Franklin Horton has 21 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.8★ across 218 ratings. The most-rated is The Borrowed World.
The Borrowed World
Summary
In a night of devastating terror, ISIS operatives have unleashed a coordinated attack on America's infrastructure. Life as we know it in America grinds to a halt as the electrical grid collapses, communication networks are damaged, critical bridges and dams are destroyed, and major fuel refineries go up in massive fiery clouds. When the government responds by immediately halting fuel sales to the public, Jim Powell finds himself in a terrifying predicament - trapped five hundred miles from home with a group of coworkers. With thousands of trapped travelers and scarce law enforcement, the miles between Jim and his family become a brutal gauntlet where the rules of civilized society no longer apply. As Jim puts his years of preparation and planning to the test, he is forced to ask himself if he has what it takes to make it home. Does he have the strength - the brutality - required to meet this new world toe-to-toe?
©2015 Franklin Horton (P)2015 Franklin Horton
Ashes of the Unspeakable
Summary
In The Borrowed World, Franklin Horton showed us an America brought to its knees by a nationwide terror attack. The target? The American infrastructure. Cell phone connections were sporadic. Electrical power was failing. Mortar attacks on major fuel refineries had created a gas shortage, stranding travelers throughout the country. One of those stranded travelers, Jim Powell, and his group of coworkers were frantically trying to make their way home using the gear on their backs and whatever other means they found at their disposal. It was a journey racked with violent, deadly encounters and exhausting physical demands, pushing each of them to the brink of their abilities. Meanwhile, on the other side of Virginia, Jim's family was facing its own struggle as desperate neighbors began to turn against each other with increasing brutality. In the second book in this series, Ashes of the Unspeakable, we find Jim and his group still struggling to reach home. While just a few days have passed since the initial attack, the group finds that its country is quickly descending into a vicious, chaotic landscape where nothing comes easy. While they fight to close the distance between them and their loved ones, they cannot avoid the steadily growing number of people who have realized that they can get away with whatever they want in a world where there are no longer any legal consequences for their actions. At home, Jim's family is basically forced into lockdown after a local jail discharges its starving inmates, leading to the arrival of a new, extremely violent presence in their valley. The stranger sets his sights on driving other families from their homes and taking what they own. As Jim races home, his wife Ellen struggles to keep her family safe, while each night a neighbor's home is burned to the ground.
©2015 Franklin Horton (P)2015 Franklin Horton
Legion of Despair
Summary
In his best-selling novels, The Borrowed World and Ashes of the Unspeakable, Franklin Horton showed us a nation facing societal collapse from a coordinated ISIS attack on the American infrastructure. Most of the country is without power, communication, and fuel. As a result of the attack, a group of business travelers in Virginia found themselves among the millions stranded on the highways with no idea how they would be getting home. In this third installment, Legion of Despair, the country is teetering on the brink of anarchy. While one of the stranded travelers, Jim Powell, made it home and is working to establish a safe, sustainable enclave for his family, his co-workers Gary and Alice are not faring as well. After spending hundreds of painful miles dreaming of his reunion with his family, Gary arrives home only to find his family under attack. Now he must face the painful decision as to whether his family's plan to bug-in is viable or whether they may need greater numbers and a better location to survive in this collapsing nation. While Gary's homecoming is bittersweet, he has at least found his way into the arms of his family. His co-worker, Alice, has awakened on the cold, concrete floor of a basement in Bluefield, Virginia. She is bound and chained to a support column. She doesn't know if she will ever see her son or husband again. All she knows for certain is that the man in front of her has already brutally killed her friend, Rebecca, and unless she finds a way out, he will kill her, too.
