Not for me.
Inept
Boring
No Adult intimate scenes that I know of.
Wish I hadn't bought it.
Don't you just love those Amazon & GR Recommendations.
Yep. This is why I have books I've never read.
Or Started and ditched. Ugh.

Konkoly Konquers Jakarta

I really wasn't sure how much I could tolerate a book about a Pandemic given that, at the time I read this, we are in the third year of the COVID Pandemic.

Steven Konkoly manages to take a heart rending, thoroughly depressing subject and turn it into a tightly wound, hair-raising post-apocalyptic thriller.

Packed with the foibles of human weaknesses, mixed with the inherent good and bravery of those shining few who rise to the top during a crisis, this story is unbeatable for an all night read. ( )

I feel an urge to buy guns, store mass amounts of food and meds....buy those snow shoes so I can get out of my house in the winter...All in all it was a thought provoking read. ( )

Unlike a lot of apocolyptic style novels, the story here starts at the same point - or perhaps just before - as the virus that causes the apocalyptic situation. This gives the reader a chance to see how the main character lived prior to having to change his lifestyle to accomodate disaster.

Alex comes across as quite dry and serious, and there is an occasional hint of possible PTSD, but this doesn't actually come into play in the story (which I think makes it a stronger story - we didn't need Alex to be a sob-case in order to like him).

There are points where the descriptions of what people were wearing, or how they walked down stairs, etc, were excessively detailed, but most of the time, this over-description didn't occur. In fact, it was so uncommon that when it happened, it was particularly jarring...

The story has a very realistic feel to it - unlike most apocalyptic novels, you don't really have to suspend disbelief to see how a virus could spread and affect the entire economy in a matter of weeks. The 'dealing' with the apocalypse was also particulary real... while Alex was reasonably well-prepared (more so than most people would ever be), he was forced to cope with an entire community which started out in denial of the seriousness of the situation, and ended up devolving into anarachy when the going got too tough. ( )

Jakarta Pandemic: A Novel, by Steven Konkoly is a frightening endurance nightmare for the characters, and gave this reader a feeling of impending disaster as a virulent flu unleashed illness and death. However, I was propelled through this book to see what would happen to the characters and which ones, if any, would survive. Don’t think of this flu pandemic as the Swine Flu (2009-2010) that killed 14,000 -18,000 people worldwide or even as the Asian flu (1956-1958) that killed about two million people. The Jakarta flu is even more deadly than the Spanish flu (1918-1919) that some estimates say may have killed as many as 100 million people worldwide. This book focuses on a neighborhood near Portland Maine, as the Jakarta flu pandemic reaches the United States. As the disease quickly sweeps across the US, the conveniences of normal life erode. The horrendous number of deaths and illnesses causes an overwhelming shortage of workers in all industries and services. Supermarket shelves are quickly wiped out. Hospital beds quickly fill to overcapacity and medical supplies dwindle to nothing. Doctors’ offices and clinics are swamped with seriously sick patients. There are not nearly enough able-bodied doctors, truckers, police officers, or other workers to keep any industries, businesses, or services in operation. Therefore, desperate people are everywhere without the supplies and services they need to survive. The people in the neighborhood near Portland Maine struggle to survive, but not all of them have prepared for even a much less catastrophic and life threatening challenge. This lack of preparation creates desperate antagonisms and confrontations between neighbors. As the winter snow storms begin to arrive things get worse and when sinister strangers invade the neighborhood things get totally out of control. It’s a book that takes a while to build at the beginning, but delivers much tension and frightening scenarios. It also delivers a vicious punch of violence and heroism for the reader to endure and admire. I could hardly put The Jakarta Pandemic down until I finished it. ( )