Aside from some interesting parallels to our current (and possible future) political climate, this book was unfortunately all cheese and cliché. There are also a lot of amazingly abrupt plot transitions with no segue other than "Four Years Later . . .", along with an extremely truncated ending that instead of wrapping up the story merely feels as thought the author ran out of ideas and couldn't figure out how to finish. ( )

Reaper's Run: An Apocalyptic Action Adventure is a different kind of apocalypse story. An infection has caused miracles - people are healing from Cancer and all kinds of maladies. Marine Sergeant Jill Repeth lost her legs in Iraq and was now traveling on a cruise ship with others that are infected. The U.S. Government surrounded the ship in the middle of the ocean, intent on keeping the infection quarantined. When Jill finds her legs regenerating and her prosthesis no longer able to support her, she decides to leave and swims to one of the nearby Navy ships - arriving just as rockets hit the cruise ship and sinking it with all hands.

Jill is intent on finding answers why the government is so against this. With the help of a Navy Chaplain, Jill is smuggled to shore during a medical evacuation and sets out to find her family in L.A. Several large cities have been nuked, but yet hope remains. Jill finds that the government learns of her escape from the cruise ship and set out to stop her. During her cross-country trek, she befriends a prison inmate, infects him, and together they set out to infect as many people as possible.

I enjoyed the story and found myself sitting on the edge of my seat on more then one occasion. The author does a great job in getting Jill into unescapable positions and then finds ways for her to escape. Why does the government not embrace the sickness as it could be immortality?

Great job Mr. Vandyke!

John Podlaski, author
"Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel" and "When Can I Stop Running?" ( )

Really enjoyed this story, related well to the main character and then realised this was actually book 2 of the series but that didn't matter too much. When writing this review I have now read the first three books but loved this one best ( )

[Reaper's Run] is the first book in the [Plague Wars Series] by [David VanDyke]. It is a great start and a fast past thrill ride. When Jill Repeth realizes her legs, that she lost in the war, are regrowing, she knows something is going on. It is much deeper than she realizes and her new fight is just beginning.

This is a fast paced, action book with apocalyptic and tech twists very akin to [Plague War] by [Jeff Carlson] but with a lot more action. ( )

Solid sci-fi action with a believable and likeable female protagonist. ( )