Joseph Spuckler, an Author Alliance Reviewer, recently read and reviewed
The Living Hunger. You can read his review below or follow the link to their
main page for verification and other helpful reviews:
THE LIVING HUNGER Book Review
The Living Hunger by Dennis Larsen is a post apocalyptic novel.
Larsen grew up in the shadow of Hill Air Force Base. He has worked as an
optometrist for the past twenty-six years. This is his third novel.
The Living Hunger is a realistic post-apocalypse adventure, meaning
no zombies which is a refreshing change of pace. War was worldwide and
complete. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons were used. People
now live in little pocket communities scraping together and trying to
survive. Some people have not settled into communities and look to join
or just continue on their way. Most communities are out for their
survival and hope to peacefully exist with others. In Utah, one
community in particular run by Don Bullock is out for more. He wants
control and supplies and will stop at nothing to get them. Bullock has a
professional killer in Solomon, an African who has been killing since
he was a teen, and a group of soldiers who, for a rather gruesome
reason, earned the title of “Harvesters”. The good guys are lead by army
veteran Sergeant Farrell Jenson a veteran of the next Korean conflict,
and he provides the leadership example for the people of Bear River High
School community. Jenson’s brother Rodney, Mel Ghostkeeper their medic,
Clayton and Cory, who provide some comic relief, and remains of the
Allen family make up the core characters.
The effects of the war have caused problems for the survivors. One of
the biggest problems they face is the future survival of mankind. There
have been no live, or rather survivable births in the last three years.
There is hope from a lab in Colorado that the aftereffects of the
chemical and biological warfare might be cured. Now it becomes a matter
of which side will get the cure and which side will prevail in the war
for freedom or for power.
Larsen writes a believable story of a possible future war. The
effects of the warfare seem plausible. Most readers will not have a
problem with suspension of disbelief in the story. As a Marine veteran, I
did find a detail or two caught my attention, but they either worked
well in the story or were not important enough to effect the story. The
characters work well together and are all very well developed. The
reader may not like the character, but the reader will understand the
character and the reason for his actions. The times are grim and there
is no “off time”. If you let your guard down, you may not live to regret
it. The survivors face real world problems and have real world
setbacks. There are no Deus ex machina in this novel.
There are plenty of action novels on the market and most try to go
over the top or create super human heroes to carry out the story. Here
the people are all very human and all have their failings. Some actions
may be seen as heroic, but nothing that is unbelievable. The story is
well written and flows smoothly without any jumps in logic. The Living
Hunger has all that you would expect in this type of novel. There is
plenty of action, strategy, and twists. There is also the day to day
dealings of the characters that help keep the story realistic and
interesting. A very good read for fans of realistic post-apocalyptic
novels.
Book Review by Joseph Spuckler
The Living Hunger is on sale for a few more days before it returns to its regular price of $2.99.
