Nomad

By: Jamie Nash

Narrated by: Christy Davis

A dark sci-fi thriller in the vein of Alien or John Carpenter's The Thing....

She wakes up drowning, escapes from a watery canister into a deathtrap of fiery corridors and exploding machinery.

Somehow, she’s in space.

She can’t remember her name or why she’s here.

Her mind is a mixed-up Rubik’s cube of fuzzy memories.

But she knows that spaceships don’t exist, and if they did ordinary girls like her don’t belong on them.

And there’s something else. She’s not alone.

Someone or something lurks in the shadows.

And it wants her dead....

Nomad is the tale of an ordinary 1980s girl who wakes up in the middle of space opera.

Jamie Nash, the writer of horror films like V/H/S/2, Lovely Molly, Exists and Altered brings this science-fiction horror that's part space-opera slasher and part mind-bending mystery and part MTV Generation (Stranger Things/Ready Player One) nostalgia-fest.

©2019 Jamie Nash (P)2020 Jamie Nash

Great Scifi horror, good mystery, wanting more.

Great scifi horror story mysterious, terrifying, wanted to read more. Wish they would write some more of this genre.

Very Creepy

Nomad is a creepy horror story set on a spaceship far from earth. The heroine wakes in some sort of cryogenic chamber feeling like she’s suffocating while a man tries to break her out of the tube. She escapes into chaos with no idea where she is or who she is. The chamber where hundreds of these tubes are stored is blowing up and only the heroine and three people manage to get to relative safety—two of those three are dying from wounds they suffered getting out.

What follows is a rather involved mystery. Where are they? How did they get there? Who are they? And why is someone trying to kill them? This is a good mystery with a great science fiction solution, but it’s also an adventure tale. The physical threats are very real and no one can really be trusted. But be forewarned, the violence and suffering in this novel is extremely graphic and it was hard to listen to.

So if you like stories with a lot of tension and an excellent creep factor, you should give Nomad a try.

I received this book free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.

interesting story at a breakneck pace

Story is centered around a character with amnesia and the story is written in a way where you're as confused as she is as she explores and learns things. She even makes mistakes that seem plausible. It's pretty gory though, so just be warned. The pace of the book is pretty frantic, but that pretty well aligns to the story as a whole.

It's mentioned at the end, that they attempted to make this into a movie, and I could see that. Little bit of Alien, mixed with The Maze Runner.

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

An intriguing tale

Nomad. .
An intriguing storyline that is a good read .
Recommend this audiobook. Absolutely. .
Should be made into a movie. It would probably be a blockbuster.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review. .

Fun, creepy and witty

This story is a blast from beginning to end. It's full of mystery, wit, action and creepy aliens. The main character is the type of chick I would love to hang out with and the narration absolutely rocks.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alien meets Hunger Games meets Ready Player One

Sometimes you need a good 5-6 hour read that wastes no time, gets right to the point, and doesn’t let up. I love the big 13 hour reads, but sometimes I need something like “Nomad” to get me through the week. It’s fun, a little scary, funny, and absolutely does. Not. Stop.

The main character is an 80s kid, so if you are too, or just love the decade, the references to basic stuff like Babbages or Commodore 64s, or Prince will make you smile. The story is your basic “stuck on a spaceship where everything wants to kill you (Alien, Event Horizon, etc)” mixed with more than a little Bourne Identity and a heaping helping of Nancy Drew (I love our heroine, she’s plucky and sarcastic, and bada##)

There’s profanity and some horror violence but no sex, and would probably be okay for 13+, though maybe a smidge older if f-bombs and disemboweling are a problem. I’m in my 40s and loved it.

The end of the book states this was originally a screenplay, which probably accounts for the breakneck pace, though honestly it works better in this format, as it is the inner monologue of our heroine that is half the fun.

So if you’re going on that plane ride or drive and want a fast, fun sci fi adventure, this is perfect.

