Title: After The Escape
Series: Survivors Of The New Dawn
Author: Grace Hamilton
Publisher: Relay Publishing
Genre: Post Apocalyptic, EMP, Disaster
Release Date: 14th JAnuary 2026
BLURB
After the world went dark, every road became a battlefield.
Before the global EMP shattered the grid and sent civilization spiralling into ruin, a single bullet could end a life. Now, it guarantees a slow, agonizing death. Rob is bleeding out in a world without doctors, medicine—or mercy. And time is running out.
Claire has one mission: find help—fast. But in a lawless wasteland crawling with killers, slavers, and scavengers, every step is a gamble. Worse still, the Carringtons are hunting them, and they won’t stop until Rob’s body is in the dirt.
When a brutal militia razes the last refuge the Taylors called home, they're forced to flee into the unknown, chasing desperate whispers of a hidden sanctuary deep in the wilds of Washington State.
Along the way, they encounter fellow survivors—each marked by trauma, each with their own secrets. Trust is rare. Mistakes are fatal. And as enemies close in from every direction, the Taylors must confront a brutal truth: to survive in this world, it’s not just about how far you’re willing to go…
It’s about what you’re willing to become.
REVIEW
The cover fits really well with the cover of bk1. This cover probably represents a scene from within the book. I’d guess that the people on the cover are Alejandro and Claire, who have come together and are slowly rekindled their relationship despite the fact they were at a lawyer’s office in the process of divorcing at the beginning of bk1 when everything in the world changed when the global EMP hit!!
The After The Escape timeline picks up right were it left off in After The Fallout.
Pregnant Lydia is out hunting rabbits with her teenaged son Bobby. Lydia is hoping that doing things together will encourage Bobby to open up and speak to her a little more. Lydia tries teasing him about his gun skills but the humour doesn’t land quite right with Bobby. They are then interrupted when they hear male voices…….Lydia and Bobby take cover and discover that it is a small team of Carrington Militia men obviously having been sent out to spy of the Taylors homestead, or what is left of it after the earlier battle. The men are talking about the Boss being eager to move onto the next part of his plan regarding the Taylors.
When Lydia and Bobby return to the homestead a meeting is called and it is decided that there is no other option but to leave. John Anderson and his Carrington Farm Militia Men easily outnumber them, so it would be suicide to stay and fight. The Taylors & their now extended family decide that travelling out on the roads in an effort to settle somewhere else is the lesser of two evils. They are well aware that there will be other gangs to contend with as well as the conditions being out on the road, but the decision is made. Before they totally leave the area, they decide to call at Buck and Sandra’s large home to gather supplies, hopefully find something to treat Rob’s gunshot wound and have a good night or twos rest before getting fully on the road. They think that John Anderson and his Carrington Farm men will attack the homestead and will not think of the Taylors group going to Buck’s house.
Meanwhile Anderson is injured from the battle at the Taylors homestead but he is angry and vengeful. He decides to raid nearby properties for anything useful and him and his gang come across the home of Buck and Sandra. Whilst ransacking the house John Anderson notices a photograph of Buck and Sandra which makes thing a bit more personal, it further inflames Andersons unstable irritation and he orders the house to be burnt to the ground despite pleas from his right-hand man Dirk to just take what they need and leave.
Dirk sneaks away from the Carrington Farm multiple times to plead with Sophia, John Anderson’s daughter, to just come back, that things will be different, he promises he will stand up to her father and help her. The Taylors make sure that Sophia knows she is welcome to stay with them and travel with them if that what she wants, despite them knowing that Anderson is likely to follow them in an attempt to grab back his daughter. Sophia chooses to travel with the Taylor family group.
Things take a turn for the worse when Rob collapses due to the gunshot wound being badly infected. There’s little choice but to risk going into town to visit Rob’s one other friend for help. Rob is treated with old, limited medication with both, Agata and Lydia foraging for herb to make herbal remedies to help fight the infection too. Though Rob hates the taste of the teas they make and the ointment/poultices they make sting he is willing to try anything and everything to fight the growing infection.
The Taylors are aware they are being followed by the increasingly desperate John Anderton and his Carrington Militia, they are also being tracked by bounty hunters employed by the Hartley’s to capture the now visibly pregnant Lydia as well as meeting strangers whilst on the road and the possibly disastrous choices of who to trust and who not to trust. The With nowhere in particular to go the Taylors decide to head to Agata’s distant relatives. Whilst on the road the Taylors hear about a ferry that takes them to a safe place where the army keeps peace etc. Agata disagrees and wants them to continue to her relatives but Alejandro thinks the ferry to a safer place is the better option and will put them further out of the reach of John Anderson & the Carrington Militia. The decision if put to the vote and all but Agata vote for the ferry. They meet up with a trio of travellers, Sam, his father Whiskey and his son Micah and continue their journey together. The trio seem trustworthy though Sam is reluctant to have any type of gun or weapon for fear of provoking other travellers they may meet, whilst the Taylors try to explain to him that a weapon is not just for offense, it is a deterrent and for defence if and when needed, though they do not try to force their views on him.
The characters face the larger threats and hurdles whilst dealing with other day to day issues and sometimes fraught relationships. The relationship between Bobby and Sophie continues to blossom. Sophie does consider turning herself over to her father but it soon becomes apparent her father would not let the Taylors simply leave even if Sophie sacrificed herself and returned to him. John Anderson is set on vengeance and he doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process.
Claire & Alejandro's love seems to be rekindling as they become closer and work together to protect the rest of their group, taking on more of the leadership whilst Rob is out of action. Lydia is rightfully so, fearful of who the Hartleys will send after her next and how far they are prepared to go to get her and the baby she is carrying.
Sam, Whiskey and Micah seem to integrate into the group well, but Sam soon becomes dangerously resentful of the fact the Taylors did not reveal they were being followed. Sam blames the Taylors for putting him, his son and his father in more danger but seems to forget that travelling in a larger group has in fact increased their safety. However, a hurt and angry Sam makes a huge mistake by making a deal with the enemy, but later puts his own life at risk to try and put that wrong, right again.
Though he isn’t the only putting their life on the line for a relative strange as when there is a crush on the docks and Micah is separated from his family, quickly becoming lost in the crowd, Bobby sees this and leaves his own family and rushes to save Micah from being trampled in the crush of people. Unfortunately, in doing so, he put himself firmly in the sights of a fever driven Murdoch who is set on revenge because Bobby shot him.
Such a lot happens in this book, there’s growing love between characters, the death of a character, betrayal and dangers at every turn to be dealt with. As the book ends the Taylors are wondering if they made the right decision as those in charge don’t seem to know what they are doing and there really aren’t enough of them to deal with any major assault or riot.
My immediate thoughts upon finishing reading After The Escape were, Oh wow! what an action-packed, nail biting, edge of your seat book! I loved it!
Summing up, I really enjoyed reading After The Escape. The loss of one of the main characters we were introduced to in bk1 was sad, but as the group quickly learns, if you want to survive, you have to move on quickly and grieve when you can. The group learn lessons about who they can and cannot trust, sometimes the hard way! As it states in the blurb the Taylors must confront a brutal truth: to survive in this world, it’s not just about how far you’re willing to go…
I can’t wait to read the next book!
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