This week, Phil Williams’ dystopian action thriller The Worst Survive was released. The first of a planned action thriller series, the book sees protagonist Scully, a man used to working in the shadows and under the radar, sticking his neck out and coming to the attention of some very dangerous people.

From the publisher –

The Worst Survive is a frenetic, self-contained action thriller in which Scully is unwittingly thrust into a conspiracy of militant corporations hunting down a man with the potential to save the world.

Scully is mostly just interested in getting paid, so he can buy more booze – but when he sets his mind to something like getting paid, he’ll let no one stop him.

Along with his band of eclectic mercenary friends, Scully embarks on a madcap roadtrip from New Oak City’s slums out to the decaying wasteland and back, piecing together a puzzle that could spell hope or doom for the American Remnant. With a lot of violence along the way.

The first of a planned series of action thrillers titled the Faergrowe series, The Worst Survive is set in an alternate future that diverged from our timeline in the 90s, when a violent war broke out. Scully is a remnant from that war, and makes his way in the world by working as a mercenary, hoping each time to earn just enough to keep himself in copious amounts of booze.

The worst survive is best described as a modern western. Scully hangs out in a bar in a fairly rural area, with alcohol running through his veins at all times. Scully has done some questionable things, killed a lot of people, and on the surface is only a little bit troubled by that, though his alcoholism suggests it has affected him a lot more than he would like.

The world around him is laid out slowly over the course of the book rather than by a lot of upfront exposition, which is great for keeping the pace of the story moving,t hough may leave some readers wanting a little bit more hand-holding. Much like its main character, though, the book doesn’t want to waste time with that, and what we get is a quickly escalating situation that goes from bad to worse real quick.

If you need your protagonists to be likeable, you may struggle a bit with The Worst Survive, because at best Scully could be called a bit rough around the edges. He has a quick temper, doesn’t always work well with others, and is definitely his own worst enemy. Thankfully, he has some ‘better’ people around him to help out, which makes it easier to route for the good guys, and gives the story a lot more depth. Everyone has their own reasons for being invested in the outcome. And the stakes ARE high. The mission has risks, actions have consequences, and the damage is permanent. Williams has built a well thought out, interesting future dystopia, and the plot of the story is relevant within it, so all the world building feels necessary, and the whole thing keeps moving forwards throughout.

Author Phil Williams has an impressive backlist of novels, including dark military fantasy series The Blood Scouts, urban fantasy series the Sunken City Trilogy, contemporary fantasy The Ikiri Duology, steampunk dystopia in The Estalia series, and more. You can find out all about his books, and buy them, on his website at https://phil-williams.co.uk/