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A harrowing look at all the things we take for granted, and how close we could be to a world without them.

What happens when a solar event (a happening which occurs on a smaller scale, constantly) , translates into an Earth-bound geomagnetic storm – of a fierceness and intensity large enough to threaten the global infrastructure proving our planets electrical power.

As the world descends into “before” and “after” the cataclysmic event triggering a world black-sky event, we follow the journey of three main protagonists.

• Aubrey Wheeler, a 37 year old divorcee, a practical, compassionate, somewhat unconventional spirit, who has, unexpectedly, been “gifted” parental rights to her sullen teenage stepson Scott.
• Thom Banning, a fortyish billionaire, who genius IQ is counterbalanced with both his tremendous ego, and his love for his sister Aubrey (with whom he shares a dark and distant secret). Thom is a somewhat fanatical planner, a controller, and a mastermind – talents which we all know can be leveraged for both good, or a misguided descent into evil.
• Rusty Wheeler – Aubreys ex-husband, once a successful contractor and now an addiction-raddled, raging and rapidly disintegrating bundle of impulses. Rusty is a wild-card and a beacon – a constant reminder of all that can (and will) go wrong in a world with no enforced structure or rules.

As the planet spirals into “then” and “now”, the author plots a chilling, thoughtful, intricately-layered world of possibilities, taking this dystopian story deep into tangential “communities” formed, how they reveal themselves, how they are led, and what their coalescing values look like.

And what emerges is a fascinating and deeply compelling tale, underpinned with a resounding message.

Are we so concerned with living life as it was (or is) that we forget to think about living as it might be?

Disruption at it’s finest, I loved this book, – a wild and not-too-implausible journey into the very boundaries of humanity, and what, at the end of it all, defines what really matters.

A great big thank you to @HarperCollinsCa for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.