Shock

Wildfire Chronicles #1.5

by K.R. Griffiths

The team had been told it would be a straightforward mission: enter St. Davids, now little more than a ghost town, retrieve the target and return to base.

Trouble is, the target is a man named Victor, and it looks like somebody else got to him first.

And St. Davids is anything but a ghost town...

***

SHOCK is a novella that picks up where K.R. Griffiths' acclaimed debut PANIC left off.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Born the son of a wealthy philanthropist, Griffiths was orphaned by crime at a formative age, and subsequently raised by the family's kindly butler.

Nursing a bone-deep rage at the loss of his parents, Griffiths invested his inherited billions into extensive combat training and the development of sophisticated technology which he now uses to bring justice to the streets of -

No, wait. That's Batman. Sheesh. I always do this.

I was born in Wales, and lost myself in books as soon as I discovered them. That kid who hangs out in the library. Yeah, that was me.

I never wanted to be anything other than a writer/superhero and eventually I moved to London, finding work as a journalist and editor, before turning to writing horror and science fiction, and being continually amazed that people actually read it.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

irst off, I hate novellas that leave me hanging. but, i have to get book 3 because i am hooked on the storyline,

This novella introduced a new player in the storyline. He is ruthless and cold hearted. wonder where this one is going.

i have ordered book 3. hope it is more satisfying and longer.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shock is the second volume in K.R. Griffiths' Wildfire Chronicles. I purchased the kindle version of the Wildfire Chronicles Volumes 1 through 4. I am overjoyed to share that I didn't even realize I had moved from volume 1 into volume 2. So many times when an author writes a series, it's obnoxiously obvious when you move from book to book. For some reason most authors feel the need to rewrite the short version of the preceding book, or books, into the first few chapters of any following tomes. This is annoyingly redundant to me. (Classic example from my childhood that made me this way, The Babysitters Club series. Geezus! Every book was the same for the first two to three chapters!) But, K.R. Griffiths has renewed my faith in common sense when it comes to literature series. Obviously, if we (the readers) enjoy your book, we are more than capable of searching out the previous stories, thank you very much! Hmph. I've digressed enough.

Volume 2 of the Wildfire Chronicles flows smoothly from Volume 1. It also brings about a few new characters for us to enjoy. (Though some, only briefly. It is a "zombie" type book after all). John Francis is a new character who has information on the Project Wildfire epidemic and is ex-military. He seems like the type of guy who would benefit our little rag tag group of survivors from volume 1, but we learn they've done a pretty good job of learning to survive on their own. There are lots of twists and turns in this volume and piles more action! (Which I like!) It's difficult to go into too much detail without giving away too much of the story. This volume is quite shorter than the first.

I look forward to continuing my quest deeper into the post apocalyptic world that is a Project Wildfire chaotic, murderous, and out of control mess. Join our group, find your place among us, and keep your eyes....peeled. ;)

[Richard Mendenhall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no intention of reading this, but glad I did

I read Panic and thought it was okay, but it was a zombie story and I'm not into zombie stories. Looking for a next book to read, I discovered on my Kindle that I had purchased Shock some time ago and never read it, so I read it. I liked it. I liked it more than Panic. Now I'm about to purchase book three in the series. I think Shock was better than Panic because the visual descriptions were so clear and easy to visualize. The story was interesting and followed along logically. I may become a fan of zombie stories yet. Well, probably not, but I'm definitely a fan of this series so far. Time to close. I'm going to Amazon right now to get book three.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

K.R. Griffiths says this novella was written as a thank you to those who had read "Panic", and that the story here would have slowed down the first book too much to include it.
I disagree!
However, "Shock" is an interesting intermission in the main story - though I feel it's a vital component of the series as a whole.

[Catherine Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, you need to read book 1 first at it does read a little disjointed. I enjoyed this book as much as book 1, but it took me awhile to land on my feet and realise exactly what was happening. Once I got there, I thoroughly relished the new character. All comes together in the end. Recommended, even if you're not a zombie lover, which I'm not, then again, is anyone?!

[Jeff Swystun · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a short tale precursor (57 pages) that acts as a marketing tease for a longer format series. So was the first “volume”. Regardless of that complaint, it is a very disjointed story that requires reading the first volume. It comes across as filler rather than core. This approach to publishing should anger readers.

