The below 3-star review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday, Amazon, and Goodreads on 6/25/19:

The Mad Max comparison (courtesy of a cover quote from Delilah Dawson) does Raid no favors. You might say “a Mad Max-style wasteland,” but saying Mad Max implies some serious vehicular madness (the vehicular madness predates the post-apocalyptic wasteland in the movie franchise, after all). Raid’s main character, Clementine, is a bounty hunter with a kick-butt truck . . . that she almost immediately trades away. She spends much of the rest of the book on foot. It is all good fun, but I have to say my expectations were not met.

And I’m still not sure where I come down on the other main character.

Raid is technically a follow-up to Bite and set in the same world, but it is only loosely tied to Bite, with the main character from that book showing up only briefly, and I think you can safely do what I did and start with the second book.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Raid via NetGalley.

In Raid, Merbeth takes us back to the wastes where we can see all the violence and messiness that comes with it. If you haven’t read Bite, I can sum it up as a post-apocalyptic type, mad max type of world. With cannibals (or sharks as they are called in the books). It can be an isolating world, and the perspective of Clementine really highlights this. She hunts raiders, who destroy and endanger towns, but it also actually feeds her isolation. People may be happy for her work killing raiders, but her ability to do so is alarming. Clementine is not exactly a person anyone would like to be the “girl next door”.

She came in to violence at a very young age, and discovered she had quite a knack for it. While it earned respect and admiration of her fellow townsfolk, once on her own, she never could find quite where she fit in. She takes to violence and killing almost too easily, her ability to take another’s life can be quite disarming to normal folk, but it is also how she survives and how she knows to make her world at least a little bit better (by taking out the raiders that endanger normal townsfolk). She adheres to a self imposed moral code that dictates when it is or is not OK to kill someone. Without this, I think she would have a hard time coming to terms with what she does.

Clementine finds her golden opportunity to take out one of the most feared and powerful raiders. If she pulls it off, it would be the thing of legends. She sees it as an opportunity to not just make an impact on her world, but also to get some respect, which she seems to seek. This catch sends her across the wastes, hostage in tow.

Clementine’s journey is not just about covering distance, but also discovering the value of companions, and with that comes the realization that sometimes you have to learn to trust. This is a huge obstacle for a girl who has been on her own for so long. Raid is exciting and thrilling, and at the same time, also quite a touching story (that just happens to feature cannibals, because you know what? Stories with cannibals can be more than just shock value reads)

While I do think this book could be read independently of Bite, I highly encourage people to start with Bite, and then read this one as there are some tie ins that will be more fun to read if you read them in order. And since I loved Bite so much, I would hate for anyone to miss out by skipping it.

Clementine is a bounty hunter in the post-apocalyptic land known as the wastes. It’s a desert landscape dotted with small, ramshackle villages that survive on scavenged bottled water and canned beans from the time before. In the eastern wastes, the towns are “protected” by a tyrant named Jedediah Johnson who demands a portion of their supplies as a tax. It’s the members of Johnson’s crew that make up most of Clementine’s bounties.

One day Clementine receives a tip about the location of Johnson himself, who is never seen in public, and the name of a man who might pay for his capture. But her plan soon goes horribly wrong and she and her prisoner find themselves on the run from a horde of cannibalistic raiders.

It took me a while to get into Raid. I found the first quarter of the book far too easy to put down. It was only once Clementine and Jed started working together that I was drawn in to the plot. Part of the problem was that I knew they were going to start working together. I had an idea of how the story would play out from the very beginning and for the most part I was right. I didn’t get my enemies-to-lovers romance, but that was more wishful thinking than actual expectation. I just love them so much!

Even though the story was predictable, I thought the Mad Max/Western hybrid world was interesting. There’s lots of action – everything from car chases to gun fights. And there’s lots of blood – this is probably not the book for those uncomfortable with violence. But in the end, it was just okay for me. I’m not completely on board with where Clementine ends up, even though it was the obvious choice.

Raid is related to Merbeth’s debut novel Bite, but is not a direct sequel. I didn’t have any trouble reading Raid first, even though the characters from the earlier book do make an appearance. I could see Clementine returning in a similar way in another book. After reading the preview of Bite, I wonder if she is the author’s idea of who its main character Kid might be in ten years. The two seem to have a lot in common.

Raid is book two in the Wastelanders series. I loved book one in this series so I knew I had to grab book two when it came out. I'm so glad I did, while this does involve a new group of people in the same world, we do get a glimpse of the characters from the previous installment. You don't have to read these in order but I would suggest you do, so you're more familiar with the world. But they can be read as standalone books if needed.


We start off meeting our leading lady, Clementine. She's a bounty hunter hot on the trail of any bad guy/gal that has a price on their head. She makes a living in this post-apocalyptic world by taking on jobs from the small towns she passes through and catching whoever wronged that town. Things change when someone puts a price on Jedediah Johnson's head though, you see, he's the leader of all the raiders in the eastern wastes. He's a big deal and when Clementine manages to catch him, no one wants any part of it since his crew will destroy anything and everything to get him back. She winds up taking him to the western wastes based on a rumor that she might be able to cash him in there. Boy what a journey it is for them, this novel is full of fighting and non-stop action. With this post-apocalyptic world full of raiders, sharks (cannibals), and towns people trying to survive off the last few cans of food they can find you know you're in for a thrill ride you cannot put down.


Raid is an attention grabbing sequel that got me from page one. As with the previous installment I find the characters to be my favorite part about the book. Merbeth really put thought and care behind them and includes little details that just make you see them all the more clearer. Clementine is such a strong leading lady, but her childhood is subjected to so much change when bad things start to happen, it's a bit heartbreaking. You can easily tell why she is the way she is and you wind up rooting for her even if she has to kill someone. I really did miss the easy comradeship between the first novel's gang of characters. We did get some of that feeling since Clementine and Jed are traveling together but I missed the larger group feel. This installment fell a little bit short of my expectations since I loved book one so much. Don't get me wrong though, this was a great sequel, just a tad slow at times. All in all, if you're looking for a post-apocalyptic book you'll love this series.

A bit Mad Max and a lot of horror, this was a unique and well paces thriller. Definitely recommended.