Dissolution, The Wyoming Chronicles: Book One by W. Michael Gear

Karen’s Review

This is a large book of 394 pages, probably a little larger than I like to read, but that pales into oblivion when the story is as good as this one.

It’s the first time I’ve read this popular author and I must say, what a joy to read. Every word counted in moving the story along explaining why society broke down. There is no natural disaster, no big bang and it all happened with one simple action. The banks closed. The effect was like a line of dominoes crashing into each other.

Sam Delgado, a normal every day guy is suddenly thrown into an abnormal situation. Forced to fight the crisis he and his friends found themselves in, Sam has a tough time, both mentally and physically.

I found myself swept along with everybody else, feeling their panic and fear. I held my breath devouring the words to find out what would happen. How would they cope? What would they do?

The story absorbed all my downtime and when it ended, I knew it had really only just begun.

As I wrote this review, the second book emerged on Social Media. I only saw the cover. It made me wonder where the characters would go from there. I couldn’t see they lives changing anymore drastically than they already had. So how would the plot evolve?

I then read the description. Wow. I hadn’t expected that and, as it was in Kindle Unlimited, I immediately downloaded

Lovers of apocalyptic stories will really enjoy this one. I wholly recommend it.

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Dissolution

FROM WESTERN WORD-SLINGER AND ANTHROPOLOGIST W. MICHAEL GEAR, COMES AN ENTIRELY NEW TYPE OF WESTERN – A CONTEMPORARY APOCALYPTIC WESTERN.

For anthropology graduate student Sam Delgado, headed to the wilds of Wyoming, this is his last chance to save his graduate career. He and his urban classmates see this as the adventure of a lifetime: They are going to horse-pack in the wilderness to map and test a high-altitude archaeological site.

Until a cyber-attack collapses the American banking system, and an already fractured nation descends into anarchy and chaos. All credit frozen, Sam and his archaeological field school is trapped in their high-altitude camp. With return to the East impossible, Sam, the woman he has come to love, and the rest of the students must rely on hard-bitten Wyoming ranchers for their very survival.

Guided only by an illusive Shoshone spirit helper, Sam will discover the meaning of self-sacrifice. Even at the cost of his life.

Haunting, provoking, frightening and prescient – in the end, all that stands between civilization and barbarism is one young man’s courage and belief in himself.

“Gear is a master when it comes to vividly described settings: you can smell the smoke, hear the wind in the trees, and feel the cold.”

Lauren Davis is closing on her twenty-first birthday when a cyberattack leads to the collapse of the American banking system. On the advice of her boyfriend, a special forces lieutenant, she is told to flee Colorado Springs and make her way to Tappan Ranch in Wyoming. As the country continues to fall apart, Lauren and Randy Howman, a co-worker at her bank, make their way through the Colorado Rockies.

On the advice of Tiffany Bishop, an old friend in Laramie, Lauren goes to work with an old boyfriend, Mike Vinich, providing FEMA provisions to refugees housed on a ranch outside of Cheyenne. There, she runs supplies to the outposts being established along the Wyoming/ Colorado line—what Governor Agar calls The Fourth Quadrant. When a riot breaks out and Mike is shot, Lauren ends up being called a hero. But fame comes at a great personal cost, and Lauren’s demons are closing in.

Pulled from duty along the Fourth Quadrant, and with Mike in a coma, Lauren learns of a raid on Laramie. There, she is taken hostage along with a busload of school children. With nothing left to lose, and nothing to live for, Lauren is forced to make one last gamble…