Lights Out Paperback – December 10, 2010

As I read more about this title and then when I began reading it on my Kindle, I wondered how much it would have in common with One Second After, another novel about the aftermath of an EMP attack on the US. However, as I read more, I realized that both are very strong novels, and would recommend both. Yes, they have superficial similarities, including the reluctant hero, the descent of what we know as civilization as the lights go out and a fair bit of action, but if you're into the genre, or just enjoy a fast paced read, would say read both.Light's Out has a lot going for it, and without going into the details of the plot (I hate reviews which essentially tell you what happens- kind of takes the fun out of discovering it yourself), here are a few things I enjoyed:1. The characterization: every crisis, whether a family spat, a workplace issue or indeed a catastrophe of the sort portrayed in this novel, brings out the best and the worst in people. One would naturally assume the main protagonist gets the full treatment in terms of fleshing out characters, but where Crawford deserves kudos is in ensuring even smaller characters are nicely fleshed out, and you see the best and the worst being brought out in them eg. a young man who seems incapable of bringing himself to use a gun to defend himself turn into a fearless hero when confronted with a situation that makes him snap, or the politicking deputy sheriff who sees this as his ticket to power.2. The portrayal of how the world would be turned upside down and what we value becomes worthless and what we have perhaps forgotten become the most important skills eg. computers are useless but farming and being able to grow your own food becomes incredibly important when the lights do go out and all electronics stop working. Many post-apocalyptic books do that, but Crawford scores in the details- of how to rig up generators, how to get running water going etc...which makes it all the more credible.3. The realistic action- this is at its core a book of action, and it does not disappoint on that count- if you're into that kind of thing, there are gunfights galore, lots of small unit engagements and a lot of details on guns. They are handles very realistically, portraying all the chaos and confusion of battle and one area I particularly liked is how he treats the martial arts skills of the protagonist (no doubt inspired by Mr Crawford's own third degree black belt in Karate). A lot of books and films make martial arts some mystical power where the hero single handedly bashes up dozens of bad guys- Mr Crawford treats this the 'Karate Man's' martial arts skills in the most realistic way I've seen portrayed- and how such skills would actually play out in real life- something I enjoyed as someone who learnt Karate for seven years myself.Net, well worth a read...the one area that the book did get me thinking about was the whole debate on gun rights in the US. Not being American, I haven't really had much of a strong point of view on the matter, but a book like this gets you thinking about both sides of the debate. With the widespread gun ownership, the lawlessness can be exponentially worse if the s*** does hit the fan as in this book and marauding gangs of looters become infinitely more dangerous. However, by the same token, an ordinary man is also infinitely more able to defend his family.The only nit (but it is just a nit- as a writer, I respect the fact that every author creates his/her own world the way they see it- and our job as readers is to enjoy the whole, not pick at small bits) is that it's never really revealed what happened- was it a terror attack? Was it an attack by a foreign power? The narrative of the story does not really allow for such a revelation as its told from the micro perspective of 'Karate Man' and his family and community- but in the epilogue, where the time fast forwards a couple of generations, would have been nice to know what happened. But as I said, just a small nit- I enjoyed this book and thoroughly recommend it.

