Collision Course [Paperback]

I've seen the other reviews where the book is compared very unfavorably against "Lights Out" and I understand completely where people are coming from. This isn't the epic tome with layer upon layer of development that the previous book was. But that one, while I loved it and have read it many times over the years, is often too deep and too intimidating a read. "Collision Course" isn't "Lights Out" light, it's something entirely different. Comparing them isn't where I'm coming from at all.

In Collision Course we're faced with the destabilization of our economy and the rapid disintegration of society and social services that comes with that. It is, unfortunately, a situation that is becoming more possible in our country at this time. Not likely, but less impossible. Our two main characters are coming from entirely different points in life.

DJ Frost, a prepper extraordinaire, who has all the bells and whistles including a modified quiet ATV and a trailer for it. He also has a full range of every survival toy one might imagine to stick in it. He seems almost obsessively prepared. When things finally get too bad in the city, he executes his plan to escape to his rural "bug out" location where he can live and thrive.

Gabe, on the other hand, is a falling down drunk who has never gotten over a tragic loss in his life. He lives in a trashy little trailer on a remote bit of land and gardens when he is sober, making a living from his produce. Not only is he not prepared for "the balloon to go up" he isn't even aware of it at first.

What follows is the story of the journeys both men take, both figuratively and literally. They each become what they really are during the course of the story and the ending was a total surprise! No spoilers from me.

This book isn't huge but it also isn't small. It's 350 pages and not a word of it is wasted. It's all story and no fluff. I really enjoyed the pacing and how the relative length of the chapters began to shift in focus from one to the other as they changed. I really like how David wrote about the dark side of some preppers/survivalists, something many feel uncomfortable with. But the truth is that some of those mall ninjas and some of those more vociferous forum writers ARE a little unbalanced. It was a reminder, wrapped in a great story, that not everyone who seems fine is one to be trusted.

I think this is a good book for those interested in a story about the sort of things that can happen in a destabilization of our economy or devaluation of our currency by other countries and how people react under stress. It would specifically appeal to many preppers but those who might be too sensitive to seeing a prepper cast in a bad light might want to steer clear.

And no, no one asked me to write the review and I'm not a specific friend of the author. Same forum at one time is all.

SPOILER ALERT: (Advance Reader)

I read "Collision Course" several months ago and have been waiting to post a review.

2-main characters:

DJ - "Security Specialist" (AKA Mall Guard w/Prepper Skills) and a 350-mile trip to his "retreat" on his Polaris Sportsman 800 ATV

Gabe - Morns the accidental death of wife and child by drinking excessively while selling vegetables from his garden at a farmers market

While "Lights Out" was effected by an EMP, "Collision Course" supports a total breakdown of society

First and foremost, I very much enjoyed "Lights Out". While I took some issue with the prose, @ +600-pages it set the foundation for a very good multi-layered story. "Collision Course" @ 350-pages seemed rushed in comparison.

In no particular order:

1.) Neither of the 2-main characters were particularly likeable. While I could at least empathize with Gabe morning the loss of his wife and child in a bottle, DJ rapidly escalated from a pervert (making a teenage girl bend over to pick up a gun so that he can check out her posterior view) to taking advantage of mother alone with a child (after initially helping them) to cold blooded murder (for gas)

2.) Distinct lack of interesting ancillary characters

3.) The Author seemed to "borrower" a number of situational and character traits from "Lights Out". I.E. Jane raised chickens and sold eggs. There was a $50 purchase limit at the market

4.) We were pretty far into the book before we learned that DJ had a falling out with his partners in the "retreat" and that it may have actually been sold!

I am not of the opinion that one has to find characters "likeable" to enjoy the story. However, I personally have to at least find characters relatable (in either a good or bad way) to enjoy the story. While the choice of an ATV as a bug out vehicle is intriguing (though not without issue, especially if more than one person is bugging out and I do get the dual messages re: the redemption of Gabe and deterioration of DJ. It simply wasn't enough for me. I also felt that the ending was a little too ethereal and contrived

Finally, I understand that "Lights Out" was labor of love and that perhaps the timing allowed for it's success far in excess of what even the Author likely expected. Furthermore, I understand that the book was offered for free for a period of time and that the Author likely received minimal economic benefit. I can understand the desire to monetize a concept and sympathize. Unfortunately, I found "Collision Course" to be vastly inferior

I just barely finished reading this book. Gotta say I feel like I just wasted 5 hours of my time.

Lights out is probably one of my favorite books. I really enjoy reading EMP, fall of society, prepper books. Lights out spent so much time developing characters and you came to deeply understand them and actually felt their ups and downs in the story. The amount of detail that David went into about the preparations, and trials, and all the hardships they faced was great. The amount of characters he developed made the story come alive. Davids knowledge of tactics, firearms, and vehicles, prepping, and just day to day things put a lot of neat detail into a book.

Collision course on the other hand was a total flop IMO. DJ was a security specialists "mall ninja" who had some serious small man syndrome issues, who took advantage of girls and ended up being the antagonist of the story. While Gabe was suppose to be the Karate Man of of Lights Out. But neither character was ever developed or even likeable. In the case of DJ, I didn't even end up hating him like I did Jon in Lights Out. The character development left so much to be desired. David just seemed to hurry through all the secondary characters without much care, I guess in reality he hurried through a lot of the first characters. All the great things about Lights Out were just left out of this book. All the framework is there, but none of the needed details were included in the book, every side story and other character just seems unfinished. All the parts that made Lights Out so great are not in Collision Course.

The climax of the book took maybe two paragraphs and then it ended. I thought maybe as I approached the last few chapters that it was book 1 of a multi book series, but then it was just over. I'm still just in shock at how fast the book wrapped up and was over.

I honestly wish I would not have wasted my time of money on this one.