[bcbob]

doh! I missed the free and bargain requirement. I have noted that some of the books are on Kindle Unlimited
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I am a fan of this genre and I break it down into subcategories. Some of my favorites with their Amazon book number in parentheses:

Post-EMP (electromagnetic pulse that destroys all electric power plants, electronic devices, cars and their computer systems)

The granddaddy and one of the best is "One second after" by William Forstchen (B002LATV16). Ex-military college professor in small town in North Carolina (IIRC) and his family and town people cope with the aftermath. Other books in series good but not as good as first one.

"Lights out" by David Crawford (B004GHNGKE) Mark (karate man) Turner and his family deal with nature and MZB's (murant zombie bikers) after the EMP. BTW, despite the name this is NOT a zombie book, which I despise.

The Jeremy's Run series by G.F. Gustav (B00CQU5SEK). As one reviewer puts it " 95% conversation, 5% action, but don't let that throw you--the conversation is highly informative and the action, when it happens, is necessary, logical, and highly satisfying (to his credit, the author doesn't "invent" situations just to stage a fight)." The author is an engineer who minored in theology and both sides come out. (Kindle Unlimited)

Non-EMP SHTF:

The Shattered series by Thomas Sherry (Deep Winter B004J171BC is the first one). The hero, Rick Drummond, is the pompous, highly annoying patriarch of a family in Spokane Washington in the aftermath of a series of devastating earthquakes and volcano eruptions in the Northwest that eventually bring down all the US. Don't be put off by the annoying character, the author knows his stuff and brings up a lot of important issues on how society is going to recover from a disaster with loss of our high tech infrastructure. The last book in the three book series is cr*p. Kindle unlimited.

Political SHTF
The Enemies trilogy by Matthew Bracken (Enemies Foreign And Domestic B004JF4L98). Be warned-highly political. Starts out with ATF carrying out false flag terrorist incident that is used by corrupt government to crack down on freedom loving gun toting conservatives. Other books in series cover Reconquista by Hispanics in Southwest with collusion by US president and third book is war between mercenaries called in by corrupt government and said freedom loving, gun toting, conservatives in Tennessee. (all three Kindle unlimited)

There are more but that is all I have time for.