Book 5 of O Brien’s New World series opens with the group now living inside the fortified Cabela’s in the Pacific Northwest. Jack, recovering from the loss of his daughter Nicole and injuries he received from an encounter with a Night Runner now has to deal with something new. His injuries have now apparently given him a limited ability to ‘connect’ with the Night Runners. Wanting to keep this secret for obvious reasons, he and the rest of the survivors focus on the task of locating more supplies, survivors, fuel, ammunition, and what to do about the Night Runners in the immediate area.
Its decided that a small group will head to New Mexico to acquire an AC130 gunship, fly it back to McChord and then use that aircraft’s sophisticated electronics, sensors and weapons to eradicate the Night Runners around their fortified home.
Along the way they make a few stops and encounter other survivors who after initial contact are very interested in joining Jack’s group. At two of these stops, the team makes a side trip to locate some relatives of Walker’s group. One stop is not productive as they are too late to save a family member who has already become a Night Runner. However, at that same stop other members of the same family are reunited and a group of survivors Walker encounters shows an interest in joining his growing force. A small problem I had with encounter is that it was very similar to the season 1 episode of the AMC show The Walking Dead ‘Vatos’.
As Walker’s force moves to their next stop, one that will hopefully reunite a mother and father with their daughter who is part of the group, the news is not as bad as the previous stop but not all that good either. Prisoners from the local prison have formed a looter gang and have taken several people as captives or worse. Jack and a small group recon the prison and determine the only way in is to HALO. HALO for those not familiar with that term means High Altitude- Low Opening. It’s a parachute method where the ferrying aircraft stays at the height of a regular commercial aircraft, 30,000 feet and the jumpers exit the aircraft in insulated jumpsuits breathing oxygen and freefall for about 28,000 feet deploying their chutes between 5000 to 2000 feet off the deck. It’s far more dangerous as all kinds of factors come into play like hypoxia and frostbite not to mention terminal velocity. But, this is the only course of action available to the team based on the conditions of the area, the amount of hostiles present and the terrain.
Jack and Greg, while gathering the needed equipment for the jump, make a startling discovery that the Night Runners are somehow evolving. They exhibit an ability that they might not have had previously or maybe didn’t use which now makes them way more unpredictable and far more dangerous than was actually thought.
The two jumpers make it into the prison, infiltrate the objective and neutralize those that need neutralization while rescuing hostages. Jack is still coming to terms with his new found abilities and dealing with some family issues from one of his children who understandably are experiencing an urge to engage the Night Runners to avenge the death of their sister.
The team makes it back to Cabela’s after making good use of the newly acquired AC130 to clean out Night Runner nests in the area only to have a radio message come across from what could possibly be the last US Navy asset still in operation.
Book 5 of this incredible series is yet another action packed, page turner that keeps the reader glued to the story. We finally get to see some background on how Jack and Lynn first met and we get more background on Jack’s adventures in Special Forces.
If you haven’t read this series yet, get out there and start reading. This is one of the few books in this genre that puts realistic military details into a novel as can only be told by someone who has been there and done that.
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