William EsmontCritiques

“Bare Metal” by William Esmont is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction thriller set in the Arctic Ocean. We meet Emmett Pierce on the floor of the Arctic when he experiences a power outage. Emmett experiences one cliff-hanger after another as he attempts to rejoin civilization. There is also a side story upon the steamer, MS Glacial Adventurer. Here we meet Simone Rousseau, her sister Chloe, Chloe’s boyfriend Scott and a cast of others who are dealing with a mysterious illness that has removed the ability to read. William Esmont does a good job in switching from story to story leaving the me intrigued. My only complaint is that we never do find out the cause of the power outage or illness. Perhaps there will be a sequel. I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.

An understated adventure on the Arctic Ocean. Something has happened to the world, Emmett is alone at his workstation when the electricity goes out and the system AI goes silent. Emmett spends weeks alone trying to stay alive. When he comes close to an ocean liner he manages to climb aboard. On the ocean liner almost everyone has fallen sick, many have died.
On the ship there are many cruel things done by Oscar, the self-proclaimed leader, with no thought and no empathy. It’s a dangerous and traumatic sail.
The action is written in a direct, almost matter-of-fact way, that doesn’t detract from the horrors and traumatic attempts to survive. This was a riveting book from start to finish.

This was a fast read, as mentioned by another reviewer. It fast-paced and engaging, but I felt like I was missing a lot of information and am left with some open questions. I would have appreciated more background information for the main character and the events leading up to the book. Overall, I enjoyed it. If you like a good adventure, this will not disppoint.

Easy to get into as it was quite well written, flowed nicely. Great storytelling.

A great short story about the initial outbreak of a zombie apocalypse and how it affects one retired couple that live out in the country.

This was fantastic! I was sad when it ended. I'm sorry it took me as long as it did to get through it. Sometimes I went way too long between sessions and my brain felt a little lost, but chances are that may have happened regardless thanks to my 3 "distractions" (aka children). My girls weren't particularly taken with it as they felt it was a little creepy. Considering they are not the target audience, that doesn't alter my opinion. If anything, it might make it a bit higher as it meant I actually got some alone time. The way this is written, it jumps between points of view, which admittedly, is sometimes hard to keep up with when you are listening to a book rather than reading it yourself, but the narrator did a good job with keeping character voices discernable

*I received a copy of this audio book for free. The review is my own and unsolicited.

What would you do for the one you love? With his wife on the verge of death Ray Shelby will ask himself just that. A chance encounter with a man outside the hospital leads Ray down a compromising path.

Loved it! A quick but engaging read. Hate that it had to end; needs more pages!

Virginia Shelby has less than 36 hours to live but her husband refuses to live without her.

This book needed an xtra hundred pages. 6 Stars

Kurt Vetter’s brother was killed and he must use the information sent to him to prevent the why from happening. He hooked up with Amanda, his brother’s former co-worker to spoil a plot concocted by a Washington intelligence rouge group. The fast pace did not allow or significant character development. This is the first book in the Reluctant Hero Series.

** I received a copy of the audiobook through the member giveaways

I thought the story was pretty good. It is very fast paced and I thought that it could actually have a little more detail, but the action certainly keeps coming. Future books will be interesting to see how Vetter becomes more involved, since the "reluctant" part of the title certainly fits this book.

Blood in the Streets is book three in William Esmont's Kurt Vetter series. The plot is tight and the possibilities are chillingly realistic.

I have not read the first two books in the series so can not speak to this volume's relative strength but I found this to be a well-written story with the recurring characters well-developed. They would likely have been even more rounded were I familiar with the earlier volumes.

I listened to the audio version and found the narration to be quite good. I would stop short of saying very good but it was close. There were times when I felt it was a little flat but overall it was understandable and added to the experience of the story.

Reviewed from a copy made available via LibraryThing.

***Won in a LibraryThing Members giveaway***
Everything about this was ok, average, middle of the road-ish...etc. It had the feel of a very condensed global political thriller in the veins of Tom Clancy, but because it was condensed things happened at random with not real feel of inertia building to a decision. Perhaps the prior novels would have explained this obvious new world in which these events are taking place, but it seemed like North Korea attacking China and then Japan just jumping in all seemed to be plot devices with no thought behind it or reasoning as to why things happened. Again, it may be due to the short length but things just occurred too easily for the characters. They happen to be living in coincidence as the deck is stacked in their favor.

Aside from that, the writing is good. The scenes came off more or less believable. I thought there would be more focus around Kurt Vetter, but it appears he is a secondary, maybe even tertiary character in this series. It didn't really feel right, almost like there was no central hero character. No Jack Ryan.

The story as best I can describe, has a more progressive North Korea wanting to gain some production share of Asia. They resolve to steal it away from China by disrupting their everyday lives. So they stage some attacks to seem like it is Chinese on Chinese. This starts a civil war type endgame...but then everyone figures out it was the Koreans and then nuclear war breaks out quick as you like. And then for some reason Japan thinks it a good idea to take this opportunity to reclaim some island territories rich in oil. Nukes start going off everywhere, and somehow Amanda and Kurt are at the epicenter of all this and are the ones to sneak into the Japanese airbase and allow the US to hack their network and stop nuclear holocaust...