©2016 Franklin Horton (P)2016 Franklin Horton
Valley of Vengeance
Summary
In this fifth installment in The Borrowed World Series, human resources manager Alice Watkins is finally making it home. In her journey across Virginia, she experiences a country disintegrating and collapsing in on itself in the wake of a nationwide terror attack. Her trip home is agonizing; her experiences indescribable. She finds that her peaceful farm community is experiencing the same strife as the rest of the nation. As her world is further shaken by a series of devastating occurrences, she comes to realize that she has been profoundly and irreversibly changed by her agonizing experiences on the road. She is both emotionally blunted and wickedly violent. She cannot feel love, nor does she feel the slightest remorse at taking someone's life. In an attempt to find safety for her family, she must reconnect with the former coworkers that she started this journey with. She discovers the group struggling with their own problems, finding that in this borrowed world there is no promise of safety, no peace, and no promise of tomorrow.
©2017 Franklin Horton (P)2017 Franklin Horton
The Ungovernable
Summary
Boss is back. Having lost both a hand and his entire team when Jim Powell and his friends attacked the power plant, Boss is obsessed with revenge. He had no idea who the men were, but he’s determined to launch a search for them until his command makes it clear that his mission of vengeance is not a priority. Undeterred, Boss arrives at a covert method of engaging the entire population of southwest Virginia in his hunt for the insurgents. He has fliers scattered in the communities around the power plant offering a reward of food and ammunition for the live capture of the lone man whose image was caught by a security camera. The rampant rumors surrounding the attack at the plant work against Jim. His name is whispered everywhere that people gather. Almost overnight, he and his friends find themselves under attack from desperate neighbors determined to collect the reward.
©2019 Franklin Horton (P)2019 Franklin Horton
Switched On
Summary
It's been around nine long months since the United States spiraled into chaos due to a cascading systems failure. The die-off everyone predicted has begun and after a hard winter nearly every other house sits empty with the owners dead or unaccounted for. Lately the power has flickered on and off a few times, raising hopes that power restoration is coming soon. But how do you put the genie back in the bottle? Violence is everywhere. Disease is rampant. Hundreds of thousands are dead. Insurance can never pay for the damage and loss that has occurred. The economy will take years to restore, if it can be restored at all. From the recesses of a fractured government comes a plan to restore order and rescue what remains of the population. The first step comes with restoring power. But what if having access to electricity came at such a price that many - like Jim Powell, his friends, and his neighbors - would rather face a future in the dark.
©2018 James Franklin Horton (P)2018 James Franklin Horton
Grace Under Fire
Summary
Grace Hardwick was raised to be a survivor. Her dad taught her how to how to fight and how to think on her feet, hoping she'd never need those skills. When society fell apart around her, she needed all that and more. There was nothing in her life to this point that prepared her for the random violence, the brutality, and the cruelty of a starving and desperate populace turning on each other. In the highly-anticipated sequel to Locker Nine, Franklin Horton takes us on a breakneck dystopian thrill ride where you cannot let your guard down. Every peaceful moment could be the preamble to the next act of random violence. Every moment an exhausted traveler spends sleeping could be the moment an attacker's knife curls around their neck. Picking up immediately after the last book we find Grace taking refuge in a secure compound in the Southern Appalachians. After reuniting with her father, she expected that the remainder of her journey home would be uneventful. Her dad was with her now - things would be okay. She couldn't have been more wrong. Nothing in this new life is easy. Grace and her friend Tom, a physically-challenged veteran utilizing a specially-outfitted track chair, find themselves suddenly thrown back in the fight. Robert Hardwick and Tom's mother become separated from their children and find themselves under attack from a highly-skilled and heavily-armed force. Most alarming of all, an innocent comment from a child's lips puts the remainder of Grace's family directly in the cross-hairs of a violent sociopath. If he is able to carry out his plans, Grace and her father will not have a home, or even a family, to return to.