[Matt Egan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but short

Shock is a tangentially related storyline to Wildfire, not following the same trio of survivors, instead following troops involved in the execution of Wildfire. It features a nonlinear story, fusing past and present far more than Wildfire. All in all I really enjoyed Shock, I just wish it was longer, but that's my only real criticism.

[Mike OHagerty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella to fill in for what's to come...

Moving on to Panic with the hopes that the story continues to be fun...set aside reality for a little while and just have fun! Goddamit!!! 😎

[jonathan sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

A good extra to follow on from panic. Well worth a read, but after panic. Bonus that it is free.

[Adam Mahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Digging these books

This book was just long enough to want more. The story is evolving and I'm loving every second of it.

[T.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced read

A little dip into another side of the story behind Panic. A good fast paced read and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.

[jacky felder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too short

This is a fast read. Its too short. Would have liked maybe included into another book. Great story. I guess I have to get the next book.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zombies. Sequels. Let's figure out what's going on in this crazy messed up world. (If you're curious about the precursor to this book, check out my review of Panic here: http://jenpaul13.wix.com/makinggoodst...).

K.R. Griffiths' Shock picks up in the aftermath of Panic with a pseduo-military faction trying to locate the man who started it all with the Infected and then secluded himself in a bunker: Victor Chamberlain. But what they find in the bunker squelches that objective as Chamberlain is dead--from the previous text--and the groups own lives are in peril as one of their own didn't secure the bunker as they descended into its depths and mysteries.

The narrative did remain consistent in its rotation omniscience from Panic, but it stayed far more centrally located on John, a special forces type guy who is trying to locate Chamberlain. The narrative was quickly paced and chock full of action as it starts to fill in the backstory of what was taking place before the outbreak of the Infected; however, it could use a good copy edit as there were numerous issues with spacing between words being nonexistent, which, although it created new words, made it distracting and a little difficult to read. This portion builds further suspense for the next section, which I hope will answer a few more questions than it raises.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

In order for the plot to proceed as desired, one of John’s crew is required to be so stupid that I cannot imagine how anyone would even let him leave the house. He leaves the door to Victor’s bunker open and then randomly presses a button that turns out to be a really loud siren. There’s gotta be a way to send the group onward that doesn’t require so much stupidity. Long story short, John ends up on the run with our heroes. They don’t trust him; he doesn’t care about them. But they do need each other. I like the fact that trust is not won easily in this crew. Now that Michael is so seriously injured, I’m surprised that the rest of the group accommodates him so much–the group isn’t exactly tight-knit. The idea that they can survive together is tough to buy into. Jason is mentally not all there (he’s always been a little slow, but now he’s nearly unresponsive due to trauma); Rachel is wounded and traumatized and brittle; Michael is a paraplegic; and John has enough training that he’d probably be in less danger on his own.

This entry into the series is unusually short, so I don’t have much more to say about it. There is character development, but despite that some of the characters feel rather flat.


Original review on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/04/r...

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I see more than one person complaining about the price of this one pertaining to it's length. Wow people. If money is such an issue for you go to the damn library! I'm guessing enough people complained since the first and second book are free. (Not sure how long this will last but this is one truly talented author with words so do not miss out!) This is sad to me and I would have happily paid the ninety nine cents for this novella. (A magazine is what, $5-$8, a movie $14-$18 and you are really going to complain about a dollar? You are practically getting for free! Ok, done now I promise lol)
The reason I am giving this book one less star than the first is that I was hoping to dive right back into the story with the characters I had come to know in the first book. This novella does take place at the same time but with some new characters thrown in on their own mission. If it were up to me I would label this one 1.5 instead of 2. Now to start the third one. :)

[Jonathan Currinn (Good Star Vibes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel is a short novella, that works perfectly in the series.

A little confusing at first, it takes some time to get to know a whole new range of characters. They are part of a team with some backstory that is definitely needed. This team discovers the bunker found in the first novel. Encroaching on the scenes we have already read about, it's like an out of the book implosion on what happened in the previous book from a historic point of view.

It works perfectly managing to convey another person's thoughts on what happened when and how.

Our main character, Victor, is soon to be united with the previous beloved characters. This is his back story, giving the reader intel that the other characters may not have in the following novel.

I am excited to see how the continued events unfold. What has K.R. Griffiths got in store for us?

