Greetings and Salutations, blog readers!

We are continuing our reviews of the books in the Mad Mick series, by Franklin Horton, and today is Book Two, “Masters of Mayhem”.

Picking up where some of the drama of the last book left off, this one starts off immediately with another page turning pace. Bryan, the wannabe Thomas Jefferson who instructed his men to go 100 miles away and steal more women to be slaves for their farm operation, now knows his people are likely not returning, as it has been weeks since he saw them depart. Having sent many of his better men to find more slaves, he is now desperate for workers, for assistance on the farm. To make things worse, the remaining women have dwindled, some escaping with their male overseers, which likely led to the destruction of the drug section of the grow operation.

With the drugs and food no longer a viable option for trade, and supplies dwindling, Bryan begins to spiral mentally, and opts to kill off the remaining slaves, less than ten women, and tells his men they are going to recruit an army to find out what happened to their men, and then visit vengeance upon those who hurt or delayed them.

As we know from the first book, this was the Mad Mick, and he, along with Barb and Ragus, ensured there were no survivors.

True to my review form, I don’t want to go into the details of the book, because I really want to make sure I don’t spoil TOO much, and that you still have a reason to read this book, but, of course, I do want to comment on some things.

First: Bryan is a piece of shit, sexist asshole, who while being well read, is a bit of a moron.

Second: The Mad Mick plan of marking out a territory that he is protecting, to let the legend deter more people, begins to be seen with this book.

Third: Please go read this book, it is fantastic!

So, while Bryan tries to find his men, he begins recruiting. His method of recruitment is barbaric, basically, join him or die. He does eventually stumble upon some truckers, the ones who don’t want to come, who are older, weak, etc, are not shot, because some choose to go with Bryan, and end up being key players in the story, including one woman, who is determined to be strong enough “despite being a woman”.

Bryan is truly a sack of shit.

As they carry on, Bryan does amass a bit of an army, but thankfully some people get word to the compound, and The Mad Mick, also known as Conor, is able to make a plan to defend the area.

Picking up where the last book left off, Conor has no intention of being isolated in the community anymore, and in fact wants to work hard to defend the area from people like Bryan, who think it is okay to steal people from their homes to achieve his own gains.

The finale of the action is a fun one to watch happen, and the addition of some new characters, Doc and Shannon, add to some fun action as well, including “what happened in Helsinki?”

The now larger group definitely makes the book worth reading, as is the awesome action of the story, which, also helps set up the action for the next couple of books- which is so important for the development of characters and story in a series.

Another great one from Franklin Horton, and I hope you opt to read this series, as it is well worth the energy and time. If you are survivalist minded, you may also enjoy the insights gained from this story, or if you just enjoy a good story, you should as well.

Go check it out, and get ready for the next review in the series, when we discuss the third book, Brutal Business.

Thanks for reading,

Abbi