©2017 James Franklin Horton (P)2017 James Franklin Horton
No Time for Mourning
Summary
In the Borrowed World Series, America is brought to its knees by coordinated terror attacks against the infrastructure. After spending weeks walking across a violent and horrific landscape to reach his family, Jim Powell hoped they could weather this storm on their secluded Appalachian farm. They had prepared for this. They had armed for this. They could live without power and fuel. What happens, though, when the same qualities that drew Jim to his isolated valley begin to attract another armed group looking for a place to hide from the unrest of a starving nation? Franklin Horton's Borrowed World Series has been a best seller in the categories of Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian Science Fiction. He has been interviewed extensively for podcasts and for print media on the topic of preparedness. The series is noted for its realistic portrayal of how average Americans might be affected by societal collapse.
©2017 Franklin Horton (P)2017 Franklin Horton
Masters of Mayhem
Summary
Conor Maguire and his daughter, Barb, planned to weather the apocalypse by keeping to themselves, hidden from the world in their compound deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Their approach failed, allowing bad men to get too close and kidnap Barb. After rescuing her in a violent bloodbath that decimated the kidnappers, Conor realized it was time to enlist his community to work together to improve their security. They had better work fast. Unbeknownst to Conor, the kidnappers he killed had a boss, and he’s none too happy about the loss of his men. He’s marching in their direction and building an army as he goes, determined to find this Mad Mick who everyone is talking about and hang his head from a stick.
©2019 Franklin Horton (P)2019 Franklin Horton
Brutal Business
Summary
When newcomers arrive in Conor Maguire's territory, they bring word of an enemy approaching from the north. They wear military uniforms, carry military weapons, and drive military trucks. Like a plaque of locusts, they sweep through every town in their path and pick it clean. In their wake, they leave ashes and atrocity. When it appears this enemy is on a collision course with their community, Conor must build an army to intercept them. This is no easy task since his daughter's abrasive manner has divided the community. Their hasty alliance will be tested. Roles and relationships will be challenged. Against this larger, more highly trained force, it falls on Conor to do what he does best. To rain chaos, savagery, and utter devastation upon his enemy. After all, there's a reason they call him "The Mad Mick". The Mad Mick Series is a post-apocalyptic fan favorite. There's no prepper tips or helpful information, just fast-paced post-apocalyptic adventure.
©2020 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
The Mad Mick
Summary
Conor Maguire nearly lost his daughter Barb when she was three years old, injured by the drunk driver that killed his wife. When the justice system failed him, Conor - the son and grandson of IRA bombers - retaliated against the driver in dramatic and gruesome fashion. While an ironclad alibi prevented the police from pinning the murder on Conor, it did not prevent a covert agency within the US government from recruiting the talented young bomber and machinist. For over 25 years, Conor designed and built custom weapons of death and destruction at his compound in the mountains of Virginia. Then a series of devastating terror attacks brought down the United States. Conor and Barb assumed they were safe in their secure compound. They had food and a water source. They were armed and highly-trained. Then Barb was kidnapped. The kidnappers, needing slave labor for their farm, didn’t know why Conor was known as "The Mad Mick". They didn’t know the fear and respect his name invoked in the shadowy world of covert operations. They didn’t know that when it came to protecting his family, he was without conscience, without compassion, and without equal. But they would soon find out.
©2018 Franklin Horton (P)2018 Franklin Horton
Blood And Banjos
Summary
Two men. Two life-altering decisions. One epic journey. In this eighth installment in the best-selling Borrowed World series, Jim Powell is convinced that his presence in the valley is putting his friends and family in danger. Hoping to buy them some time, he increases the security at his home, then sets off on a trip to allow the situation in his community to cool off. As much as he hates the idea, he also intends to scout out a location to fall back to if his people get driven from their homes. Frustrated by the constant tension and violence, his best friend, Lloyd, joins him. Though Jim initially welcomes the company, Lloyd spends his day writing folk ballads about his friend’s body count and bad decisions. Both men struggle with how best to confront their changing world. Both are desperate for a solution that will give them peace. Jim ultimately wants control of his surroundings, but doesn’t want the responsibility. Lloyd wants to lay down his gun and return to the life of a performing musician. In his own way, each man will find that some truths are inescapable. While their collapsed world still allows them free will, there will be no peace, and there is no escape from the violence.
