The Road to Rejas

Title ~ The Road to Rejas
Author ~ Jeff Brackett
Publisher ~ Jeff Brackett
Published ~ 9 October 2012
Genre ~ Post-Apocalyptic/Short

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Criminal trial lawyer Mark Roesch is a big guy who uses body building as a way to relieve stress. After a weekend hunting trip he heads to the airport to pick up his wife and daughter and dwells on the arguments that have been typical lately, trying to figure out a way to get his marriage back on track. As he’s waiting for their flight to come in though, disaster strikes. Some faceless enemy has detonated an EMP and the planes that were in the air are now powerless, falling to Earth. All electrical devices are worthless and one of the planes that crashes sets off a series of explosions wiping out the airport in a massive fireball. With the help of a female Marine he gets out of the airport and while trying to deal with their unbearable grief they piece together what happened and set in motion a plan that puts Mark on the road to Rejas.

If you haven’t read Half Past Midnight then don’t worry. This short well-written gut wrenching tale is a standalone detailing what happened after D-Day to one of my favorite characters from HPM. I hope there will be future reads set in the HPM world.

My only complaint is the use of the lower case ‘m’ when talking about Marines. After a chat with the author and being told that he wanted the capitalization, but was overridden by the editor I have decided not to deduct for it. As the wife and mother of Marines it is always an extreme irritant when reading to see references to Marines in the lower case. It makes me very grumpy!

Editors and authors take note: A Marine is a Marine, not a marine. And most definitely never referred to as a soldier or an ex-Marine! *not something that happened in this book, just a side rant*

*Book source ~ Many thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page.