Title: After The Fallout
Series: Survivors Of The New Dawn
Author: Grace Hamilton
Publisher: Relay Publishing
Genre: Post Apocalyptic, EMP
Release Date: 13th August 2025
BLURB
The world has gone dark. And now danger lurks in the shadows…
After a massive EMP attack cripples the West Coast, civilization collapses overnight. Claire’s only focus is finding her sister Lydia—before it’s too late. With chaos erupting around every corner, Claire is forced to team up with the last person she ever her ex-husband. But in a world without rules, trust is a luxury they can't afford.
Meanwhile, miles away in the remote wilderness, Lydia awakens in the wreckage of a plane crash—alone, injured, and pregnant. But this isn’t just any pregnancy. Lydia is carrying a child for one of the country’s most powerful and ruthless families... and now they want her back. Alive is optional.
Armed with nothing but the survival skills their father taught them, the sisters must navigate a landscape where the only thing more dangerous than nature is the people still left in it. Their reach the family’s old homestead and ride out whatever’s coming.
The road to each other is dangerous—but it’s the only one worth taking.
REVIEW
The cover depicts a scene from in the book quite well and is eye-catching enough to stand out on a book shelf in a store, so I think it does its job well.
I have read other books, different series by this author so I am always eager to check out anything new she releases, so was excited to start reading After The Fallout.
Lydia has been kidnapped and is shackled to the luxury airplane seat she is sitting in, relying on the kindness of a co-pilot for a sip of a drink. The brute of a guard who is watching her doesn’t care and even argues about removing her shackles to allow her to use the planes toilet. Lydia doesn’t think things can get any worse for her, she is pregnant, the baby she carries isn’t hers. She naively agreed to be a surrogate for the rich, powerful and ruthless Hartley family. They have decided they want her where they can see her and keep an eye on their baby. The brute of a guard finally relents and releases her from her constraints so she can go to the bathroom, Lydia looks around to see if there is anything useful that may later aid her escape but there is nothing of use, just when she thinks she is doomed, things go from bad to worse and the plane suddenly loses power and has to be crash landed into a lake in the wilderness. Lydia and the co-pilot survive the crash landing, now they need to survive the harsh landscape and get to civilisation, but with Lydia being 4 months pregnant and co-pilot Danny having an injured leg its going to be a slow and painful process. Lydia plans on getting to her father, Rob’s farm/homestead where she left her son Bobby.
Meanwhile Lydia’s sister Claire is at the divorce lawyers office with her soon to be ex-husband Alejandro, when suddenly the power goes off and there is chaos with a vehicle smashing through the lawyers office window heading towards Claire, but Alejandro pulls her aside and saves her. Claire has had a mysterious text from her sister from a plane and if all the powers and technology has stopped Claire worries her sister could be hurt and alone so she plans on going to find her. When Alejandro offers to come along she agrees but when he gets involved helping others around them she tells him she is going home to pack and she will not wait forever for him! Claire knows that when army veteran Alejandro see someone who needs help he finds it hard to walk on by. Claire also doesn’t know how Alejandro will cope with the surrounding chaos as he has PTAD from serving in Afghanistan. Claire sets off on her own and is attacked, a man called Malloy saves her just as Alejandro arrives on the scene. Malloy says he is a park ranger, is heading in the same direction and he will help them find Lydia. Of course Claire jumps at the offer, but Alejandro and his service dog, Dusty are wary of Malloy, wondering if he can really be trusted?
Rob Turner, Claire & Lydia’s father is well prepared for almost anything, he can easily live quite well off-grid. Rob is the type who keeps himself to himself but he eventually “warms up” to his teen grandson Bobby, teaching him how to do the many chores about the place. When the grid goes down and his somewhat irritating neighbour comes snooping around in his car that is still working, Rob gets rid of him, hiding the fact he is injured due to a recent fall whilst trying to repair a roof. He doesn’t want anyones pity, help or advice. However, when Bucks wife Sandra has a fall and is seriously hurt, he finds himself gathering his first aid supplies and patching her up as best he can. After this Buck & Sandra and Rob & Bobby create their own little family and could live quite happily but since the chaos theres a group in town who have formed a militia and taken over Big Eds shooting supplies, most of Allendale and seem to want to take over more of the area too. Initially Rob and his group try to keep their distance but when Sophia the daughter of the leader of the group turns out to be friends with Bobby via the homeschool network, they slowly become reeled in. Especially when Sophia turns up scared, battered, and bruised they immediately offer her a safe haven which of course ramps up the tension with her father and those on the Carrington Farm.
There is plenty of action and hardship such as the plane crash, bear attacks, lack of food and other dangers along the way. The two sisters manage to meet up along the way and finally make it to their father’s home just in time for the fight against the Carrington Farm Militia.
I really enjoyed reading this one, there’s plenty of likeable characters and some not so likeable. I hope I haven’t revealed too much about the book plot but without revealing some details it is difficult to review the book thoroughly. I hope this encourages you to read the book for yourselves. Though the characters do go through danger and hardships it isn’t all doom and gloom, I adored the nickname that Lydia has already given the baby she is carrying and becoming increasingly attached to, “Little Guac”. I adored the rekindling of the romance between Alejandro and Claire who were in the process of getting a divorce but due to the EMP crisis never signed the divorce papers. Theres also romance between Lydia & Danny and a teen romance on the horizon between Bobby and Sophia. I also loved the amusing, sometimes insulting banter between Buck and Rob who soon call a truce and become firm friends or as Buck insists become family after Rob & Bobby help Sandra. I agreed with Alejandros feeling towards Malloy I felt weird vibes from him even though he “saved” Claire, there was just something about him, you couldn’t quite put your finger on. Another character I had mixed feelings about was Agata, she immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion about Lydia, Danny, Claire and Alejandro and stalked them, warning shots are fired that then get out of hand and one character is shot and killed. Despite this Agata is asked if she wants to join them on their journey. In one way I wanted to hate Agata for killing an adored character, yet when she apologises and you look at things from her point of view and the circumstances they are all in you can’t help but feel a little sorry for her.
My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were that After The Fallout is a great start to another potentially enthralling post-apocalyptic series by Grace Hamilton.
Summing up the book has fantastic characters that you couldn’t help but become attached to. Theres both good and bad characters, some I was glad to see killed off, one was an accidental shooting and such a shame as it ended a budding romance for two characters. I really loved and enjoyed the family dynamics between Rob, Bobby, Lydia, Claire and Alejandro. Despite being the cause of one of my favourite characters demise I can’t help really liking Agata and can see her fitting in with the wider “family” group that includes Buck and Sandra.
I’m definitely eager to read more and am intrigued as to where the family will go if they leave the family farm, maybe back to Agata’s farm? Maybe there’s a romance on the horizon for Rob & Agata. At this stage in the series there are so many ways the plot can take the characters.
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