Out of all the end-of-the-world type books that I’ve read, this one scared me the most by far.  Not because it was the most violent, gruesome or death filled, but because it was the most real.  Most of these books contain some fantastical characters, some huge, unimaginable nuclear disaster, or other elements that keep the story removed from reality.  In Forsthcen’s book, the only disaster is that the electricity goes out.  And society falls apart in a matter of days.

Forstchen intended his book to be a warning about EMP’s, which terrorists could use to silently destroy anything that has a computer chip in it–cell phones, cars, communications, computers, radios, planes, etc.  At times, it reads a bit stiff and preachy.  But over all, it was fast paced, exciting, frightening, and kept me awake at night for a week.