Who doesn’t enjoy a mystery, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy from time to time? I appreciate NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to review this audiobook. Unfortunately, Seven Days ‘til Mayhem by Austin Chambers was a miss for me. There were too many characters to keep track of in the beginning, and while they do eventually all connect in the book, this book could be broken up into novellas with each one being a different person’s point-of-view. Gary Bennett’s narration was enjoyable and is what kept me into the book. While this is book one of the Echoes of the Just, I do not think I will be continuing this series.

"Seven Days 'Til Mayhem" by Austin Chambers is a gripping post-apocalyptic thriller that masterfully blends action, suspense, and profound character development. The narrative centers on Kevin Richardson, a volunteer state guard, who is thrust into chaos following a global cyber-attack that releases prisoners worldwide. As society teeters on the brink, Kevin confronts both external threats and his own internal demons, embodying courage and resilience.

Chambers' storytelling is both realistic and immersive, painting a vivid picture of a collapsing society. The plot is meticulously crafted, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they navigate the challenges alongside Kevin. Fans of authors like Franklin Horton, Ryan Schow, and Kyla Stone will find this novel particularly engaging.

The audiobook version, narrated by Gary Bennett, enhances the experience with a compelling performance that brings the characters and tension to life.

In conclusion, "Seven Days 'Til Mayhem" is a standout entry in the Echoes of the Just series, offering a thrilling and thought-provoking journey through a world on the edge of collapse. It's a must-read for enthusiasts of post-apocalyptic fiction.

What happens when a cyber attack releases all the prisoners simultaneously? When Kevin a volunteer civilian soldier (similar to national guard) is called to assist local and military personnel to help round up the convicts, he must do whats the best for the country.  Kevin teams up with a local police officer things go downhill quickly. What is more dangerous a convict looking to exact revenge or the greedy people who think they are above the law.

4 stars

The narrator Gary Bennett is great! High quality production.

I felt disappointed with Seven Days Till Mayhem. Let me explain the downfalls.

1 - It is not Sci-Fi or dystopian
2 - Too many characters thrown at the reader
3 - Too many detailed character descriptions
4 - No real protagonist
5 - No real antagonist
6 - Overloaded narrative

But its a dystopian? No, not really. So the jails get unlocked and inmates escape. Yes, it becomes a tragedy, but that will not be the downfall of society. From the heavy hand of government locking things down to society coming to a halt, it is an over-reach. The criminal would be rounded up quickly, not something that would take such a long time that everyone would cower in their homes.

There were too many characters thrown at the reader too quickly. Yes, having characters in the book is important, but when you overload a reader, they loose track of them quickly. Why overload? And the details about each character are dumped on the reader as well. It caused me to wonder why, when the character is only brought in for a short time and then disappears. Or a simple character who could have a paragraph or two of back story, turns out to have more pages of back story than the amount of pages they have in a book!

With no real protagonist, the story ran along introducing and forgetting about characters. And from the start to the end, this was the theme. And the antagonist only appeared nearer to the end with no real understanding of what they did before that. With 3rd person using multiple POV characters (but not done omnipotently), it becomes hard to keep track. The antagonist could have been introduced sooner. But alas, that did not happen.

And while I love a good narrative, this work was overloaded on such. Character interaction suffered from the narrative being over 80% of the book.

In so many ways, this book feels like an off-lance of the TV show Prison Break.

Reading Journal Details
Book: Seven Days 'Til Mayhem by Austin Chambers
Format Read: Audiobook (~10 hours, 18 minutes long)
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.5/5)

Quick Take Review
Seven Days 'Til Mayhem is a well-written dystopian thriller with multiple POVs that intertwine in an engaging yet occasionally overwhelming narrative. Though the synopsis is somewhat misleading, the strong character development, realistic crisis reactions, and immersive narration make it a solid debut worth continuing.

Full Review
Seven Days 'Til Mayhem offers a refreshing take on the global dystopian genre, featuring a strong blend of environmental and character development. While the synopsis suggests a single-POV following Kevin Richardson, the narrative actually alternates between multiple perspectives—an engaging approach, though somewhat misleading given the blurb. The numerous characters and subplots, while well-developed, occasionally made it difficult to keep track of all the details, though they do eventually intersect in meaningful ways.

The story is well-written, capturing a chaotic, old school blue light special-esque panic as the global crisis unfolds, making readers question how they would react in a similar situation—prepare ahead of time, panic, or wing it? The characters' responses feel realistic, further grounding the narrative. While the multiple perspectives work well, the book could have benefitted from a follow-up or prequel to flesh out some of the side characters further, which I'd certainly read!

The audiobook narration by Gary Bennett was excellent, as he maintained a consistent and engaging performance that brought the diverse cast to life. Overall, this was a very solid debut and an intriguing start to a series I look forward to continuing.

I am thankful to have received a free complimentary advanced listener's copy (ALC) of this book from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. I am voluntarily leaving this review; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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.