thank you to netgalley for providing me with this audiobook. Warning there is a lot of blood and violence, not just with criminal elements, but even with society itself breaking down.
This is a contemporary Thriller where cyber criminals have Incorporated themselves into pretty much every facet of our society. The book starts at these cybercriminals trigger many sectors to attack upon itself basically. It's a little far-fetched that every single prison is on the same network that they were able to open up all of the doors across the country all at once. But for the sake of the story audience disbelief and enjoy the story. The book didn't mention anything about State penitentiaries or local jail houses. So we don't know if those remain locked up or not. But military hardware, and missiles, and more have all fallen under control of these cyber terrorist. It definitely makes one stop and think even if the possibilities may be to this extreme, the damage that could be done by these bad actors could be devastating. I think the most interesting facet is how quickly society itself, who typically would obey law and care for their fellow man, seem to degrade into selfishness. And I could definitely see that happening after we saw the effects of a pandemic as well as how Black Fridays used to be. This is part of a series so it certainly ends without a completion. It says 7 Days to mayhem, but it seems like it starts out right away. And I'm not sure that we even made it through 7 days. But it sure seems like more is to come in further novels. I would definitely look forward to reading further in this series, and would recommend it to others who read this type of an apocalyptic book.

I have read a lot of post apocalyptic books and the story of this one to a novice is good. However, it was a very very slow start to the plot and there were so many details and characters that did not go anywhere with the story. Story lines left unaddressed.

So if you read the little blurb that tells you what to expect in this book you may understand why I was a tad bit disappointed. I went in expecting the end of the world but I got a cyber attack and chaos. I think we are getting to the end of society as we know it, chaos ensues, type of situation in future books, but this one is just tipping a toe in it. I see where this is setting up the future of the series but don't call it a post-apocalyptic thriller if there is no apocalypse! Sigh, I love dystopian books. Anyway, this book description also makes it seem like we are following one character, Kevin, and we do follow Kevin, but we also follow quite a few other characters, and in the beginning, it's hard to keep up with them. All the various POVs do coalesce and their stories and lives combine some more than others, but this is a multiple-character novel. I do think it's entertaining in the end but my expectations were set for one path and the story took me to another. (This is why I prefer going in blind). I think every character has great potential with the two standouts being our bad guy and the mama bear. The mom, sorry I forgot her name already, was a standout, she is fighting not only for her life but her daughters, and she's injured and she gets brutal. Every character faces crossing lines they never thought they would have to and I like that. Do I think this story is worth reading? Yes, absolutely, it's definitely a survivalist story, one of brutality, friendship, and of course, adapting. I think the beginning was chaos and trying to understand where we were going took a while for me, but once I got there I was invested. The narrator they have for the audio is ok. There were times when he sounded a bit artificial, like he was part bot, but ultimately he was not my favorite, but he got the job done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Austin Chambers for the opportunity to review this Audio eARC.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The storytelling, characterization, prose, setting, and premise - while strong - were far too reminiscent of the Christian teen fiction I was raised on - despite a complete lack of any overt religious element. That doesn't mean the book is without it's merits, the portions I read were compelling and very well written, just not a headspace I wanted to revisit.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an early audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Kevin Richardson is part of the state volunteer guard and is called up as hackers unlock all of the prisons in the country. There is mass chaos as the prisoners escape with most of them ready for revenge.

I enjoyed Gary Bennett's narration.