The Last Ship

A Novel

By: William Brinkley

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Hailed "an extraordinary novel of men at war" (Washington Post), The Last Ship is the book that inspired the TNT mini series starring Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, and Adam Baldwin, with Michael Bay as executive producer.

The unimaginable has happened: The world has been plunged into all-out nuclear war. Sailing near the Arctic Circle, the USS Nathan James is relatively unscathed, but the future is grim and Captain Thomas is facing mutiny from the tattered remnants of his crew. With civilization in ruins, he urges those that remain - 152 men and 26 women - to pull together in search of land. Once they reach safety, however, the men and women on board realize that they are the earth's last remaining survivors - and they've all been exposed to radiation. When none of the women seems able to conceive, fear sets in. Will this be the end of humankind?

This thrilling tale of post apocalyptic suspense is perfect for readers of Going Home by A. American, Lights Out by DavidCrawford, The End and The Long Road by G. Michael Hopf, and One Second After by William Forstchen.

©1988 William Brinkley (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Hate the TV show? Listen to the book instead.

The last ship, the book, has nothing to do with the TV show of the same name other than that share that name. This is an outstanding story of postnuclear exchange that goes in many interesting and surprising directions. Well worth nearly 2 dozen hours of your time.

Prefer the TV show

This book is depressing, it is well written but not really what I want to listen to.

For me a very slow starter.

This book was hard to listen to until maybe halfway through. He was laying down background, preparing you for the life and routine of being aboard a war ship. I'm really glad I stuck with it ! For it became one of the better books of this type that I have read. I really didn't know what hardship was going to happen next and what kind of ingenious plan to fix it ! ...... I definitely do not write reviews so this may not make a 'lick' of sense. Where's the continuation I would like to tag along with them to America ?

Fair story, tough read

What did you like best about The Last Ship? What did you like least?

Brinkley's The Last Ship has a refreshing spin on apocalyptic themed fiction - using a US Navy Warship as an arc of humanity. It represents the Navy personnel and operations in a positive, duty-filled light. The book is more devastating in theme than the excellent TNT television series of the same name, because of its hopelessness and personal challenge to (and failures of) its characters. The book uses global thermonuclear war and its pervasive fallout to paint the picture of an Extinction-Level-Event. The TV series provides many pathways forward and used the technology available to understand and manage its situation. Not so much in the book.Kudos to reader Christopher Lane for smoothly moving though overly sophisticated vocabulary and convoluted story arks. Even so, his delivery wasn't very expressive or dynamic. He affected different accents and voice tonalities for dialogue between characters, but it seem forced and contrived. Much of Lane's challenge is the subject matter as written by the author. Brinkley's writing style is plodding and disjointed. He overworks the main character's thought processes - playing out (mentally) all contingencies and possibilities. Putting that detail into dialog with other members of the cast would have allowed nuance and "external" alternatives. My opinion is that the story could have been streamlined and more sequential without sacrificing suspense or mood. Despite my expectations (mostly derived from the the TV series), this is not a Naval story per se, nor is it an action and adventure story. It is most like a psychological biography of the principle characters given their unique situation. The book is not the great story that is portrayed in the TV series. The book may appeal to a certain audience, but I'm not one of its fans. Thank you Christopher lane for making William Brinkley's The Last Ship a possible, if not a manageable entertainment experience.

Superb book!!

I cannot over stress the excellent literary craftsmanship of this novel. I am in awe!