I had the opportunity to listen to Ilsa Bick talk about this book at the Anderson’s Bookshop Young Adult Literature Conference. According to the author everything that she talks about in this book that is scientific is possible and the technology exists for it to take place. SCARY! This woman has been a major in the Air Force, a surgeon, a child psychologist, a film scholar, and is now an author living in rural Wisconsin. WOW!
Alex has run away and is hiking in Michigan. Her parents were killed a couple of years ago and now Alex has an inoperable brain tumor. She has taken her father’s Glock, some supplies, and her parents’ ashes to spread on the shores of Lake Superior. She has just met Jack, his granddaughter Ellie, and Mina (their dog). Suddenly Jack is pressing both hands to his temples, Mina is completely rigid, and Alex feels like a laser has scorched her brain – there has been a high intensity electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
When Alex awakes from this experience, she has acquired a heightened sense of smell, something she had lost due to the brain tumor. Jack is dead so Alex has to take 8-year-old Ellie and Mina with her. Now begins the adventure in a world that is totally changed. Nothing electronic works anymore; no cell phones, computers, cars, etc. Alex is on a quest to survive in a world where everyone is desperate and some have become zombies.
I didn’t know if I would like this book, but I really found it fascinating and something I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. This is the first book in what is to be a trilogy.
