The Remaining

Die Hard Meets 28 Days Later

This author must have gone to Stephan J. Cannell school. The action is intense, the bad guys are pure evil and protagonist constantly finds himself in situations that go from bad to worse. Unlike Cannell, this is much grittier and apocalyptic in scope.

I gave this series a try since the reviews were so positive, though I don't typically go for zombie type fiction. However, I was very surprised at the quality of writing and narration. I have gone on to listen to several more in this series and they all hold up to the same quality. I wouldn't call this a "zombie" series because the "infected" humans are more capable and enduring than walking corpses. They are relentless though. D.J. Molles does a terrific job of conjuring up a fairly unique story with good character development. The story is action packed and it's hard to pull away from, like getting on a roller coaster!

Be warned that there is a LOT of cursing. As the story advanced it seemed that the author took glee and inserting as many F words as possible. It does add reality to a point but at times it's too gratuitous.

Overall this is a wonderful audiobook to try if you are getting board with your other favorite audiobook series.

65 of 71 people found this review helpful

top notch! highly recommended!

If you could sum up The Remaining in three words, what would they be?

thrilling, creepy, realistic

Which scene was your favorite?

the infected hoard scene. reminded me of some of the scenes from the movie, world war z, with hard-charging zombies.

Any additional comments?

this is a great book! definitely in my top 5. the author does things right. w/o divulging too much, lee works for the dept. of homeland security. he is one of the 48 coordinators spread across the lower 48 states. his job is to get into a bunker whenever something big happens. sometimes, he's in for a couple of days, and sometimes he's in for a week or two. when the fury virus hits, frank lee's commander orders him into his bunker. as the story opens, lee is going stir crazy b/c this is the longest he's ever gone being cooped up in the bunker, and the news is not good- people are killing each other. it's july 3rd and all of the news web sites are stuck on news from june 28th. lee is eagerly awaiting his regularly scheduled call from frank, hoping frank will give him the low down. lee's only companion is his trained german shepherd, tango.

the author does a great job portraying the emotions lee goes through, from feeling antsy, anxious, and claustrophobic in his bunker to being jumpy and nervous when leaving his bunker for the first time. the range of emotions lee goes through is totally believable and realistic.you can feel what he is going through.

i found the pacing of the story to be perfect. the author doesn't rush the plot, and the plot keeps moving. there are no slow points, and you won't get bored at all. there's plenty of character development mixed in with the action.

while this is not a traditional zombie book, i really dug the spin the author put on it. the infected are alive, aggressive, and fast, reminiscent of 28 days later. just like in that movie, when the infected show up in this story, it is heart pounding!

christian rummel's narration perfectly fits lee. he was a pleasure to listen.

overall, a truly exceptional and realistic apocylaptic story. if you're into end of the world or zombie stories, you'll definitely want to add this to your library. i highly recommend it!

50 of 60 people found this review helpful

Part of a book.

This book just stopped mid story. Like you just finished a chapter. I understand it’s a series but one book SHOULD be able to stand in its own. This one does not. Not too happy.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Mitch Rapp meets World War Z, very engaging!

This series has captured my interest, and is very interesting, possible, and timely. Never is the word "zombie" mentioned, but that's what this is. And like World War Z, it is a bacteria that causes the infection. The Main Character, Lee Harden, is not Mitch Rapp, nor is he Brad Pitt, but he is a well-trained soldier with orders to save survivors, and reestablish order.

Many of us love this collapsed-civilization genre, and it is always interesting to see how authors envision people's reactions to it. They seem to be pretty spot on with the cringers, the whiners, the cowards, the bullies, the helpers, the savers, the defenders, the organizers, etc. We are always interested in the science of the contagion, and its mutations. This story is fascinating in all these areas.

What bothered me was the foolish mistakes that our hero made from the very beginning. He disobeyed orders and contacted one of the other 48 prepared soldiers holed up in their bunkers before protocol permitted, and he also left his bunker more than a week earlier than ordered. I don't understand why he and the other 47 soldiers were expected to act on their own, and not to meet up and join forces to do their job. I don't think it would have made much of a difference in the state of the world if he had waited the full ordered time, but he met with disaster after disaster because of it.

Nevertheless, the story has me captivated, and I will read them all. Christian Rummel is always a good narrator, and adds a lot of depth and reality to the story.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Good straight shooting apacolyptic thriller

Thank you Mike Naka for suggesting this. (This guy has the best reviews on Audible, worth checking out).

Nothing new here... just a well written end of the world thriller.

Like Walking Dead, the protagonist enters the zombie apocalypse after the world falls. Here the main character has been in an underground bunker for a month before coming out into the open. & like Walking Dead, the main bad guys are not the Zombies but bands of humans preying on one another.

I liked the take Molles had here where the zombies were almost still humans. They have working minds still and have the ability to think through simple problems. They use tools such as knives and hatchets & can still form intelligible thoughts.

I'm hooked for #2 in this series (cliff hanger ending alert).

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Are you people serious?

Would you try another book from D. J. Molles and/or Christian Rummel?

Not likely.