SCI FI Horror. Not for young readers

I received a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

This book was not what I expected. I was expecting a Sci Fi mystery, about following clues and discovery. However, what this book is, is more sci fi horror, in the line of movies like Event Horizon or Pandorum.

From the moment the story starts, it is danger and more danger. This only let's up, here and there, to develop the characters in a small way. None of the characters are actually developed, because of the details of the story, but they are developed enough for a 5 hour "run and Gun" style book.

Similarly, the setting (the ship) is not developed or explored well. The story takes place in mostly 3 or 4 rooms of the ship, and while certain aspects of the room are explored, the rooms and ship in general are not.

None of this is a flaw, however, as the narrative and style of writing necessitate a limited perspective. The Pov of the book matches this premise, as it is First Person Present Tense. This means the amnesiac main character is only discovering the ship and people as we do. No time to think back on what things were or meant on reflection, no finding out others motives. I initially thought that it was chosen because it would leave doubt as to whether the main character survives or not, but I realized later it was to contain the experience of the ship and situation to only what the main character knows at the time. This was a smart idea.

The not as smart idea is the amount of pop culture and tech references. The main characters are from the mid to late 80's, so everything they say, reference and technology they use is all from that time period. Growing up in the 80's myself, this was not an issue. However, it means the book will be unreadable in a few years. My kids won't know what a Commodore 64 is, or VHS tapes, or President Ragan, etc. At some point it felt less about nostalgia, and more about being beaten over the head with the fact the characters were from the 80's. I think it was a mistake to lean so heavily into the references.

The voice narration, by Christy Davis, was excellent. She perfectly captured the sprit of the main character. She has good voice range and her male voices sound believable, if a little high pitched. Still a first rate performance.

All in all this was a fast paced, sci fi horror. It didn't bog it down in too many details and kept the action going at all costs. It was a really good story. But definitely not for young readers.

Dark, intriguing, and addicting

She woke up inside a vat full of liquid and with a tube inserted in her throat. She does not know where she is or who she is. More people are inside other crypods, and they seem to be in space. Are they an exploration team? In her heart, she knows this cannot be true. She gathers a small group rescued from other cryopods to investigate their surroundings, but there is something or someone trying to kill them behind every corner.

This psychological horror sci-fi novel is cooler than it sounds. Nothing is what it seems, and no one has their survival granted. The intrigue is successfully built from the start and kept almost until the end. The characters are flawed and relatable, and they know as little about themselves as we do. Each one evolves in unsuspected ways, while they fight for their lives without knowing what they are up against. There is gore and also terrible horrors, but sometimes the darkest things could be inside oneself.

The story is quite original and it goes great lengths in suggesting the unimaginable. I was afraid that the truth was going to be so crazy that the plot would suffer and lose credibility but, amazingly, Nash was able to pull it off and deliver a satisfying ending.

I think Christy Davis did a good job bringing the main character to life. Her male voices were good too, but there were a couple of times that she Davis got the voices mixed up and that made following a couple of dialogs difficult. Technically there were a couple of small issues, like volume changes, a buzzing sound on the background, and some noticeable audio edits. Her accents needed more work though. Just a personal note: I am not used to hearing Canadian accents, and her way of pronouncing “out” got me every time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Absolutely recommended!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fast creepy sci-fi

The book starts with a bang and the urgency doesn’t let up.
There were more “almost horror” moments than I anticipated.
Fast action mystery creepy sci-fi thriller that works.

Cool Premise!

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

Full steam ahead, this quick listen was action-packed with quite a few twists and turns! I thoroughly enjoy when authors choose not to save every single character and Nash definitely delivered on this. I loved Nash's writing style too: just enough detail to paint a general picture, leaving your mind to creatively fill in the blank spots. I'm not sure I liked the cultural references, though.

I enjoyed Davis' narration. I thought she was spot on for the main character and didn't try too hard for the male voices. However, being from Jersey, Shaft's accent wasn't even close. While you can't expect every narrator to have perfect accents when needed, I wouldn't have minded Davis' regular voice for Shaft instead of trying out the Jersey accent.