Very thought provoking....This book really lays out the case on why it would be much easier to prepare now, rather than try to get what you need after a crisis...Re-iterating that this book is very good- for those interested I do have personal nit-piks... But again, this is small stuff compared to the material in the rest of the book-The storyline centers around an EMP doing it's damage, and a comunity that decides to band together for security/water/crop growing, etc...#1 I think food would be a far bigger crisis than the story in this book... After the EMP the grocery stores allow a purchase of $50 per family in order not to get cleaned out right away. Then they allow another $50 purchase per family everytime a truck load comes in... They keep track of families that come in, and walk through the store with the customer with an employee, a flashlight, and a calculator..A few weeks later a mob burns down the store... 6 weeks+++ into the crisis- The story line still talks mostly about security and growing crops... But they do not address a current food crisis- Ok-- Security and Growing crops is a very good subject, BUT think about this- according to JW Rawles the average family has about 1 week supply of food on hand.... Average people would likely be running extremely low on food after 6 weeks... Many families live paycheck to paycheck as it is.... These people just all of a sudden have no paying jobs, income, or way to buy food, and somehow they can delegate all their time to security and crops with no worry about running out of current food supplies?... I think the food crisis would hit average non-prepared families much faster...The store - While I think it would be a great idea for a grocery store to limit purchases in such a crisis, I know of no disaster in U.S. history that a grocery store with no electricity- opened, took names and addresss, and only allowed a family to buy $50 worth of food... Usually if a store opens- panic buyers clean it out in a hurry... If there was an disaster in which a store actually did all the things mentioned in the book- please let me know and I will correct this. However, if a store has never done this in any of the past disasters, then it is not likely to do so in the biggest disaster...#2... The fuel seems to last to long... It's hard to really nail this one down, since there are no specifics on how much everyone has already... -Granted in the begining of the story they took advantage of their bosses' gas... And granted they are syphoning gas out of dead vehicles. However many non-preppers only have a partial tank in their vehicle, and maybe a small can of gas for their lawn mower.... 6 weeks into the crisis they seem to still be taking many drives in the working vehicles like it's not that big of a deal. (other than the security threats on the road)#3... The Sheriff himself seems to always respond to every call for help no matter what hour (he does bring deputies).... On this subject, it would seem the sheriff would have to be a super hero, up at all hours to do this, plus taking care of all the political issues when not personally responding to calls... The Sheriff also has all kinds of time for talking with the main characters, coordinating with other groups in the county, etc....A Sheriff might respond to calls in a microscopic county- But the county in this book does not sound small at all... In reality deputies take care of most calls... The Sheriff has lots of things to do.... As a Deputy who works in our County Jail- I have probably exchanged less than 10 words with the sheriff in the last 4 years. Again- this might be different in a very small county- but the county in this story does not sound that small...#4... There was a trade made - A Harley Davidson for Gun Accessories... They sort of, allude to the value being around $18,000... That might sound well and good- But the Harley was taken after fighting and killing an evil biker gang- so there were some critical aspects to the value that were not mentioned-- there is no title, and technically it is stolen from the dead bikers... I know many people will say that doesn't matter in this scenario, but think about this-- The Federal Government and County Law Enforcement are still in tact... Even if it is going to be a while before full order is restored, they would have to try and prove ownership once order was restored. To even insinuate a value of around 18,000 for such a titleless/ technically stolen Harley is just not accurate. BTW- For those of you who have seen the WWII movie The Great Escape, you already know- it is just way to easy to take out someone on a motorcycle on the road...... (a dirt bike or ATV would be a different story)#5 The Sheriff's Dept/ Jail- There is no mention of where they are getting all the food for the inmates. It sort of ties into #1- Even giving all the deputies the benefit of the doubt and saying they were all preppers(which the book does not mention), and therefore the deputies all had food for themselves... But what about the inmates?I want to know how on earth they got all the food to feed all these prisoners they kept taking to the jail....The Sheriff's Dept just showing up and taking all these prisoners in - It's just way to convienient... Where on earth did a Sheriff's department get all the gas and working vehicles?To make this more realistic= Imagine tommorrow your Sheriff's Department is completely defunded.... Deputies are told, their services are needed, but they are not getting paid anymore because they county cannot afford it... Your Sheriff is told that they no longer have anymore money for anymore equipment, maintenance, ammo, gas, vehicles, food, nothing... How many would still show up to work? Many good hearted might try, but they still have to feed their families.... At a minimum- gas needs to be put in the tanks of patrol vehicles- Where is that comming from? And back to the bottom line of the Jail- When the Jail stops recieving shipments of food, how long would they realistically last?.... Especially with the huge spike in violent crime... So now the Jail is probably more crowded than ever... How are they feeding these inmates? It is hard to nail down specifics, since the Sheriff just keeps taking in bad guys without saying how many are in his jail... Of Course I cannot possibly speak for all jails- but I will bet that the majority of jails with 500+ populations could not last 3 weeks with no re-supply- and that is if they instituted rationing.... Let me break it down in simple numbers- Do you have a year supply of food for one person?365 days in a year X 3 meals per day = 1095 meals in one year500 inmates X 3 meals per day = 1500 meals in one day...1500 meals X 21 days (3 weeks)= 31,500 meals....Basically if the jail houses around 500 inmates they need more than a year's supply of food for one person, just for the jail to get by for the day.. How many people are going to donate their year's supply of food to keep the bad guys fed for one day?? How many year supply of food donations would it take to keep things going indefinitely?Again... For this Sheriff to just keep taking more bad guys into his jail with no explanation of where all this food is comming from is just to convienient.

I bought this book for over $8 because of all the very good reviews. Do people not read anymore? The characters were boring and the dialogue wooden. Not even halfway through this book but I have given up, life is too short to waste on such waffle.

This book is highly entertaining and the author often shows a good understanding of human nature, interactions and problems. Other prepper novels I've read are really, really stupid in comparison (extreme black-and-white thinking, obsession with guns and equipment etc.). Recommended if you like the genre!

I like very much the way the history has been build. It looks real!Nothing more to say, thanks to all create the plot!

This is a novel wrapped around a manual. The characters were interesting and credible. The plot hung together and built nicely. It knows what it is, a nice paper back for readers seeking an escape whilst on a plane or train. It does exactly that. I found it very enjoyable to read, and it captured my imagination to make a long journey seem very short.What more can a commuter ask. Good read.

I've read this a handful of times over the years, and like a show you've seen time and again, you know what's happening and yet you glean something new each and every time. There's a familiarity and fondness to it all - a need for re-acquaintance that keeps you coming back, as if to visit old friends. Though the plot itself moves along in an all-too-real tone, it's the characters that shine the brightest. They're believable, relatable, and many of them quite lovable. Unlike most of those stories to follow, there is no preparation, there is no all-too-perfect set up, no super commandos, and no villain that has been pulled straight from the pages of a comic book. Aside from the people and events in One Second After (a must read for the genre), it really doesn't come more down to earth.Though some may complain about the structure and grammar, I find it to be a non-issue. In fact, what I like about the writing, is that it really doesn't read like that - writing. It's natural, it flows, and it's human, and likely the result of it's original format (daily and weekly blog entries). A perfect match for the story and characters themselves. This isn't all action all the time, but the time spent in between is knowledgeable - without being preachy - and endearing to say the least. For those of you here for the gear porn....well, there will be a few great call-outs, but at the end of the day, they're still keeping it real (see: 'frankenFAL').If you're a fan of the genre, but not one for the over-the-top tropes of today's read, please check this gem out - and buy the hard copy. You won't regret having this one on the bookshelf.