©2020 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
Blood Bought
Summary
In this fourth installment of The Locker Nine Series: Robert Hardwick is finally within reach of his family in Damascus, Virginia, but there’s no time to rejoice. His presence at a friend's compound in North Georgia put him on the radar of a corrupt congressman whose only bug-out plan is to take the property of someone better prepared than himself. When the congressman’s effort to take the Georgia compound fails he has little time to find an alternative. He decides to track down the writer from Virginia, a man whose own home should be well-stocked to survive the apocalypse he describes in his books. In a last ditch effort to save his followers, the congressman levels his crosshairs on the Hardwick Farm, determined to make it his own. The Hardwicks are prepared to fight him off with everything they have. It will not be easy, though. Every decision has a cost and the only currency is blood.
©2019 Franklin Horton (P)2019 Franklin Horton
Compound Fracture
Summary
The long-awaited third installment in a series that has become a classic in family preparedness. When Robert Hardwick’s daughter, Grace, was struggling to reach home because the nation was collapsing, he couldn’t wait. He went after her, finally finding her at one of the safe houses he’d arranged along her route home, a friend’s survival compound in the mountains of northern Georgia. A chance encounter at the compound gave Grace the opportunity to hitch a ride home in a chopper while Robert chose to wait for an injured friend to heal up. Before he could begin his own journey home, the compound came under siege from a corrupt congressman and his private army, determined to take the property for themselves. In a bid to save the compound and reach his family, Robert comes up with a bold and dangerous plan that just might deter the invading army, if it doesn’t get him killed first.
©2019 Franklin Horton (P)2019 Franklin Horton
Burning Down Boise
Summary
Sometimes the story of an apocalypse isn’t one of tragedy, but one of opportunity.... Dan Slaughter has given up on appearances. With his wife dead and his kids grown, he’s slowly reverting back to the east Tennessee boy he used to be three decades earlier. He quit cutting his hair and started smoking pot. He drinks when he wants to and sings along with the classic songs of his lost youth. When his childhood friend Carl dies suddenly, Dan agrees to help Carl’s mother with the estate, even when it means traveling across the country to Boise, Idaho. Worse yet, Dan has to fly and that’s no easy task for a paranoid hillbilly not used to following rules. Once he arrives in Boise, it doesn’t take long for Dan to figure out that there’s a lot more to his friend’s death than he’d been led to believe. He begins to suspect the overdose was actually murder and he can’t let it rest. Only days after arriving, a mysterious solar event traps Dan in the city, leaving him with no prospect of returning home anytime soon. Rather than panicking, Dan readily accepts the new state of things. For him, the apocalypse is an opportunity. With no law enforcement, his plan to deliver a dose of Tennessee justice in downtown Boise just got a whole lot easier.
©2020 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
Northern Sun
Summary
A new mission. An old rival. The powerful secret that binds them. Since the U.S. collapsed into chaos, Conor Maguire has fought to keep his family and friends safe, turning away attackers who threatened their community, seeking to live off the spoils of theft and murder. Fortunately, Conor is no stranger to fighting. In fact it’s his job. He’s an old-school assassin with an arsenal of wicked tricks up his sleeve. When Conor is called back to work for the first time since the terror attacks, he learns that business is good. With no media and no law, anyone with a score to settle is working hard to take out their enemies before order is restored. A high-end assassin with an impressive resume can set their own price. When Conor and his partner reach their target they find that all is not as it seems. One small job, killing a shady financier, quickly becomes something larger. However, this discovery will pale in comparison to the biggest revelation of this mission-a secret that will change Conor’s life forever.
