another book to come! A flu kills 80% of the population.The new government is putting people into camps,with chips in their arms to make sure they get food,clothes and tracked down should the need arise. Enforcers take people from their homes and one is having second thoughts. Maggie and her son are scheduled to be sent to a camp in a few days.This story makes you care for these people. Rhett Samuel Price was a wonderful narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This one just didn't work for many reasons

Sorry but this narration just didn't work for me. I found it distracting and the character voices made listening difficult.
I can't really speak much to the story as I didn't get very far into it. It didn't seem to be anything new or different in the genre.
I was given this free audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Interesting

This book certainly had me thinking about what the future holds for my grandchildren and their children. It presents a unique concept of what life would be like should a catastrophic event happen and if much of the earth’s population is taken. What would the government do? I found the beginning of the book difficult to get into however once it got going it grabbed my interest and was able to keep it until the end. I thought the narration was good and was able to differentiate most of the voices throughout. It is not a book I will likely listen to again, however it was worth a listen. I received a free copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily provided an unbiased review.

Post-apocalyptic angst

I have read a lot of books in the post-apocalyptic genre and enjoy the different ways that authors depict a possible scenario. This book was pretty good, but really nothing that different.

Maggie Langdon is a journalist with a young son, Mark. Her paramedic husband has died in the recent deadly influenza outbreak. Although the government has ordered that all survivors report to designated Authorized Population Zones, Maggie isn't sure that is the thing to do. Instead, she heads out to a remote area in Arizona that she learned about from a rancher. This is first part of the book that makes me start shaking my head.

Shortly after they arrive at this hideaway, she encounters an ex-Enforcer named O'Reilly who grew up on the ranch (how convenient). Throw in some precocious teenagers and younger kids who escape from the APZ and you have a very unusual mix of renegades.

Some of the book was pretty entertaining, but it was often not that believable. Maggie has no knowledge of ranch life or livestock, but she is able to herd cattle, raise chickens and grow her own food, all without benefit of the Internet. O'Reilly seems to be a nice guy in a lot of ways, but I would have liked to know more about him. The APZ is supposed to be a highly secure facility , but our young fugitives seem to be able to get away pretty easily. And, of course, it is revealed that there was an evil government plot that started this whole apocalyptic event.

The narrator was another issue with this book. I had to speed it up to 1.5x in order to not nod off to sleep during the more mundane parts of the story. Part of that was the story, which bogged down a lot in some places with overly descriptive parts. And, his voice for the teenaged girl, Christina, was enough to make my teeth hurt.

All in all, not a bad book, but not worth nearly 12 hours of listening time IMHO. The story ended (in a way), but it also left the option open for sequels. I was given a chance to listen to the audiobook version of this book through Jess the Audiobookworm and chose to review it.

Entertaining

This story starts after a virus has ravaged the world. It follows the lives of a few different people, but that aspect is done is separate chapters, so it is not confusing. I didn't really feel connected to a couple of the characters, however, they did drive the story forward and I was entertained enough to keep listening. The writing seemed good and I didn't find any major plot holes. The narrator's style did take some getting used to.

Decent story

The story in itself was plenty interesting, and the plot moves along. I just couldn't get into the narration at all.

The strangest narration I have ever heard

The story is nice, fairly plausible. The narration is bizarre. A whispery, lispy, sad attempt at an Hispanic accent, you get the idea? Just strange. Still, I finished the book.