One Second After by William R. Forstchen

Book 11 started, Book 10 finished

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

Published by Rosettabooks, 2012 (1953)

I went back and forth on this book.  It was well reviewed, Mr. Forstchen is a respected writer, and I disagree with his politics which are seen in this book.  So, I looked at it for a long time.   Then it went on sale on Amazon for $3 so I figured I’d give it a try.

This is the story of a small North Carolina town and what happens to it when an EMP burst takes out all electronics in North America.   It’s told from the perspective of one man, a retired Colonel, who is forced into the position of helping support the town first as part of the Town Council and later as their General while also trying to protect his family.

Now, EMP burst apocalypse stories are standard fair among a certain conservative set and many of them are quite shrill and full of Fine Upstanding Americans fighting off starving hordes of amoral big city liberals.  This doesn't do that nearly as much as some.  The main characters are all very conservative and there are pretty rude descriptions of liberals and how they might react to the event – elsewhere.  There are some portions where the author goes off on brief socio-political lectures, but they’re not screeds and they’re few and far between.

That aside, for the first 80% of the book, I thought this was decently written but not completely original.  I enjoyed it enough to keep reading but I wasn't loving it.   By the end, however, various characters are killed or otherwise die and I found myself very emotionally moved over their deaths.  So, the book did touch me on some level more than I thought it did.

Overall, it was well written and well edited even if I disagreed with much of the author’s positions.  It was enjoyable but not enough for me to continue to read his other books.

3 stars.