Trudge

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 1

By: Shawn Chesser

Narrated by: Chris Patton

For Cade Grayson, husband, father, and former Delta Force operator, that one warm sunny Saturday in July - to be labeled Z-Day by some anonymous person probably long dead - began like all the others before and none since.

With his daughter, Raven, and wife, Brook, away visiting her parents in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Cade hopes his immediate future holds nothing but an easy chair, Mariners on the tube, and paring down a honey-do list a mile long. But those hopes were quickly dashed and his life forever changed when news broke of a clash in downtown Portland between soldiers from the Oregon National Guard and hundreds of anarchist protesters suddenly turned violent and, by one anchor's account, blood-thirsty and cannibalistic.

As the first waves of injured bystanders, guardsmen, and rioters arrived at hospitals, it became apparent that a deadly new disease had been unleashed on the population. Whether the virus was naturally occurring or an escaped lab experiment, Cade hadn't a clue and wasn't especially concerned until he learned of its unprecedented virulence, unusual method of transference, and the fact that, according to the news, it brought the newly dead back to life, semi-mindless, and with an insatiable desire to feed on the flesh of the living.

Armed with this new information and now seeing the bigger cities such as Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles rocked by the rapidly spreading scourge, Cade ignores the volley of contradictory edicts drawn up by the White House and set into motion by FEMA and DHS, dusts off his tools of war, and loads his truck with supplies.

Unable to get ahold of Brook and Raven, and unwilling to leave them at the mercy of some distant politician's inability to hold the nation together, he begins an impossible 3,000-mile journey across a reeling United States with presumably millions of infected in his path and only one acceptable outcome: find Brook and Raven alive - or die trying.

©2011 Shawn Chesser (P)2015 Shawn Chesser

nothing new

Typical zombie survival story. nothing new and exciting here. I am still undecided if i am going to continue with the final books. Narrator performance was pretty awesome.

Pretty good

I like a little bit more detail on how the world fell. But this book didn't move too fast into man vs man. It added a good amount of apocalyptic moments.

great start

loving the characters with developing twists. looking forward to the rest of this series. Narrator is awesome

Maybe if you’re a military fan

Book was dull and very technical but certainly not a great zombie apocalypse book. Waste of a credit.

Super story

It was a decent story and kept me entertained. It's not often I can find a zombie story that isn't dumbed down by a huge amount of filthy language. Most authors of apocalyptic fiction seem to think everyone in their stories should use an F word in every sentence. I appreciate it when I can find a good entertaining story about zombies or a pandemic that I can enjoy without all the harsh curse words.

Good start for first entry in this series

This book is the first in the series & I have made the mistake of not reviewing as I went along. Instead I just kept going until I finished the final entry in this series. This is a good start but it isn't as well written as the following entries. So just hang in there because Chesser truly evolves as he builds upon the characters and the challenging situations that they face.
What I enjoy most is that Chesser goes through great pains to be very descriptive so that it is easy to visualize what the characters are facing. Truly a great listen.

It might seem like you've been here before, but no

Cade Grayson has seen tough times in his life when he was in “the Sandbox” as they called it. Little did he know that what he saw then couldn’t begin to prepare him for what happens when a virus is unleashed upon the US and its citizens. Follow Cade on his journey to safety for both him and his wife and child (who are not with him when everything goes down)

The narration in Trudge was done by Chris Patton. I liked his style and it really fit the book. I think that Cade was a “manly man” for sure, and I think that Patton did him justice in that aspect. My only complaint (and it’s not even a complaint, it made me chuckle a few times throughout listening) was when Patton would say something with a WH in it. He would say “Hoowhat” instead of “what”, which reminded me of a Family Guy skit about how to say Cool Whip. (Is it Cool Whip or Cool Hoowip?) Like I said, it doesn’t take away from the audiobook, just a personal thing I noticed. The quality in production was also great. No issues at all.

Trudge was one of those books where I felt like I’d been there before, but I won’t lie – you haven’t. The story followed a similar character to the book I read RIGHT before this one (Max from Tomorrow War). But, the storyline was totally different and was full of unique and different characters.

I can tell that the author either has military training or is extremely familiar or close with someone who has. Chesser uses a lot of military terms and for the most part he tries to explain what they are. There are still a few that slipped through, either because he didn’t want to explain what it meant or he just assumed Civs aka civilians would know what it meant.

Another book that falls short with me based on the fact that it doesn’t have a proper ending. Yes, there was some closure, but not nearly enough for me. The book just felt incomplete because it is missing what I think is at least half of the story. Damn sequels and trilogies! Other than that, it was a quick read and an enjoyable one at that.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Not a fan

The narrator was awful. He over reacted all the scenes. The story it's self is pretty good because I am coming from a military background.

Zombiefied

I had just finished a zombie series and not ready for a break from the genre and found this while looking an I wasn't disappointed. I liked the characters, style and flow. The reader did a great job. My only complaint was how short it was. I cant wait to continue the story.

wonderful and exciting story very graphic ;)

wonderful and very graphic story . descriptions are so good you can see it in your mind xoxo,o