Lights Out...a review

[barfife]

To start with the usual disclamer. No affiliation. No renumerations received. Don't even know the author personally.

Just finished reading Lights Out by David Crawford. He is also known as "Halffast" on many survival fiction sites.

The book just recently came out in paperback (about $19 on many sites). This is his first "published book". The story has been floating around for about 6 yrs on survival fiction sites.

It does take a commitment to read it as it is nearly 700 pages long. I had read parts of it as a downloaded pdf file. A 700 page story being read with a lap top in your lap would be a bit much so I bought the book myself.

I found the book to be an excellent read. It gives a survivalists' viewpoint from "bugging in" in a subdivision when SHTF. It has good character development, well written and has a good story line.

I don't know if you would find it "life changing", but it will change you to some degree. The story gives you a lot to ponder, both as you read it, and when you have finished it. As with many good books, you really hate when it's over.

I would give it a solid recommendation.

Barfife

[eeyore]

The biggest "problem" i have with stories in the PAW realm, is that the main character has some type of windfall that allows him to do the bulk of the preparing. That happens not only in lights out, but many other stories

Other then that, i felt "lights out" is a great story with many useful ideas and real life events weaved in. It is definitely worth the time to read it. If i were going to buy it now, i would probably get it from survival monkey and get the autographed copy, just my 2 cents. I did the same thing with the first few of Rawles's books.

[monkeybird]

I read the book when it was on the forums for free. It is excellent. The writer deserves your support. It's a great read!

[WiseOwl]

Loved this story. I used to stay up til 3-4am reading it (just like Grands) and the only thing that I think it missed was if he was so close to Mexico, why didnt the Mexican gangs infiltrate more? I would think they would invade like a buffet!

And in all these stories, the main character always has the means to prep......but at least he wasnt loaded or well well off like the others.....

I wish I could write, if it was a "freestyled" spoken word I could do it that way. I would love to hear a story about someone that has maybe a few weeks of food, some bullets and some weapons, maybe $500 in their bank account...ya know, the "average american", but unless this person was a real survivalist, the story wouldnt last long.....:)

[Matt In Oklahoma]

[QUOTE=WiseOwl;28898]Loved this story. I used to stay up til 3-4am reading it (just like Grands) and the only thing that I think it missed was if he was so close to Mexico, why didnt the Mexican gangs infiltrate more? I would think they would invade like a buffet!QUOTE]
back when this was written it wasnt an issue like today

[WiseOwl]

[QUOTE=Matt In Oklahoma;28899]

Loved this story. I used to stay up til 3-4am reading it (just like Grands) and the only thing that I think it missed was if he was so close to Mexico, why didnt the Mexican gangs infiltrate more? I would think they would invade like a buffet!QUOTE]
back when this was written it wasnt an issue like today

Good point sir.

[Fido]

The biggest "problem" i have with stories in the PAW realm, is that the main character has some type of windfall that allows him to do the bulk of the preparing. That happens not only in lights out, but many other stories

Other then that, i felt "lights out" is a great story with many useful ideas and real life events weaved in. It is definitely worth the time to read it. If i were going to buy it now, i would probably get it from survival monkey and get the autographed copy, just my 2 cents. I did the same thing with the first few of Rawles's books.

Read "One Second After".
No one in the story is prepared. Very sobering story as to what may (will?) Happen PAW

[Lowdown3]

One Second after is good in that regard.


Personally, it's all fiction but I enjoy better the folks that prepared ahead of time versus the "we ran out at the last minute and were able to grab everything we needed" non sense.

Even works of fiction gives people ideas. Quite a few of the ideas are false and would not work. Unfortunately people take the bad ideas and run with them without making the distinction of "oh yeah, that came from that FICTION story."

A thorough thinking through of most of these false ideas will shoot them full of holes. But few people really think stuff through now a days.

I started reading this one years ago on computer but lost the link and couldn't really get into it. I found some of these easier to listen to via CD or MP3. Not that I don't read, we devour books at home. It's just that so much of the fiction "pleasure reading" type material I just don't have time for much anymore.

Is this one out on CD or MP3 yet?

[WiseOwl]

LD3, it would be cool to have this on Mp3.....

[ComputerGuy]

I read this on my Kindle and enjoyed it very much. It was nice to see "Karate Man" make it. The characters like Gunny, and a few of the others was very believable and provided some heartwarming and humanistic touches to the story.

I read this after One Second After and consider the two books to be at the top of the genre.

[All Talk]

Sinc emost of us are not fully prepped to our satisfaction (nobody probably ever is), instead of stories about a fully prepped lottery winner or the dopey "i woke up this morning and was somehow automatically a last-minute survivalist", it might be interesting for this audience to hear stories about the partially prepped, ranging from:

1) somebody who has done quirte a bit of research, but made few physical preps; however, THIS is the logic whereby he puts in some preps ahead of sheeple during the days leading up to the "event"

2) somebody with a unblanced set of preps -- lots of food, no guns, guns, no heat, whatever

3) somebody with lots of preps who gets run out of his bug-out or bug-in location, but has a cache of limited preps and weps elsewhere. He must collect/select/convince a team of the unprepped to join him in recovering his main supply, in exchange for them and their families being part of the "tribe" starting over with his preps.

[Grand58742]

Just as a reminder, many of us have the pdf version of "Lights Out," however, the author requested the electronic versions not be sent around. He wrote the story and ended up publishing it which makes passing around unauthorized copies a piracy issue. I know the book differs from the online version, but it's still a spade.

So please folks, I know many of you have the copies (myself included) of the original file but David Crawford is making some money on his works and we need to respect his ingenuity and his rights as the copyright holder. Do not use this forum to pass around the copies of his or any other works applicable under the copyright laws for that matter without the express consent of the holder in question.

[Fido]

LD3,
I understand your concern over these kinds of books giving people ideas about last minute looting.
However the thing I liked about One Second After was it showed that even in the short term it won't work and what the long term consequences of not being prepared are.
Lights out was unrealistic in the sense that the stores kept getting replenished. Real world, the trucks would've been jacked, or the drivers would get "lost" and drive home with a years supply of food, never to be heard from again.

[ANVIL]

I read it when David wrote it and posted on another form. Now I have the book and am re reading it. Some good ideas and charcter development. I think it is one of the better books on the subject. I would also vote for Deep Winter.

[eeyore]

If you want to read (imo) a realistic story of what could happen when so one goes on a last minute food raid and bug out, is something else written by David Crawford (Halffast) called The Bug Out

I think think lights out is great, but The Bug Out is sobering.

Jerry D. Young has a couple of the stories of how a simple guy or family can prep, but everyone that is realistic is done over time and can be down over night.