Book Review

On the first of each month, I am planning on having a book review covering books that could be needed for survival during and after a nuclear event, as well as fiction books about surviving a nuclear event.



This month, the book that I read was The Survivalist by Jerry Ahern. Overall, I give this book 7 out of 10 for entertainment, and a 6 out of 10 for information and ideas.



The main character, John Rourke, is a little unbelievable. He is an expert in weapons, and different kinds of survival (which is believable), but the things he does are not very believable. Toward the beginning of the book, there is a gun fight that is several pages long; Rourke never gets hurt, and every shot he takes hits its mark no matter how many dives, flips, spins, or whatever he does.



John Rourke's wife, Sarah, is more down to earth and believable. She doesn't believe his end of the world predictions, and is often frustrated by his preps (which I'm sure most of us can relate to). Ahern also writes Sarah as the sterotypical "weak" woman, who at one point cries into her young son's shoulder, letting him comfort her instead of her comforting him.

Overall, I like the book. It says 80% of the American population doesn't survive a large scale nuclear event, which is probably close to the truth. There are a few things in the book that are good advice. The book does have good story line, but overall is way too Bondish for my tastes.

I think every prepper should read this book, because it will make you think about a lot of things that could happen or that you will need that you may not have thought about.