Downrigger Drift by James Axler

Title:  Downrigger Drift
Author:  James Axler
Format:  PB
Pages:  313
Genre:  Science Fiction / Action & Adventure
Publisher:  Gold Eagle, 2011
ISBN-13:  978-0373626069
Series:  Deathlands, Book 97

Favorite Quote:  The old man turned sad eyes on him.  "Oh, Ryan, you have no idea what hopes I have every time we come to one of these doors, that each one might hold the secrets of, if not escaping this hellish world, then of somehow making it better for those who are forced to dwell in it every day of their nasty, brutish and short lives."

Synopsis (Amazon):  The nuclear cataclysm that maimed America altered the rules of existence. The new reality guarantees a grim battle for survival, but the higher human instinct to exist in peace and good will lives on. Legends endure and Ryan Cawdor is a warrior of his time. When the good fight needs to be won, Ryan and his band take a stand.

In the nuke-altered region of the Great Lakes, Ryan and his group face the spectrum—from the idyllic to the horrific—of a world reborn. Close to enclaves of peace and sanctuary, Deathlands' most distorted spawn of humanity, cannibals, spread terror. Against the battered shoreline of Lake Michigan, an encounter with an old friend leads to a battle to save Milwaukee from a force of deadly mutant interlopers—and to liberate one of their own.

Review:  This story had many mutants in it, some kindly and some violent.  But, either way, I ended up feeling sorry for all of them and the more regular humans who live beside them.  It is a dark and troubled place, The Deathlands, but somehow also beautiful and hopeful.  It's one of the many things I love about this set of books.

This is the final book I have to read from this series at this time.  More are out there, but I don't have copies yet.  Perhaps I'll visit again later on this year, perhaps not until next year.  Either way, it's not goodbye.

Rating:  8 / 10