Collapse Book Review

America is falling; ready to join the Roman Empire as a distant memory in the annals of history. The year is 2027. Tired and desperate, the American people are deep in the middle of The Second Great Depression. The Florida coastline is in ruins from the most powerful hurricane on record; a second just like it is bearing down on the state of Texas. For the first time in history, the Middle East has united as one and amassed the most formidable army the world has seen since the Third Reich. A hidden army of terrorists is on American soil. This is the story of three men: Howard Beck, the world’s richest man, also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Richard Dupree, ex-Navy SEAL turned escaped convict. Maxwell Harris, a crippled, burned out Chief of Police of a small Texas town. At first they must fight for their own survival against impossible odds. Finally, the three men must band together to save their beloved country from collapse.

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My Review

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.   It’s the year 2027 and America is falling apart.  America is in the deep in its Second Depression and Florida has experienced its worse hurricane in history, meanwhile a second one is heading to Texas.  Now we have terrorists on our soil, a corrupt government, and the entire Middle East has banded together. 

Although the story starts slowly, this was a really great dystopian novel.  It was pretty interesting to get stories from different points of view.  The descriptions of everything was amazing, I felt like I was living it myself.  The further I got into the book, the more captivating the story became, primarily because quite a bit of this could possibly happen in our future…scary, but very true.  My favorite character was Howard Beck; to me, he was the greatest character.  He has Asperger's Syndrome, found his niche and now he’s the world’s richest man, and a BRILLIANT AI creator.  I really appreciated this, because truth be told, a child with Asperger's is brilliant at whatever their interest is, not many people realize that.  This is one book that I’ll buy for friends, it'll scare them about our future.  Awesome first novel for Richard Stephenson!!!  Book two is expected this summer and I can’t wait!

About the Author

Richard Stephenson was born in 1975 in Denison, TX and spent his childhood in North Texas. In 1992, he graduated high school after only three years. He then pursued his degree at Oklahoma Christian University, once again accomplishing the task in three years. Richard then married his best friend before going off to basic training to be a military policeman with the US Army. With his new wife joining the adventure, they spent the next four years at Fort Polk, LA and had two children.

Just before his son turned five, Richard and his wife were told that their oldest child had Asperger's Syndrome. Nine years later, Richard's son would become the inspiration for the character of Howard Beck.

After leaving the armed forces, Richard continued his law enforcement career in the federal sector and has been with the Department of Justice for twelve years.

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