Journey Through Chaos: The Badlands

This book is a sequel to Journey Through Chaos: The Valley. The author recommends that you read The Valley first because many of the characters in this book were introduced there. However, you will find enough background information to follow the story in this book so it is not absolutely necessary. A synopsis of the first book follows:After concealing their true financial instability to the world for a decade, the Chinese government implodes, triggering severe global economic crises and panic. Rioting, chaos, and ultimately anarchy breaks out in the U.S. as it experiences the sudden and complete collapse of banks, stock markets, and all major business enterprises twice as bad as the Great Depression. One man anticipates this chaos and prepares a journey to a safe haven in a valley just two hundred miles away. The rapid disintegration of government control puts him in grave danger but also brings several strangers into his life who help him fight his way to the valley. Grant is a widower, a student of history and has no experience at handling violent situations. However, circumstances rapidly put him in kill or be killed situations, forcing him to do anything to survive. Along the way, two other couples, whose relationships have just been forged in the chaotic new world, team up with Grant and a young woman he meets to travel to what they hope will be a peaceful sanctuary. If only that were true.... Grant and his new friends survive two vicious attacks by outlaws and manage to usher in a new era of peace in their valley. He and Cheryl settle in, begin farming, and dream of setting up their own vineyards for winemaking. Everything seems to be going well until some mysterious visitors keep turning up and asking questions about who led the fight against the outlaws two years ago. Acting on a tip from their itinerant peddler, Izzie, Grant and Luke travel to the Oklahoma Badlands to investigate who is sending these spies. They arrive soon after a deadly attack by a large outlaw gang on some locals who live in a valley that is eerily similar to theirs. Grant and Luke pitch in to help the valley citizens defend themselves but then they must fight their way back to Arkansas to warn their own neighbors of a new threat.