In an America on the edge of extinction, Thomas La Stella serves as a Deportation Force officer. Tom is old enough to remember America before Dayton Day, the attack that finally brought the country to its knees, and the earth towards its death. Still fighting for hope, Tom clings to his pregnant wife, Riley, and begrudgingly serves a government on the brink of revolution. When the president of the country goes missing, a new, radical force rises from within and threatens every hope Tom has for a better future. In Failed States by Justin O'Donnell, we experience a grim, fast-paced speculative thriller in the vein of Cormac McCarthy's The Road . It is a tale that deals with political, religious, and violent themes ranging from cannibalism to abortion, while calling into question the fundamental clash between security and liberty. "What happens when a corrupt theocracy stages a political coup in the aftermath of an apocalypse? How do individuals react? How does society move on? Justin O'Donnell ponders those questions and more in his near-future post-apocalyptic thriller Failed States. Here we're introduced to a world ravaged by the aftermath of EMP blasts and a devastating nuclear war. Though places we might recognize appear and are referenced — Albany, New York City, Ohio — any recognition of the places we know is long gone. Albany has been renamed to New Zion and is the capital of the nascent theocratic American Union, seemingly the only bastion of civilization left in a dying world. New York City has become a wasteland of radiation, marauders and cannibals, the proverbial badlands. And Ohio, well, Ohio no longer exists in any tangible fashion after the destruction of Dayton Day. Haunting, grim, and evocative, Failed States touches on the many aspects that make us human as O'Donnell juxtaposes personal desires against societal responsibility in the face of fanaticism, fascism and xenophobia during a crisis. In Thomas La Stella, we see a man struggling, one who has done wrong but is all the more human for it. This novel is not for the faint of heart, but for those who want to see how humanity fares when backed up against a wall — look no further than Failed States and the story of Thomas La Stella." - Darryl Oliver, BookTrib "The rendezvous isn't far," I said. "If you leave now, you can make it ahead of the fallout." She looked off toward the distant glow on the horizon. It was the mushroom cloud we'd been running from. My lungs labored as she packed my shoulder with gauze from the med kit I kept in the Humvee. She stayed calm, even in the heat of the flaming blaze behind her. "We go together," she said. "Doesn't matter. My lungs are done, Rye." I croaked a laugh, and it masked the sob I wanted to give. But there were no tears in me, even if I wanted to cry. "Take my mask," she said suddenly. "No." She didn't listen. She peeled out of her MIRA CBRN and shook out her hair. I could see she was holding her breath. "No!" I lunged to stop her but the coughing overtook me. I crumpled into her arms and she pulled the mask over my face and it smothered me and I gagged when the suction took hold. The burning in my throat stopped. My brain tasted clean oxygen, and the coughing ceased. "Not leaving you," she said again. She took my good arm and pulled it around her shoulders and heaved me up to my feet. They barely worked. "We're going to buy a cabin in the woods when this is all done, and I am going to make you coffee every morning, and we're going to have the most beautiful babies—and they're going to be absolute terrors when they become teenagers, Tom. You'll see." She smiled at me and the nuclear wind blew through her hair. Her words transported me to a dream I knew didn't exist. I knew it didn't exist because she was no longer holding her breath. But I didn't tell her to stop speaking to me. Justin O'Donnell holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Connecticut State University. He spent his childhood immersed in online roleplay, playing football, and reading history. When not reading or writing, Justin competes as a bodybuilder and dreams up ways to spin speculative tales about ancient empires, mythological horrors, and apocalyptic hellscapes. Justin currently lives in Port Saint Lucie, Florida with his wife, daughter and mischievous Siberian husky.