Broken Lines

EMP Survival in a Powerless World, Book 1

By: James Hunt

Narrated by: Cheryl May

It’s been a week without power. No phones. No computers. Nothing. Whatever shred of humanity is left in people is slowly dwindling away. Gangs are forming, people are starving, and the whole country is in a free-for-all.

Accompanied by his neighbor, Nelson, Mike leaves Pittsburgh and heads to his family’s cabin in Ohio. For Mike, the only thing worse than not making it to the cabin is the fear of his family not being there when he does.

©2019 DBS Publishing LLC (P)2022 DBS Publishing LLC

This is one series I will not continue.

The author went to some really dark places (no pun intended). Without giving away any spoilers, I will just say that this book is not for me.

Great plot!

Disaster with greed, paranoia, murder, and mistrust.

Cheryl May does a great job narrating.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Not a good book, very disapointing

I’ve always held authors in high regard—writing a book is something I could never do myself. That respect is why I consume so many books each month, mostly via audio. Unfortunately, James Hunt’s Broken Lines left me deeply disappointed. I forced myself to finish the entire audiobook, but it was a slog.
The novel naturally splits into two halves: life before the family relocates to the remote cabin, and everything that follows. The first half is tolerable, if unremarkable. The second half, however, collapses under its own weight.
I have a few non-negotiable expectations for any story. First, character actions need to feel plausible—would real people behave this way under the same circumstances? Second, basic details should be accurate and thoughtfully described. Hunt fails on both counts repeatedly.
Small but persistent errors grate throughout: pistol and rifle magazines are lazily called “clips,” spent cartridges are referred to as “bullets,” and simple logistics—like how many people and how much gear can realistically fit in a Jeep—are ignored. These annoyances, though, are minor compared to the problems that emerge once the family reaches the cabin.
The plot’s credibility completely unravels when two 17-year-old girls with no meaningful weapons training or combat experience repeatedly take on a violent biker gang and somehow prevail. Timeline issues compound the absurdity: the father notices the girls missing in the late afternoon, yet the rescue sequence plays out as if ample daylight remains. From that point onward, the story fragments—lead characters make baffling decisions, unnecessary deaths pile up, and any sense of internal logic evaporates.
In the end, Broken Lines feels like lazy writing. Despite Hunt having authored over 40 books, I won’t be picking up another.

Soap opra

Nauseating female drama. Its the Apocalypse and these characters are worried about feelings and being offended. Couldn’t make but around 7-8 chapters. Awful.

Awful

Took a chance but wasted a credit on this one. Started out pretty good but turned into a sick, graphically violent, senseless, bloody mess. 1/3 through this way too long "story", the plot and all character development went down the drain. Apparantly, in this authors mind, in a catastrophe, everyone will become hateful, murderous out of control barbarians without a redeeming thought in anyone's mind. What a sad outlook to have.
No I do not recommend this to anyone.