Tortures of the Damned

All hell breaks loose after a nuclear attack on the east coast the U.S. The millions who die in the first wave are the lucky ones, because those who are left suffer with radiation sickness and the after effects of chemical weapons. For two families hiding in a fallout shelter, the horror has just begun. Forced out into a post apocalyptic world, they will have to contend with animals forever altered by weapons fall out, animals that will do anything to survive, including eating human flesh. The few remaining humans left on the surface are caught in a state between life and death, and at this point it would seem that death is preferable. A tense and intelligent end of the world thriller

The end of the world as we know it...

Bombs hit Yonkers, New York (and who knows where else) plus a chemical cloud is getting whoever the bombs didn't get. All the animals are turning into raging beasts after being exposed to the chemical cloud. And people are dying.

The Padilla family (parents and four children) and their neighbors, Buck and Alexiana, are some of the luckiest people because Buck built a bomb shelter under his house and when the SHTF, Buck invites his neighbors into his shelter thus saving all their lives.

The action is fast paced in this post-apocalyptic thriller, with humans and animals alike being splattered across the pages. If you have a weak stomach, you might not want to read this offering.

The destroyed city and frantic characters are described well. The scenes with the animals are written especially well, I thought. Scary to think of.

There were some disjointed sections and some areas that could have been explained better.

And I do think the ending was too abrupt. I wish the story had been carried on just a bit more. But it is a story worth reading if you are into the post-apocalyptic and/or horror genres.

NOTE: I received this book from Kensington Books through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Really good apocalyptic fiction. The plot kept me interested and the characters were well-developed.

It was a good apocalyptic book. I was really attached to the characters. They were really well developed. I was left wanting more though, so I really hope that a second book comes out.

This is a total attention-grabber, an apocalyptic tale with a different wrinkle.. This time the animals have gone beserk, attacking humans. Humans themselves are suffering from a plague that takes them down in vast swaths. Survivors from the gangs are preying on the still-living and making their lives a living hell. The author follows one family and their friends through a struggle to make it through a day at a time, despite killer rats, horses, dogs, skunks, cats, every animal that calls Yonkers, New York, home. All this seems to have been triggered by a bombing attack that took out the power, dispensed sickness, and sent humanity back to a primitive existence, where only clubs, guns, and edged weapons can keep you alive for another day...or another minute.
This is simply an outstanding story, and I look forward to sequels.