Oh, post apocalyptic novels, how I love thee. What kind of phase is this? I can’t seem to get enough. (I am getting killer tips for prepping and food storage though, ha ha.) One Second After covers the fall of American civilization as we know it after an electromagnetic pulse blast (or EMP.) The book follows John Matherson, an ex military man who currently teaches history at the local college, his family, and their small city in North Carolina. The effects of an EMP blast would fry any electronics in a very large radius including car electronics, home electronics, national power grid, communications, etc etc.

Imagine America suddenly being thrust back into the nineteenth century. Everything is very quickly in short supply as the massively fragile web of distribution across the country goes down. Neighbors turn on neighbors and martial law is enforced. Tough decisions are faced as John increasingly takes on a more prominent roll in the community and tries to navigate crime, punishment, outside threats, starvation, and the increasingly dire prognosis for his diabetic daughter. I found this novel balanced with just the right amount of large scale crisis and drama while dealing with everyday impact and personal choices. Not to sound like a horrible human being, but I found this scenario quite frightening just for the fact that no people are actually killed from the high altitude EMP blast. While most post apocalyptic books wipe out a LARGE percentage of the population in the initial attack, with an EMP everyone survives and will have to struggle through the second stage of the catastrophe and resulting die off. I noticed the film rights were sold to Warner Brothers so I will keep an eye out for the eventual release of the movie.