Salvation

Five Roads to Texas #9

by Allen Gamboa

While the infected run wild across a broken America, Rick ‘Ram’ Ramacher and Jesse Moreno struggle to make it back home to Northern California. The two slowly come to realize that Ram’s blood may hold the key to a vaccine for the flesh eating virus and that they have to decide on saving Ram’s family or try to save the survivors of the shattered United States. Invading North Korean and Iranian forces, along with a group of mercenaries, are also searching the ravaged America for Ram and the precious key to an antidote.

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 6, 2020

Reviews

[Rellim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part of an interconnected series. While this book stands on its own better than some of the others, these are best when you listen to them all and in order. This review may contain spoilers to earlier books.

Since Ram & Jesse split ways with Ian’s group, I’ve been wanting to know what they were up to. After being experimented on it’s apparent that Ram has a type of immunity to the virus and even contains enhanced abilities. Because this info has spread - Ram is being hunted on many fronts. The US militarily, North Koreans, Iranians, and several merc groups all want to capture Ram with the ultimate goal of trying to find a cure. All Ram wants to do is get home to his family.

Gamboa introduces a lot of new characters and it was a little overwhelming to keep track of them and their respective allegiances - but once I got them all sorted in my mind it was an enjoyable dynamic. Some of these factions were not only fighting each other, but imploding from the inside. Which, of course, helped Ram & Jesse’s survival immensely.

Lots of narrow escapes, battles, and a few brushes with the infected. It took me a while to figure out why, with all this action, the pacing felt stifled. Gamboa has divided the shortest book in the series into a whopping 66 chapters - most are under 5 minutes. It wasn’t even by changing perspectives as that often changed within chapters. Constant breaks for a numbering, title, and (mostly non-changing) locations was incredibly distracting and brought me out of the story.

Overall, I did enjoy the storyline and the conclusion… which is another “to be continued”. I’m looking forward to more Sydney in Reciprocity.

Narration:
Andrew B Wehrlen does a good job again. He does a great job with a lot of accents and personalities. There’s some very emotional scenes that he brings an added eeriness to.

[Jon Theisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story grabs you and won’t let go!

I think this story line of Five Roads to Texas has to be one of my favorite, this book in the story has some of my favorite characters mainly Ram and Jesse! We follow these two as they try to make their way to California all the while being pursued by mercenaries and North Korean soldiers. I highly recommend this book.

[Lucille Bransfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I had no idea when I started listening that it was a series that was going for a long time. I didn’t feel lost so that’s good. Liked all of the characters and parts they played. I’ll have to get the next in series to see how Ram gets through this. Hoping he finds his family.

[mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really entertaining read, with edge of your seat, non stop action, and some surprising plot twists. I really liked Ram and Jesse they made a great double act, keeping everyone on their toes trying to find them, great narration by Andrew Wehrlen. I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Angie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific series,

I cannot wait for more in this series. I am totally hooked on all of the characters and the stiryline.

[Denzel Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and entertaining

Well paced emotional roller coaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .thanks

[Danielle Vandehaar · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a garbage ending to a disappointing series. New characters added suddenly for no reason, not wrapping up old character stories, and leaving the “main” story of the zombies just flapping in the wind.

[JLG · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read (or at least attempted to have read on a few) the entire series, I discovered that it is a complete hit or miss with this "showcase" of Phalanx Press authors. The books written by Brian Parker are all very good. The Ian's Road books written by Joseph Hansen are absolute garbage, but this one here... Well, this one takes the cake as the stinker of the series. The typos get annoying quickly, as they are on nearly every page. Why do so many Kindle authors discard the novel idea of releasing an edited book? It is also beyond me as to why an author has to insert a complete dumbass as a major character. Ram takes that title and runs with it. Continually spewing incredibly stupid statements similar to, "What's an airplane?", I didn't make it past 25 pages and trashed this complete waste of time.

Phalanx Press does indeed carry some very good authors. Anything you find written by Brian Parker and W.J. Lundy are going to be great reads. But for a showcase series such as Five Roads to Texas, it's a real shame they did not use all their best authors. Overall, this series was a severe disappointment.

[C.M. Rutherford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Five Roads to Texas Series. With multiple authors contributing and each with their own unique characters and writing styles, it is truly fun to read. Allen Gamboa has hit another one out of the park with the 9th installment of the series. We catch back up with Ram and Jessie as they try and make there way to California to find Ram's family. Nothing ever goes smooth for them unfortunately. Great characters and plenty of action make this a great read.

[Kelly Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book but it left me hanging

And another one bites the dust. A fun read and loved the characters and all of the action. The dialogue is hilarious in places. I want to know when the next one will be coming out.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the whole series in a month

I couldn't put it down. I'm not even an avid reader and this series had me in its grasp the whole journey. Great character and story flow and connection.