I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. An interesting story plot. The writing kind of reminds me of Grady Hendrix. Great read for Halloween Month 🎃.

Dark thriller that had you hooked from the off. The book was very well written. Great plot. Very exciting. Fast paced to get your heart racing. Loved this book

I survived reading this book by not finishing it. I liked the beginning; I was comfortable with Shepard, Riley and Louie (or however you spell the names). But then more characters came in, more absurd situations… I just got bored to keep everyone’s character straight.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

This book has some very funny scenes. The characters are all over the top. This was a fresh take on the world as we know it ending.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

Being in the middle of a pandemic, I was drawn to this story of survival in an apocalypse. The fact that it was a humorous book made it all the more enticing.

I was ready for a comedic read. This book fit the bill. The story contained the most bizarre collection of characters. It reminded me of the colorful characters in a Frederick Backman book.

So many times I would be reading and could not help laughing out loud. I really enjoyed this ‘feel good’ story about human beings helping one another out in a time of crisis. I would not be at all surprised to see this book made into a movie someday.

An EMP comedy is unusual and hard to pull off. The is to be commended for mostly achieving good results. It's also a bit refreshing (vs. the normal drama and conflict of most EMP stories). The unusual characters alone will stick with me for a while. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

Thanks to Netgalley for this humorous, apocalyptic story. The laughs don't stop with this one. I am picky about comedy in literature, and this is one I actually enjoyed. Worth a read definitely.

Surviving Crazy
by Frank Crimi (Goodreads Author)
10604067
Bonnye Reed Fry's review
Dec 20, 2020
really liked it
bookshelves: to-read

I received a free, electronic ARC of this self-published novel on December 5, 2020, from Netgalley and Frank Crimi.
Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am adding Frank Crimi to the authors I follow. He has the ability to turn a sad, bad week into a hoot. There is nothing sophisticated about his mindset but homegrown humor is what I needed to get past 2020. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Surviving Crazy by Frank Crimi is a highly recommended hilarious post-apocalyptic tale.

Riley Knight has been struggling with his employment options when he is offered the opportunity to be a major-league scout for the Arizona Prickly Heat baseball team. He is sent off to the town of Jericho, Idaho, to scout a rumored incredible player. In a roadside diner on the way to Jericho an apparent solar flare sends out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and all the electrical power goes out. This means phone lines are down, cars won't run, along with no power. What Riley discovers is that he is stuck at a remote diner with a bunch of crazy people. What he and the others don't know is that the road to Jericho, the city they are all hoping to get help from, is full of hazards and the city is filled with even more crazy people.

This novel is packed with quirky, unconventional, satirical characters and the dialogue is packed with one quip, joke, wisecrack, and diversion after another. The whole plot is one ludicrous, absurd, romp through a post-apocalyptic world full of people who didn't start out on the normal side of sane. This means their coping skills and survival instincts are also lacking. Basically the inmates are running the asylum and all of them are convinced they are reasonable people. Surviving Crazy follows the people stuck at the diner and people in Jericho. The comedy is non-stop, so much so it is almost overwhelming at times, and there are even a few twists thrown into the plot. In the end it actually showcases some veracity about the human condition.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author via Netgalley.
The review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Now, this is fairly unusual, a wackadoodle comedy that actually works. A bunch of hilariously wildly over the top characters dealing with a very serious EMP sort of an apocalypse.
At first, there were just chance meetings at a remote mountain diner, conversations had mainly to distract themselves from the terrible, practically inedible food served there. And then the power went out. Phones and cars suddenly rendered useless, the civilization as they knew it until then…over. Now their only chance at survival is to get to the nearest town, but this involves planning and coordinating a bunch of lunatics, so yeah…it’s a comedy.
In fact, the town where they believe salvation might lie is also populated by a bunch of lunatics, so it’s all fun and games on both sides…but also pretty dangerous. The legendary Chekov’s gun thing here is an arsenal, driven by a Sasquatch sized competitive country line dancing fried pet food entrepreneur. Yeah, that’s just one of the characters. And yeah, they are all that wacky. You got to appreciate the bold just go for it approach the author took with his characters, they are all positively loony, with mad backstories and loopy trajectories…but this asylum is hopping. They might be stark raving but they are perfectly sane and reasonable to themselves, that’s what makes it so funny. The innate underlying logic to the madness. Except for Riley, the classic straight man of the story, whose road to professional redemption becomes…well, whatever this is.
So yeah, the entire production is very, very silly and the cast is completely certifiable, but if you’re in the right mood, this screwball comedy is very entertaining and genuinely funny at times. I was thoroughly entertained, at times to actual laughter. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I'm pretty sure my IQ dropped a few points from reading what little I did. I understand that this is a "quirky" book that might appeal to certain readers, but it was pretty awful. It's rare for me to cut my losses, but I surrendered at around 25%.