Has The Remaining turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Would you be willing to try another one of Christian Rummel’s performances?

Maybe if he had better material to work with.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It contained zombies.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand the high reviews. The dialogue was painfully inauthentic, the action was repetitive, and the scenarios were implausible and cliched (even for a zombie story). I found myself constantly distracted with thoughts like "no one actually talks like this" and "no special forces-trained combatant makes a decision like this." The book would be pretty light on content if you took out all the parts where the characters make nonsensical decisions and have to subsequently run around the perimeter of buildings trying to escape zombies and/or hillbillies. The voice acting seemed a little over-the-top as well. As the protagonist burst from one asinine scene to the next sounding like a mix between a jock and a kindergarten teacher, depending on who he was interacting with, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Don't even get me started on the basic premise of the book either...I wanted to enjoy it, but it was just not good.

9 of 11 people found this review helpful

Have to commit to more than just this book

When are Zombies not Zombies? In “The Remaining” zombie like people are running amuck through the world and Captain Lee Harden is there to try and help bring civilization back from the brink! The story has a great premise but it lacks direction. The reader gets a pretty good idea of what’s going on, meeting various characters and is entertained with some great action, but the story doesn't go anywhere. The end leaves nothing wrapped up (which is one of my pet peeves) so that you have to read the second book. That being said, I've already picked up the second book and will be starting it soon. It has great writing and big potential; you just have to be prepared to read more than one book to get a complete picture.

Mr. Rummel does a great job in the narration, which really brings the story to life!

21 of 27 people found this review helpful

Is that all there is?

I have never had any interest in the living dead. I have seen a couple movies which, in the end, seemed rather unimaginative in their approach to generating a reliable adrenaline rush and not much more. Still, though I clearly don't share it, I have always recognized that the topic holds an intrinsic fascination for many people beyond the simple shoot-them-in-the-head-and-don't-get-bitten basics of the genre, and perhaps I was missing something I simply had not connected with as yet. So when I saw "The Remaining" at reduced price, I decided to take the plunge and see if I could get used to the water.

Unfortunately nothing about this book gave me any reason to read another zombie thriller, whether it be the next in this series or one of the others which have been so successful lately. Even these supercharged hordes were not enough to make up for the fact that the scope of the plot and the action is so limited by the basic premise. Even when you add the presence of petty local war lords energized by the loss of societal structure, the possibilities of situation and character are sadly circumscribed. A writer, certainly a run of the mill writer, has very little leeway given the requirements of the genre. It is not a formula which encourages really interesting character development or a finely crafted plot.

I suspect that the real appeal of the genre lies in the question, "What would I do and could I survive," and I might be able to get caught up in that challenging world of the imagination if it were not for the fact that nothing about the story line is believable. Main characters make foolish decisions to provide a path to the next confrontation with the hordes or the thugs. Then the characters we are supposed to care about overcome the swarms in completely unrealistic action sequences because they must in order for the story to go on. And the story going on seems, really, to be the actual point of this particular book. It is short and ends very much in the middle of things in hopes that our curiosity will drive the sale of the next in the series. Is that all there is? No, no, there is much much more to come, but I am reasonably certain that none of it will be anything "more" at all. I'm out.

17 of 22 people found this review helpful

WOW......SHOCKINGLY BRILLIANT.

28 DAYS + WALKING DEAD + ZOMBIE FALLOUT + DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON = THE REMAINING!

AFTER SPENDING THE YEAR WADING THROUGH HORRIBLE ZOMBIE/APOCALYPTIC BOOKS I FINALLY FEEL THE WASTED CREDITS REDEEMED BY D.J. MOLLES THE REAMING SERIES. THOUGHT I WAS NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS SERIES AS MOST BOOKS INVOLVE EX MILITARY TRYING TO SURVIVE DURING A ZOMBIE OUTBREAK BUT WOW WAS I GLAD I TOOK A CHANCE. I HAVE FINISHED ALL FOUR BOOKS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN.

LEE (MAIN CHARACTER) IS MY HERO. I WOULD LIKE THIS BOOK TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE OR TELEVISION SERIES.

ZOMBIES IN THE STORY ARE HORRIFYING. SCENARIOS INVOLVING HUMANS ARE HORRIFYING. THIS IS A HORROR BOOK!

NARRATOR WAS EXCELLENT!!!!!

65 of 86 people found this review helpful

HELLP

THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY
All the hoopla is well deserved. This is an exceptionally good book. At least three of the people I am following have recommended this. I like this almost as well as Patient Zero by Maberry. This does not have the humor of Maberry, but has the build up and tension, that Patient Zero did not have. The tension builds as the book goes along. If you try to read this in one day, I guarantee it will affect your mind or your mood. There are parts in this book will you will scream in your head, no!, please don't let that happen to so and so. I can't tell you whom or whoms get knocked off or it will ruin the surprise. The third book is on sale today and I have bought it, knowing I will have to pay full price for book 2.

Christian Rummel is in the class of Ray Porter and Dick Hill. Excellent

29 of 39 people found this review helpful