I don't know. A little hard to believe this chain of events could happen at all, let alone in the way described. Again perhaps the previous books set up all this turmoil in the Far East, but it was not alluded to or fleshed out here so it made it seem like these nations just make decisions without thinking of all outcomes.

Narration was ok. some of the voices were odd, and some of the inflection and delivery made me question the severity level of the given situation...are they in danger or not, is it sinister conspiracy or harmless banter. As stated in the first line of this review, the whole thing was "ok."

I received this book for free in exchange for a honest review. This is a zombie apocalypse novel. We follow several main characters: Megan, a prostitute; Jack and his family; Cesar who is crossing the border when apocalypse begins for him; Kevin who just landed in Boise; Captain Pringle flying over Kansas; and Navy Commander Betty Hollister. We jump in time from their each individual experiences of the apocalypse to 3 months later. I felt cheated out of how they escaped their situations. How did they survive? It left a cliffhanger for each, then denied us the satisfaction. We are given a little info about it in flash backs but it is not enough. As we often see, humanity's ability to be cruel and inhumane appears. Very good book overall. I would actually give it a 3 1/2 star if we could do half stars.

This fast-paced, Tom Clancy-esque thriller will leave you hooked and eagerly awaiting the next (third) book in the series. I was completely unaware that this was the second book in a series until I wanted more from the author and look them up! So if you haven't read the first, don't despair! It's very easy to follow, but I highly suggest you pick it up because the series is gripping, multi-faceted and addicting! Esmont's ability to suck you in from the beginning is impeccable! This is definitely a must-read!

This is a great collection of zombie apocalypse stories. Fire takes the reader through the initial outbreak, Air is very short and continues the story, and Earth takes the reader through the main character's escape to an oil rig. I purchased this series to read the fourth book, Water, and am so glad I did. This is full of adventure and the author keeps the reader's attention through out each book. I would recommend this series to anyone that enjoys zombies.

Water was a great zombie apocalypse story. It takes place years after the initial outbreak and follows Megan, Jack, and Luke. These three came together through out the first three books. I loved how the story progressed and loved the way it ended. A majority of the lose ends were closed meaning this could be the last book however, there was a cliff hanger ending that would easily lead to another book (I sincerely hope there is another one). The writing is very well done and the author keeps your attention through out the book.

Another installment of fast paced government cover-ups and political disputes. This is about the same length as the first two novels in the series and again Amanda and Kurt are main players. This time though, they are dealing with China, North Korea, and Japan. This book delved more into the characters emotions than the past books which really helped keeping up the reader's interest in the events and what was going to happen to the characters. I have to say, I'm hooked on this series and can't wait until the next book comes out (if there will be a next one).

The story is very interesting and keeps the reader's attention. The end has some unforeseen twists and I can't wait to read/listen to the next one.

It is a great short story full of action with a very intriguing plot. It was only a few hours long but I couldn't stop listening to it.

I received this free audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review. This is a fast paced, action packed conspiracy techno thriller involving a rogue U.S. government group who must be stopped as they deal with the Cold War on their own terms. I found this book difficult to turn off; just wanted to find out what would happen next. Kevin Pierce does an excellent job as narrator and I found him easy to listen to. The book has a cliffhanger ending and I will be reading the next book in the Reluctant Hero series to find out what happens with Kurt, Amanda, and The President. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an action packed, fast moving techno thriller.

I won this book on a give a way thru Library Things in exchange for an honest review. An interesting concept very well put together out of an idea that could actually come true make this an exciting read. Exciting page turner as it flits thru and gives you the drama unfolding from different perspectives. A page turner for sure!

Good read but I felt I was missing out on something. I would suggest reading the first two books before reading this one.

I received an ebook version of Blood in the Streets in exchange for an honest review as a member of librarything.com's Early Reviewers Group. This is the first book by author William Esmont that I've read. I had no trouble following the storyline of this novel even though it is the third book in the Reluctano Hero Series. I enjoyed how the author developed the significant characters from each country involved in the attacks and defensive actions in this International Kurt Vetter Spy Thriller. The stagnant political manuvering by each political leader seemed on course with real life at times. Scapegoats existed in each country and many paid with their lives. Some of the military and political responses seemed very simplified or extreme. Nuclear capabilities are definitely a worry in today's political climate but total nuclear response to attacks will hopefully never happen as easily as they were ordered and carried out in this book. Sometimes the story moved along quickly and at other times I wanted someone to take action somewhere much quicker. I will probably read the first two books because I enjoyed the interaction between Kurt, Amanda and Dominic. Konstantin was an interesting character who is probably in one of the prior novels.

I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was an excellent book that I found very difficult to put down. It really made me think. What if North Korea decided to flex its muscles against China and threaten to use its nuclear capabilities as presented in “Blood In the Streets.” What would happen in China, Japan, South Korea, the U. S., and throughout the world? Does Japan have nuclear capability? Could it be stopped? I hope to read more books in this series. I would like to follow Kurt, Amanda, and Dominic in the future and see what happens between Kurt and Amanda and how Dominic deals with his personal problems. I felt empathy for Dominic and hope he can get his life back on track. I recommend this very thought-provoking book.

good book but I think that I needed to read the other 2 first well told story