Series: Survivors Of The Pulse
Author: Jeff W. Horton
BLURB from Goodreads
While scientists prepare for a massive solar flare heading towards the earth, a hostile foreign government steals a top-secret, experimental weapon. When they use the EMP weapon to attack America however, the result is the immediate and catastrophic loss of modern technology all over the planet. The president calls upon Dr. James White to lead a group of scientists and theologians in an effort to develop a plan that will offer humanity a second chance at civilization. When societies begin to unravel, refugees flee the anarchy in the cities as people learn how to survive in a world without technology, a world for which they are not prepared. Will humanity survive this catastrophic event? Join author Jeff Horton for a journey into the chaotic and perilous new world of The Great Collapse.
REVIEW
Its difficult to describe this book without delving too deeply in the story and giving away key details, so I will try to stay generalised in this review and not actually name so many names in incidents I mention.
Initially I thought this was going to be a tad slow for me and perhaps a little too political, but upon getting further into the book you realise the beginning politics explanations are setting the scene for what happens next, why it happens and how people respond to it.
The beginning is the story of the EMP being made, yet not fully tested, and Politicians and the like wanting to rush the process, the EMP is then stolen by the worst people possible, terrorists who plan to use it against America. However when they use it a natural phenomenon is occurring which intensifies the EMP and Solar Flare that causes the whole world to lose electricity. All electricity is destroyed by the EMP and Solar Flare Effect. Everyone goes to bed one evening where things are normal, then the next day there's no electricity, then a couple of days after there's no running water, shops close and are looted for what little they have in them.
The Great Collapse is a very thought provoking book, could you live without electricity and batteries? Do you realise that water stations use computers/electricity to get the water to your tap? Its the unseen/unnoticed electricity uses that we would all miss the most. Sure you may live near a river/lake but would you know how to purify the water to drink it safely? Could you hunt and kill animals to eat? how would you survive with little medical care? There's no central heating to keep warm or air conditioning to keep cool. What about there being no police force any more as there's no communications network left.... its literally every man, woman, and child for themselves. Would you stay in your home? How would you get food? Would you travel to the rural areas with rivers and lakes and water? Would you survive?This book deals with these many questions and even more. It follows certain main characters and their efforts to in some cases fight their way back to their families and try to get to a safe place before the real madness begins!
The book has tales of kindness a former jail-mate who because of the EMP has escaped to take revenge on the man who in his opinion betrayed him to the law, so you would say this man is a bad man yet he does kindnesses along his journey, you follow his change within his physical journey.
The book also shows the bad where grown men hold knives to a young mothers throat for the food and water she has just found for her children.
You certainly see the good and bad in society.
You also follow the journey of the President of the america and his attempts with other men religious and theologists to save books and knowledge for the future when the EMP and The Effect has finally passed, though no one can truly say when that will be.
As you get further into the book you follow a group of people who have literally "met along the way" from escaping the city who are trying to build a homestead which by sheer luck really ends up turning into a small community.
I loved the descriptions, the characters, the suspense and danger. the feud between two characters that ends sadly. I loved the hope within the community that is in the processes of being built when you leave the story at the end of the book.
Would I recommend it YES! Would I read bk2 YES, WOULD LOVE TO.
I really enjoyed the feel of holding the decent sized paperback book that I had won from Librarything whilst reading this book. sure I enjoy kindle too, but you still yearn to hold an actual book!
I hope bk2 is not set too far in the future that you don't get to catch up with the people you have learnt to love in bk1,or their descendants, though obviously for "the effect" to have gone bk2 will have to be set quite a way ahead..... I still wish to read bk2 though to know what happened and what is still set to happen.
Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk £15.09 Paperback £13.58 on Kindle
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