REVIEW - FRACTURED DAYS - AFTER THE END BY GRACE HAMILTON

  

Title: Fractured Days
Series: After The End
Author: Grace Hamilton
Genre: Post Apocalyptic, EMP
Release Date: 14th September 2024

BLURB
The old world is gone. And it’s not coming back…

It’s been eight days since the lights went out for good. Eight days of surviving chaos and the worst of humanity. Eight days for the truth to sink the survivors are on their own.

Shannon Grayson has escaped from the massive retail center where she was trapped, but a festering bullet wound in her shoulder requires medical care. In the aftermath of society’s collapse, doctors and medicine are hard to come by—and her infection is getting worse.

Meanwhile, a chance meeting with an old military brother brings Dennis Sullivan and his traveling companion Kim Nakamura to an unexpected sanctuary. The town of Humboldt seems to be a haven of law and order in a world that’s falling apart.

But as Dennis grapples with his addiction, Kim begins to suspect that Humboldt isn’t quite as safe as it appears. The town militia provides security and order. In return, they only ask for one thing—absolute control.

Goodreads Link

REVIEW
I think the book cover reflects a scene from within the book very well. It pictures Kim, Dennis & Mutt on their long journey heading towards Memphis and Kim’s Great-Aunt Carol, Great-Uncle Bruno and the Black Rats, the motorcycle gang they lead.

After finishing Trapped Days, I honestly couldn’t wait to read Fractured Days!
Fractured Days basically picks up where Trapped Days ended, it may be just 8 days since the EMP event but the world has been thrown headlong into increasing chaos and decreasing of human civility and behaviour.

We are straight back into the drama with Shannon aka Sarah, she has an infected bullet wound affecting how she can control the large truck she is driving and when they hit a bump in the road whilst she is driving the truck, Bill attempts to reach over and help to regain control of the vehicle but bangs his own head knocking himself out and the truck ends up off road partially in a ditch. When Bill regains consciousness, he manages to get the truck back on the road but its clear he needs to stop somewhere very soon as Shannon/Sarah’s wound desperately needs attention. Bill manages to find a small clinic and gains access, settling Shannon/Sarah whilst he gathers the medical supplies he needs to drain the infection and to attempt to stop the infection/poison spreading any further. It’s clear they cannot continue their journey to find Kim, Shannon/Sarah’s daughter so they make the clinic their temporary base.

They aren’t the only ones being forced to halt their journey as Kim and Dennis have decided to stay in Humboldt which is being run by a marine friend of Dennis’ Sergeant Lewis Danville. They hope Dennis can go cold turkey on his pain medication addiction and will then be able to travel on to Memphis and Kim’s Aunt & Uncle. However, all is not what it seems at Humboldt and soon becomes apparent that as a pre-med student Kim has skills that are needed in Humboldt and she becomes a commodity that Lewis Danville does not want to let go of willingly.

In the meantime, Andre Atkinson is still intent on taking his revenge on his ex-wife Sarah (Shannon) for testifying against him and sending him to prison. Andre comes across Lee Kingston-Jones, a young man fleeing his abusive ex-cop father. Andre soon realises Lee has information about possible roadblocks set up by what is left of the police force in a bid to recapture escapee prisoners. Lee can hunt to he catches food for them to eat and becomes a travel companion, and somewhat of a “lackey” for Andre, doing all the dogsbody jobs he doesn’t wish to do himself. As they travel together, facing various situations, Andre begins to subtly train Lee to become tougher and more violent. Lee is scared of Andre and because of the abuse at the hands of his own father when Andre praises Lee, he desperately wants to continue pleasing him, which pressures him to push his own boundaries on what he considers right and wrong.

There’s still plenty of chaos as society collapses and the wrong sort of people try to take over in Fractured Days. People are beginning to realise that there is no help coming and that the conditions they are currently facing are only going to get worse. The fairly wide range of book characters shine a light on multiple different relationships, and qualities such loyalty whether it is between, friends, family, motorcycle gangs, or people that have just met and either choose to band together or are thrown together and trapped by circumstances.

I loved how though they are not blood related, Bill & Shannon/Sarah and Dennis & Kim slip into a father, daughter type dynamic. Another non blood relationship that was formed was between Kim and Joan. Kim can see that Joan is suffering from domestic violence as she recognises the signs, excuses and bruise patterns from her parent volatile, abusive relationship. Kim tries to talk to Joan and let her know that there is a way out from the abuse, even in this current world. Kim even considers taking Joan with her and Dennis when they leave but circumstances change quickly. Aunt Carols reaction was so familiar and realistic of “family” when she discovered that Shannon/Sarah was wounded and only just recovering from blood poisoning. The whole “Why didn’t you tell me?” though she had previously been so angry with Shannon/Sarah that Shannon/Sarah didn’t get a chance to tell Aunt Carol!

I really enjoyed reading Fractured Days, its quite fast paced and the chapters are from three different points of view, Bill, Lee, & Dennis. There are some great mini cliff hangers at the ends of the chapters making the book really hard to put down! You do become attached to the characters so its sad when certain ones are killed off but its all part of life and the book plot so understandable and believable. I found the whole concept of the Black Rats, their hierarchy and rules fascinating. I’m looking forward to the next book to see if/what Andre will attempt next and how his attempts will be thwarted, hopefully without too many great characters losing their lives.
Summing up there are some really edge of your seat, nail biting sections as well as some truly heart-warming ones that show that even in the worst of circumstances people can still be generous & care for each other. There are also those individuals who will turn a crisis to their advantage at every opportunity too.