It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom?a young soldier?and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it?s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

This book has been on my radar since its release.  I’m really glad I experienced the book via audio. The narrator, Katherine Kellgren, was annoying in the beginning. Her voice has a strange pitch to it and I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to deal. However, it didn’t take her long to prove to me that she does her job well. She did so fantastic with the different voices and personalities that we meet throughout this story. Most of all, her intensity during action scenes was off the charts. I think she almost gave me a heart attack a few times. I was literally on the edge of my seat. Or, since I mainly listened to it while doing cardio, I was on the edge of the crossramp, eliptical, treadmill, *insert crappy cardio machine here*. That could’ve resulted in injury on my part, but lucky for me, I was gripping the machines tightly during those scenes.

The prologue completely confused me, but it made sense as the story progressed and I learned more about Alex, our 17-year-old protagonist. The world was interesting to discover. After the electromagnetic pulse that kills off much of the population, human and otherwise, occurs in the beginning of the book, Alex finds herself confronting the end of days. The people who are spared from meeting the grim reaper are either struggling to survive or devouring the living. The zombie piece of the book was not huge, and the zombies are different from your typical walking, hungry meat sack. The appear to posses some intelligence, and can either adapt or learn. Not a great scenario for the living.

Alex has had a traumatic life. She is very mature for her age, due to her personal experiences, and it shows throughout the story. Carrying around sorrow, grief and guilt, she sets off on a cathartic mountain adventure that turns ugly. I felt for her situation immediately, and wanted to hug her and offer my friendship. She is a little abrasive in the beginning, but I understood why she remained so cutoff from other people. When she finally begins to open her heart, it was really beautiful to experience. She may have  a hard time getting close and intimate with people, but when she lets you in, she loves you hard. She’s very perceptive and intuitive, easily picking up on things that others seem to ignore.

Ellie is an 8-year old girl who just so happens to find her way into Alex’s life after the EMP goes off. Ellie has also had a traumatic life and does not warm up to Alex for some time. She was an absolute brat, one that you want to shake repeatedly, but her behavior was easy to connect to her experiences. She was in the same boat as Alex, and Ellie was testing her to ensure she would stick around. Both ladies endured major losses even before the EMP, so their bond grows strong as they let each other in. Tom comes into the picture later, and I immediately loved him. He is strong, level-headed and loyal. He protects Alex and Ellie and welcomes them into his life with abandon. A slow burning romance develops between Tom and Alex, and then it is ripped away by an event that changed everything about this story. He is a character I pray to see more of in the second book!

The first half of the book unites Alex, Ellie and Tom. This trio becomes very close and endure a lot of WTFckery. However, a certain event changes the entire story! Alex finds herself alone and ventures into a small town that reminds me of the Governor’s township in The Walking Dead. It appears all “let’s rebuild and save humanity” on the outside, but there has to be something more sinister happening behind closed doors. As we know with post-apocalyptic scenarios, humans are at their worst and often pose more of a threat than the monsters chasing you. It is no different with this story, though the cliffhanger at the ending was not one I was expecting.

The story loses a lot of momentum once the plot changes from the trio on the run to Alex living in this township. And, it was just plain weird! It was really jarring and completely broke down the awesome pace and story line. I did not mind the township arc, but it just did not match where it felt the first half of the story was headed. It felt like the author got derailed or lost focus. That being said, I still enjoyed the book, though I did lose my enthusiasm halfway through.

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With the help of her new companions, the path Kansas follows leads to more knowledge of the ever adapting famished. The team finds help in unlikely places, meeting more survivors, and discovers the possibility of a new beginning. When the team experiences a devastating loss, Kansas struggles to keep her humanity from fading and distorting like that of the surviving society around her. It begins with knowing who to trust and who to leave behind. First, she must trust herself ? she won’t make the same mistakes twice. As the answers to her questions are revealed, Kansas begins to understand the knowledge comes with a heavy price and great responsibility of controlling the dead. In a trilogy plot thick with twists and turns, this adult dark fantasy is as emotional as it is horrifyingly gripping.

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