Portal - Fred Alvrez

Title: Portal
Author: Fred Alvrez
Genre: Sci-fi, arc
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 286
Date read: January, 2019

The military wants them dead. They shouldn’t be here.

Nate isn’t your average post-apocalyptic heroic archetype, since he can’t bench-press anything heavier than his Star Wars coffee mug. He gets out of bed to find a city that’s empty of anything with a pulse. Accompanied by a lone dog, Nate must overcome the fear keeping him in a chokehold to navigate this strange, and sometimes dangerous, new world.

As a plumber, Casey is used to crappy situations. Everyone in her small New Zealand country town disappearing is even crappier and not even a spanner nor plunger will help her find answers to the burning question of why. Should she trust an IT helpdesk guy and his dog when she encounters them on the road, when the man is likely mentally deranged?

Captain Brian Sanderson is counting down the days to retirement. A few more tests of the experimental portals, then he can leave this top secret branch of the military - as long as there’s no more glitches.

In a David vs Goliath battle, Nate, Casey and a dog called Kevin take on military forces in a bid to get home.


This book was right up my aisle, and I devoured it in just two days. A sort-of post-apocalyptic story set in New Zealand? What's not to like!! I was sold just by hearing the concept, and fortunately, the book completely lived up to my expectations.

One morning, strangers Casey and Nate wake up to discover that the world as they know it has changed, and that they're pretty much the only living creatures around. Even birds and insects seem to have disappeared! What has happened? And why do shimmering portals appear in some JETs (gas stations) that seem to show a glimpse of the world as they knew it?

I was hooked from the very first chapter, and had difficulties putting the book down. I'm a sucker for a good apocalyptic tale and just hoped Fred Alvrez could keep it up, and supply a satisfying resolution to the mystery that would neither seem like a cop-out, nor require too much suspension of disbelief.

Fortunately he delivered, and we're left with an absolutely brilliant sort-of post-apocalyptic, sort-of sci-fi, sort-of suspense novel that completely captured my attention. It's even a stand-alone novel, which is a nice change in these series-crazy times.