This was a great short story about a man that wakes up and his family has disappeared. I read it in a day. The plot reminded me a little bit of a horror movie I had watched a couple of years ago. The ending was a surprise to me. Definitely a five star read! ( )

I had figured out the catch by page six. The story itself is short and enjoyable, even if it is all too predictable. ( )

Alone is about Dan, who wakes one morning to find everyone gone. His partner, Jerry, their adoptive daughter, Daniella, his neighbors...all gone. But it's also so much more than that.

Keene starts with Dan's initial discovery that the power went out during the night and builds on a series of annoyances, revealing a bigger and more terrifying picture throughout the morning and the days ahead.

Whatever is happening, it's so much more than a last man on earth story and you find yourself eager to get to the end so you can find out what this is all about.

I just love a good Brian Keene story. He has such a way of taking ordinary people and placing them into strange, extraordinary situations.

Brian is also very good at incorporating comments on our times into his tales. "They could be members of the Westboro Baptist Church for all Dan cared." Nice touch.

An aside to the author: The Twilight Zone episode, Time Enough At Last, is one of my favorites as well. I thought Burgess Meredith was just brilliant. To understand this comment, you'll need to read Alone, which is certainly not a bad thing.

When you get to the end of the story, there's a very nice Afterword which explains where the idea for Alone came from, and sheds some light on other ways the story went during its development.

In addition to everything else, there is an excerpt from Robert Smartwood's thriller Man of Wax at the end of the e-book.

Alone is currently available Kindle and Kobo and should be available very soon for Nook. Keene's minions, myself included, have already made this a best-seller on Amazon. If you've never read anything from Brian Keene, you can correct that right now. Enjoy. ( )