The most realistic end-of-the-world scenario story continues …

In the first novel One Second After, the community of Black Mountain, NC loses all electrical power one day, and it never comes back. They soon realize it is also off everywhere in the United States, and possibly across the world. In that one second, the world has been thrown back into the technology of the early 20^th century. Read my review here.

Will Matherson, a retired U.S. Army colonel and college professor, gradually assumes leadership of the town. He speculates that the disaster was created by an EMP (electro-magnetic-pulse) created by either a solar flare, or was man-made. With no rescue coming, and no electricity, basic services disappear and soon the world descends into chaos.   

One Year After continues the saga of the Black Mountain community, on day 730 after “The Day.”  Matherson learns of a Federal government presence in Asheville, the closest large city, and meets Dale Fredericks, the Director of District Eleven. When Matherson is informed of the draft notices for the new Army of National Recovery the shadow totalitarian rule begins to creep into the story. Matheson and his community are forced to make a choice … throw in with a government they don’t know, or truly trust, or fight to keep their local community intact.

Like many middle books of a trilogy, One Year After, has a slightly unfinished feel. However, once again, William R. Forstchen has created an all-too-real scenario, that is part entertainment, part morality lesson, and part cautionary tale.