What’s ‘Arisen: Genesis’ About?
Come back in time with the first ARISEN prequel and live through the beginning of the end of the world… (Can be read as a stand-alone novel, or as an introduction to the series.)
Tucked away in a high-tech Tactical Operations Center, inside an isolated safehouse in the Horn of Africa, sits Agency analyst Zack Altringham. He is Kenyan-born, Princeton-educated, badly burnt-out – and condemned by his language and cultural skills to a lifetime of fighting America’s shadow counter-terror wars.
But when another mystery epidemic breaks out, terrifying quickly it reaches a tipping point and chaos descends – and Zack and his team (including two former Team Six SEALs) are trapped between the millstones of the sick and the dying on one side, and heavily armed militias on the other. Soon their “safe” house is in flames, and their only remaining option is to get in their up-armored SUV and try to escape the imploding gravity well of the city, to the safety of the American military base in Djibouti. But by then, will there be anywhere safe left on Earth to escape to?
Our ‘Arisen: Genesis’ Review
Arisen is the series by Michael Stephen Fuchs and Glynn James. Genesis is written by only half of the Arisen Team, Fuchs. Inside Genesis, we the readers, are placed within a CIA safe house located in the Horn of Africa or HOA. This safe house is manned by a small team of analysts and two SAD (Special Activities Division) operatives. Small, yet secure for their area of operation, they are on the front line for the Arisen virus.
Zack, the lead analyst, is familiar with HOA and their almost constant outbreaks of some kind of disease. Baxter, the younger analyst is enjoying his first posting to HOA. Maximum Bob and Dugan, the two hard charging former DEVGRU SEALs are the SAD operatives who provide security and support for other operations in their area.
When news of a new outbreak reaches the safe house, the entire team looks at it as a regular occurrence given where they’re at. It’s not until Zack starts getting reports of units missing their radio checks and others not reporting back in from their operations that he starts to put the pieces together. Zack, with his previous experience in the region and having been part of an operation to recover bio-weapons, he soon realizes that this isn’t a ‘normal’ outbreak.
Bob and Dugan get called out to support a State Department team. As they return they lose control of their up-armored SUV and are forced to extract on foot. It’s at this time that they encounter their first victim of the virus and are saved by an unlikely source. With the group now back at the safe house, they have to make the decision whether to lock it down and wait out the outbreak or extract themselves to Camp Lennonier to the North of their location. The problem with waiting is they have a casualty from the State Department unit that needs immediate medical attention. If they extract themselves, they would be forced to move through large population centers, with a wounded man on a stretcher. Never a good idea when the walking dead are involved.
Arisen-Genesis is an outstanding addition to the Arisen series. It puts the reader inside the secure confines of the safe house and then on the street with the SAD men. Not only does it hit all the high points in action, but it slaps suspense, horror, and even a little comedy into the mix. If you haven’t read the other books in the series, then do so now. Then pick up Arisen-Genesis and prepare to be amazed.
Where You Can Get ‘Arisen: Genesis
You can get ‘Arisen Genesis’ on Amazon.
