You’d think I would know better by now. Having read the first two books in this series, I’m already familiar with how exciting Bradley’s writing is and how compelling the overall story has been thus far. So, I certainly should have known to not start reading the latest installment late at night. I was up way later than I should have been, but I just couldn’t put the book down.

Yes, this series is that good.

It is difficult at this point to go into great detail about the story without divulging spoilers. But, here’s the gist of what’s going on.

A pandemic has resulted in the deaths of untold millions of people from coast to coast. Some of those who were infected with the disease and survived are mutating and becoming…different. What little remains of the Federal government is scrambling to do what it can, which isn’t much. Most of the country has devolved into lawlessness, with some small towns becoming tiny bastions of freedom. In many areas, criminals and other ne’er do wells have formed gangs and are looting and pillaging everywhere they go.

Throughout the series, there are essentially three slowly converging story lines:

1) Mason Raines may very well be the last surviving U.S. Marshal. As this third volume in the series unfolds, he is on the trail of a group of mercenaries who he suspects were responsible for the deaths of many of his fellow Marshals.

2) Meanwhile, his father, Tanner Raines, has taken a young girl named Samantha under his wing. Honestly, some of my favorite scenes in these books feature these two very different people learning to trust one another, with Tanner teaching Samantha (and the reader) a fair amount about survival. In Judgment Day, Tanner and Samantha are traveling to New York State in hopes of fulfilling the last wish of a dying man.

3) As all this is playing out, there are conspiracies against the President coming to fruition. As she is working hard to do what she feels is best for the country, Madam President is anxiously trying to determine the fate of her daughter.

Bradley’s writing is top notch. The characters are fully realized on the page. Their actions are always consistent with the personalities and backgrounds he’s given them. The dialogue is exceptional as well.

With all that said, I’d highly suggest you don’t start the series with this book. Simply put, you’ll feel very lost because each book in the series starts out exactly where the last one ended.

If you haven’t started the series yet, here are links to my reviews of books one and two.

The Survivalist: Frontier Justice (Book 1)

The Survivalist: Anarchy Rising (Book 2)

You can pick up Judgment Day, as well as the others in the series, here on Amazon.