Devolution: The Beginning of the End by T. M. Julien is a gripping apocalyptic thriller that blends small-town Americana, political collapse, cyber warfare, and deeply human survival drama into a chilling vision of civilization unraveling in real time.
In the quiet farming town of Northhaven, Nebraska, life still revolves around Friday night football. Former NFL quarterback Trent Wilson has built a second life as the beloved coach of the Northhaven Titans, pouring his shattered dreams into his family and his team. His son, Trent "Little T" Wilson Jr., is a rising football star with college scouts circling and a state championship within reach. For one glorious night, the town feels alive again, united by victory and hope.
But while Northhaven celebrates, the world beyond its borders begins to collapse.
A radical hacker collective known as Prometheus infiltrates a quantum computing facility at MIT and unleashes the largest information breach in human history. Decades of classified government secrets spill onto the internet-assassinations, biological experiments, covert wars, human trafficking operations, political conspiracies, and atrocities committed in the shadows by the world's most powerful institutions.
The truth spreads faster than any virus.
Governments panic. Financial systems fail. Communications break down. Cities erupt into riots as ordinary people discover that everything they trusted may have been built on lies. The President vanishes. The Vice President is assassinated on live television by one of his own protectors. Military command structures fracture. Across America, society begins to implode under the unbearable weight of revelation.
Far from Washington and the burning cities, the Wilson family watches the chaos creep closer with terrifying speed. Gas stations stop working. Supply chains vanish. Refugees flee collapsing urban centers. Radio stations dissolve into static and desperate emergency broadcasts. As fear spreads through Northhaven, Trent realizes the skills that once made him a championship coach-leadership, preparation, sacrifice, and the ability to stay calm under pressure-may be the only things standing between his family and total collapse.
Alongside his resilient wife Lisa, his brilliant but socially withdrawn son Heath, his gifted and mysterious daughter Alyssa, and a frightened town struggling to hold itself together, Trent must navigate a world where trust has died and survival demands impossible choices. Old neighbors become potential enemies. Faith is shaken. Communities fracture. And somewhere behind the chaos, darker forces are beginning to emerge, eager to reshape humanity from the ashes of the old world.
Part political thriller, part family survival saga, and part slow-burn societal horror, Devolution: The Beginning of the End explores what happens when the foundations of civilization are stripped away and ordinary people are forced to confront the terrifying question: if the truth destroys the world, was humanity ever truly civilized to begin with?
T.M. Julien was born on January 9th, 1957, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; but he was raised on the beaches of Southern California and absolutely loves the ocean and everything about it. The oldest of five kids, in addition to writing, he is also an accomplished artist and a master leather craftsman having created everything from simple moccasins to custom-made show saddles.He is a Vietnam era veteran of the United States Air Force Security Forces and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He speaks four languages and has an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Western Oklahoma State College in Altus, and a Bachelor Of Science Degree in Business Administration from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva.His books include the critically acclaimed novels The 9th Plague (2024), The 10th Vision (2025), The 11th Hour (2025), A Starship Named Lucy (2025), Lucy In Disguise As Demons (2025), The New Polovians (2025), and Holly In The Woods (2025), High Tide: An Extinction Level Event (2025), Do Over (2025), Snow White: The Queen's Tale (2026), Ataria - Mission: High School (2026), Mary Ann's Maiden Voyage (2026), A Day To Remember (2026), Ataria - Mission: Moscow (2026), and, The Long Madness (2026).T. M. Julien welcomes feedback from his readers, and can be contacted at: tmjulien@protonmail.com