©2020 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
Locker Nine
Summary
Grace Hardwick's dad is a science fiction writer who makes his living destroying the world. When Grace decides to go away for her first year of college her dad, Robert, can't help but think of all of the potential ways that society could collapse and strand his daughter hundreds of miles from home. Then, near the end of her freshman year, it happens. Like a scene from one of Robert's books, coordinated terror attacks take place at dozens of locations around the country - including on the campus of Grace's university. Grace and her father barely have time for a single rushed phone call before they lose signal. In that call, Robert reminds his daughter of the key he gave her when she left for school - the key that she constantly wears around her neck. She doesn't know what it opens. She doesn't know where the engraved numbers will lead her. All she knows is that her dad is not the type to let her go hundreds of miles from home with no backup plan. With her roommate in tow, Grace embarks on a treacherous journey that may lead her home or may lead her right into the path of another stranded traveler - a disturbed gamer who sees nothing but opportunity in a world that now closely resembles that of his favorite video games.
©2016 Franklin Horton (P)2016 Franklin Horton
Hard Trauma
Summary
Ty Stone never wanted to be anything but a soldier. While in Afghanistan, an operation under his command goes horribly wrong, ending his military career. Ty is thrust back into civilian life, stuck working as a security guard at a truck stop. To make matters worse, he struggles every day with the demons that followed him home from the war. His new job is routine, even boring, until a young girl is abducted while he’s on duty. Ty can’t let the case go, even when law enforcement insists he leave the investigation to the professionals. Ty doesn’t listen. He cannot listen. His gut tells him that the investigators are going down the wrong road, and with every minute they waste, the girl slips farther away. Unable to accept that outcome, Ty risks it all for this new mission. He knows that, somehow, their fates are inextricably bound. If he can save her, then he might just be able to save himself.
©2020 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
The Locker Nine: Books 1-4
Summary
For the first time ever, the complete four-book Locker Nine series is available in a box set. A number one best seller in both the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genres. Includes: Locker Nine, Grace Under Fire, Compound Fracture, and Blood Bought. Description of book one, Locker Nine: A determined young woman and a psychopath living out his favorite video games clash in the apocalyptic aftermath of a nationwide terror attack. Grace's dad taught her survival, self-defense, and shooting, then sent her away to college, hoping she'd never need those skills. All he wanted was to give her a fighting chance if the world fell apart. Then, it did. Near the end of Grace’s freshmen year, coordinated terror attacks take place at dozens of locations around the country - including on the campus of Grace’s university. Grace and her father barely have time for a single rushed phone call before they lose signal. Robert reminds Grace of the key he gave her when she left for school - the key that she never takes from around her neck. She doesn’t know what it opens. She doesn’t know where the engraved numbers will lead her. All she knows is that her dad once told her this key could save her life. With her roommate in tow, Grace embarks on a treacherous journey home and ends up in the crosshairs of another desperate traveler - a seriously disturbed gamer who sees nothing but opportunity in a world that now resembles that of his favorite video games.
©2016, 2017, 2019 Franklin Horton (P)2020 Franklin Horton
Punching Tickets
Summary
In his last mission, Conor Maguire was called back into action by his handler, Ricardo, to go after a man who helped facilitate the terror attacks that devastated America. The intelligence garnered in that operation exposed a network of traitors within the American government - officials who had advance warning of the attacks and did nothing to alert the American people. Worse yet, they sought to take advantage of the situation, seeing it as an opportunity to further their own vision of government. When Ricardo next pays Conor a visit, it's at the behest of a shadowy collective of patriots determined to purge the government of those who sold out the nation. It should have been a simple mission, a short trip to "punch tickets" in the way that Conor had successfully done hundreds of times around the world. But nothing in this mission will be simple. Conor and his team find themselves thwarted or compromised at every turn. They're pushed to the edge physically and emotionally. When the dust finally settles, their world will be entirely different, the path ahead more uncertain than ever.
©2021 Franklin Horton (P)2021 Franklin Horton