[Terry]

Too short

I like these books but they're not really BOOKS - they are short stories! These remind me of serial stories that came out in the early 1900's in weekly papers. Some were about cowboys and Indians,
Andrew Greely for the NY Times did a long series about the Civil War complete with often intricate drawings of war ship ships, famous generals sitting around tables, battle scenes etc. The only thing lacking from Griffiths' series set in a modern Apocalyptic disaster is the graphic art. But with writing as excellent as Griffiths, who needs graphics? I just wish I had known I was buying a set of short stories instead of a nice long novel. Feels like I was cheated out of a good long read.

[Bob Woodyard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why did I read this book after giving book 1 only 2 stars? Because it was free and only 56 pages. I wanted to wash the wholly unnecessary cruelty at the end of book 1 from my brain a bit and see if there was enough story intrigue in book 2 to look into a third.

As expected from a 56 page story, it wasn't heavy on characters except one that seems to have some bearing based on descriptions in future books. You definitely cannot read this without spoiling a hit of book 1, but it feels like you can read on without needing this one either. It moved well enough, but it could have been more built out on back stories and character building on more than one team member to give more insight into how they all came into the job of going into the aftermath of book 1.

[Mary Trotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had an internal debate with myself as to whether or not I was going to read this book. The first book really messed with my head. So after 2 months passing and the first book still sticking with me, I decided I would go ahead and purchase this book. The second story is not as brutal or graphic as the first. That is not to say it isn't either of these and much more. The characters are darker and the plot becomes more intense as further details of the conspiracy are discovered. I will probably have an internal debate about purchasing the third book as well. Only time will tell if I can stomach another one.

[Netanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

First paragraph: Bodies everywhere . Pieces of bodies, to be more precise. The oozing, glistening lives of what looked like dozens of people reduced to smears and stains on the trees, puddles on the ground.

I loved this novella-length story - an action-packed, intense backstory of John Francis, who's sent on a mission to take out Victor from the first book. The story is told during the same timeframe as the events of the first book, although the characters haven't met. Not yet. The flashbacks that bring John up to the present situation are great.

A very, very good read.

[Brian Manville · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part 2 of the Wildfire Chronicles which began in Volume 1 (Panic). The author has written this book because the main character of this short story (41 pages) needed a backstory. In the author's opinion, it would have disrupted the flow of books 1 and 3, so John was given his own short story.

The story itself is OK, but there's no real tie-in to the saga itself until the very end. But, it's free, so one can't complain too much.

BOTTOM LINE: A bridge to cross from books 1 to 3 of the Wildfire Chronicles saga.

[Bill Thibadeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This installment of Wildfire Chronicles (supposedly Book 2 of 4) is woefully short. Essentially, it introduces us to more characters along with the primary 3 from Book 1. I cannot actually write a review on this short story within a book. Suffice it to say though, that the author keeps up the suspense and interest and yes, the hook has been set. I must read on to see where the story goes. My rating of this saga is inching up to the 4.5 star territory.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shock follow as the first book in continuing the unusual series (intelligent zombies), Cannot say too much about this 56 page short story without leaning to spoilers.

I hope this is the only 56 page short story in the series. I'm giving it 3 stars because of length, otherwise I would have given it a 4.

[Conny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this Novella as a free download and it was just as intense as the first book in the series. You got to meet new characters that brought a new perspective of what is going on in this quiet town in Wales, I was at the edge of my seat the whole time. Lucky I was able to read it pretty quickly because I can't wait to find out what will happen next.

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet. Liked it okay, but not as much as . Still, I plan to carry on and check out the 3rd book soon. This does continue right off from Panic and leads the way to the next. Some good horror action.

[Mariah Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will be consumed

This series is delicious! Quite difficult to put down as the characters become very personal and well developed. Though the second in the series is relatively short, it is an important piece of the puzzle. I am literally "devouring" the series!

[richard b. rupe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rip off

Utterly to short. Very tired of this new type of authoring. Write a chapter or two post it as a book rip readers off for another fee. Sucks.like the story but frankly I feel molested as reader by the shortness. Episodic publishing sucks.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read. The characters where lifelike. I enjoyed reading it. I'll not give away any part of the story except these are not the run-of-the-mill zombies!

[Kittie]

Had no idea it was so short

I feel incredibly put out for having paid .99 for something so short. I wanted more. I feel like I wasted my money.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting coda to book one. Off now to buy book three!