One Second After (John Matherson Trilogy) by William R Forstchen

Paperback: One Second After (2009) is the story of a man's struggle to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war that sends our nation back to the Dark Ages. A war lost because of a terrifying weapon, an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Months before the book's publication in 2009, One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read. It has been discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a realistic look at EMPs and their awesome ability to send catastrophic shockwaves throughout the United States, literally within seconds. 

EMPs are a weapon that The Wall Street Journal warned could shatter our nation. In the tradition of On the Beach, FailSafe and the movie Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future and our end. 

One Second After is the first instalment in the John Matherson trilogy. The other two are One Year After (2015) and The Final Day (2017) although the latest news is that this series may possibly surpass its three-book limitation as it is becomes more likely that there will be a fourth volume entitled Five Years After to be published sometime this year or the next. Watch this space!

About the author: William R Forstchen holds a PhD in History from Purdue University, with specializations in military history and the history of technology. He is currently a Faculty Fellow and Professor of History at Montreat College, near Asheville North Carolina. He is the author of more than forty books, including the New York Times bestselling novels Gettysburg and Pearl Harbour (coauthored with Newt Gingrich), as well as the award-winning young-adult novel We Look Like Men of War. He has also authored numerous short stories and articles about military history and military technology. His interest include Mongolian archaeology research, and he owns and flies an original World War II "recon bird." Dr Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina, with his teenage daughter, Meghan, and their small pack of golden retrievers and yellow labs. 

Rating: 5/5