Brad Larsen
"5 Stars out of 5"
This is an incredible jorney ,from being to end I could not put it down. Really shows you that when you think things are bad there is always that possiblity that it can get worse. Dark and riveting book. Thank you once again for the journey and can not wait for the next one.
Rhonda Fintelman
"5 Stars out of 5"
The Judas Syndrome; a book that brings you on a journey of joy, struggle, darkness and survival. Not knowing if friends are enemies or enemies are friends.
Trust is not something the future can hold for Joel and his surviving friends. Twists and turns in their journey of survival brings them together while pulling them apart.
A great ...book leaving readers to wonder where they would stand in the hierarchy of a surviving group, their reactions to other's authority in desperate situations, and what they could or could not live to endure...
Jason Percy White
"4 Stars out of 5"
The Judas Syndrome is a nice departure from the familiar post-apocalyptic theme of scarcity. The debut novel by Michael Poeltl is rich in its use of excess – from copious amounts of drugs to
gratuitous violence to the emotional highs and lows of the main characters. The book does of good job of exploring the abundance of a ...suddenly depopulated world.
The main character, Joel, leads a gang of high school friends who find themselves among a handful of post-holocaust survivors. At first the friends treat the end of the world as an opportunity to party. They find a massive grow-up, scrounge more liquor then they could ever consume, and try their best to forget the family and life they have lost. However, every now and then reality seeps in, usually in a pot induced, hyper paranoid state, and Poeltl does an excellent job of connecting the reader to the pain and denial the characters are feeling. This is perhaps the book’s strongest achievement.
A post-apocalyptic cult leader antithesis, who is typical genre hyperbole, confronts Joel and his gang roughly half way through the Judas Syndrome. The cult leader is on an Inquisition style mission to root out evil and makes outrageous demands on the school gang.
Naturally Joel refuses to submit to the cult questioning and a surprisingly good fight scene ensues. But, the cult leader is not a significantly developed foil for Joel’s character to battle. The lack of a clear antithesis is the book’s weakness. On one hand, it could be said that Joel is his own worst enemy, or that the cryptical Grimm Reaper – a cyber terrorist who took credit for unleashing the apocalypse is the antithesis. Perhaps the reader will decide for themselves. In any case, The Judas Syndrome is a solid debut novel that is worth the read and I look forward to Poeltl’s next novel.
For more reviews on the coming Apocalypse visit Michael Poeltl's facebook Fan page
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