One Second After

One Second After by William Forstchen. I wanted to like it. EMP's are scary, and I'm sure the government is not sufficiently prepared in the event of one. Heck just a few years ago, I read an article about solar flares that would cause the same effect and we Americans were woefully ill prepared for it.

The bleak portrayal of the breakdown of society seemed pretty accurate to me. Our Norman Rockwell neighbors start to loot and steal from each other within the first day. These same people then joyously want to hang "Outsider" looters. Cannibals and crazy semi-religious cults spring up within the first 30 days. That sounds about right to me.

The problem I have is there is just too much asinine thought process in this book for me to be able to take the author seriously. And you can tell he really, really, really wants to be taken seriously. I am only going to give two examples, but this book is riddled with this crap.

Example one: The doctor who sits on the town council is concerned about refugees from the cities bringing "Exotic Diseases" into the community. His example of an exotic disease Hepatitis. I can state with some assurance that Hepatitis is not an exotic disease. This book was written in 2009. I started working in the healthcare industry in 2008 and at that time I was tested for the Hepatitis C virus. In 1992 I was vaccinated by my local health department for Hepatitis C. I grew up in western NY not some exotic foreign country. Any half assed Doctor in 2009 would have had experience with Hepatitis in some form.

Example two: So, the community is starving, our main character has suggested to the council that rations be cut to starvation levels for everyone who is not pregnant, a child, or part of the militia. The Doctor than explains that if they reduce rations anymore over half the community will starve. Our Hero is ok with that, but when the Mayor of the town, quite rightly suggests eating the dogs in the community, which are going feral due to a lack of food, our hero goes ape shit. He would rather see half the town starve than eat his dogs.

If you're looking for a good end of the world novel, skip One Second After and read Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle instead.