One Second After Book Review

William R. Forstchen's One Second After is a dramatic story of power and relationship. The game of trust tests the characters throughout the novel keeping the reader captivated through every chapter. Forstchen uses strong understandings of the extremes of war to create a truly shockingly dramatic must read.  

In the peaceful town of Black Mountain in North Carolina, a retired Army Colonel, John Matherson, is living a calm and pleasant life as a married professor with 2 young children. However one day the power goes and doesn't come back. All electricity, vehicles and communication shut down. At first the citizens of Black Mountain think it is just something common like a power cut, but after a few days they realize a disaster much more greater than that has occurred. They learn to find out that multiple EMP’s have gone off over the globe. The town of Black Mountain has been sent back to medieval times. Food supplies, water, medicine, communications and all utilities immediately stop. Strong leadership and community spirit can bring the small town of Black Mountain together or they can let it break apart.

My favourite part about the book were the lessons of survival it taught you. The novel questions you on your ability to survive without the modern equipment, such as what would you do if stranded a long way from resources, what skills do you have that would benefit you, who can you go to for help, how to deal with medical resources, can you use self defence, would you be able to hunt or farm and finally could you manage to look after others as well as yourself. I found these interesting as it showed you how unprepared we actually are and how big a part of our life electricity is.

The most shocking factor of the storyline is that all of it is very easily capable of happening. The shock value creates a real sense of fear for the reader throughout the novel. This is backed up by the Forstchen's use of realism in the novel. He puts you into the body of John Matherson making him feel and think how you are, as if the pages are reading your mind. This encourages the sense of fear in the reader even forcing them to go to the length of plotting their own survival tactics!