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    Famine
    Famine
    Famine
    Ebook492 pages7 hours

    Famine

    By Graham Masterton

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    What happens when the richest nation on God's Earth is driven to the outer limits of starvation?

    When the grain crop failed in Kansas it seemed like an isolated incident and no one took much notice. Except Ed Hardesty. Then the blight spread to California's fruit harvest, and from there, like wildfire, throughout the nation.

    Suddenly America woke up to the fact that her food supplies were almost wiped out. Her grain reserves lethally polluted. And Botulism was multiplying at a horrifying rate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMay 14, 2020
    ISBN9781838935757
    Author

    Graham Masterton

    Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1946. He worked as a newspaper reporter before taking over joint editorship of the British editions of Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. His debut novel, The Manitou, was published in 1976 and sold over one million copies in its first six months. It was adapted into the 1978 film starring Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Stella Stevens, Michael Ansara, and Burgess Meredith. Since then, Masterton has written over seventy-five horror novels, thrillers, and historical sagas, as well as published four collections of short stories and edited Scare Care, an anthology of horror stories for the benefit of abused children. He and his wife, Wiescka, have three sons. They live in Cork, Ireland, where Masterton continues to write.  

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    Reviews for Famine

    3.5/5

    23 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      What can I say about this book? It was terrifying, kept me on the edge through the whole thing. This is the kind of book that will leave you shivering, and you'll need some time to digest it after you've turned the last page. Also good to put into perspective what would happen in a famine where there really is nothing left to stock the shelves.
    • 3/5
      When some kind of blight starts taking over Ed’s wheat field in Kansas in a matter of hours, he soon learns this is affecting many areas of the U.S. and many different types of crops. Meanwhile, Ed’s wife Season has decided that she does not like life on a farm and misses the city; she packs up and takes their daughter with her to California to be with her sister. I could have done without the stretch of politics at the start; I kind of lost interest through part of that. The story itself of the food all going bad was good, and to what lengths will people go to get (and/or stockpile) food. Even more so, I could definitely have also done without every female character having big boobs and a ton of sex; and all the derogatory comments toward the woman characters. I almost rated it lower due to this, but decided the story itself was enough for me to rate it slightly higher, so I decided on a middle ground at 3 stars (ok).
    • 4/5
      A mysterious blight is spreading through Ed Hardesty's crops at an alarming rate. Worried for his living he reports the problem but finds that he is not alone. All food crops are being attacked and surely this years harvest across the USA will fail unless a cure can be found.The blight is reported and Senator Jones takes control, but all he can see if how to cream off a few million dollars for himself by way of a relief fund. Meanwhile the crops get worse and the unsuspecting American publics are still being told that there is no issue and a vaccine is nearly ready. Can Hardesty survive the Famine? And can he allow the rest of his country to descend into unknowing chaos?The book has a number of subplots as we follow not just Hardesty but his estranged wife season, we get to see how Famine affects Town and Country alike. Although the fresh harvest has failed America still has canned and dried goods, so surely they will survive? They can't be spoiled? Or can they....This is my first book by Masterson and in a way he reminds me of a cross between Richard Layman and Stephen King. Plenty of suspense and graphic sex scenes (I believe the author was an editor of a few porn magazines). If I had to compare this to another book I would say the Stand has a lot in common, although Famine is no where near as much of an epic.So why only 3 stars? I really enjoyed the book but for me the timescales involved made the plot pretty implausible. Masterson expects us to believe that after even a few days without food people resort to cannibalism and suicide, maybe after a number of weeks, yes. But days? Also the extent of rioting and looting..... it just happens all too quick for me.I will definitely be seeking more of his novels though.
    • 4/5
      This was a pretty good book, actually. If you can get past the 'America is the world' attitude, the book is a real thriller. I enjoyed it so much I read it twice.

    Book preview

    Famine - Graham Masterton

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