When all is said and done: Armageddon through the eyes of an eight year old

by Jack Strange

Eight-year-old Eric is playing with his red toy car in the basement when the explosion comes—a 500-kiloton nuclear warhead detonating four miles from his home. He survives the initial blast, but his parents are gone, his city is destroyed, and he doesn't understand that the gray ash falling like snow is killing him with every breath. Through Eric's innocent eyes and confused understanding, paired with unflinching scientific facts drawn from the work of Annie Jacobsen and nuclear weapons research, When all is said and done traces his final two weeks—from the moment he emerges into the rubble, through his desperate search for help, to his lonely death on hospital steps clutching the only thing from his world that still works. This is not a tale of heroism or hope. It is a factual, scientifically and medically accurate account of what actually happens to a child in a nuclear attack—and a stark warning that with over 12,000 nuclear weapons still in existence, Eric's story is not fiction waiting to happen, but a preview of a choice we refuse to make. We can continue to live on the edge of annihilation, or we can choose differently. The weapons exist. The targeting plans are ready. The question will we act before the bombs fall?

72 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2025

About the author

I'm a writer, these are my books:
http://mybook.to/ChefZombie
http://mybook.to/Zomcats
http://mybook.to/Thatchenstein
http://mybook.to/ConfessionsE
http://mybook.to/manchestervice

Take a look at my author pages with my publishers:
https://www.nextchapter.pub/authors/a...

I write as Jack D McLean. My books were originally written as Jack Strange then re-released as Jack D McLean novels.

I’ve had a very varied career.

Its included working in a morgue, digging holes for a living, shifting heavy things onto trucks and off them again, selling advertising space, writing press-releases, and being a Solicitor of the Supreme Court (in America you’d call that being a lawyer). I’ve done other stuff too.

My favourite authors include Russell H. Greenan, Jerzy Kosinski, Jim Thompson, and Simon Kernick (and a great many more – far too many to mention).
I enjoy parties and I keep myself fit.

I'm married with two adult daughters.
If you want to get in touch with me, you can email me at:
jack-strange@outlook.com
Or contact me on Twitter: @jackstrange11

How I rate books: I just rate them based on whether they had me turning the page. That's it. I don't break them down and analyse plotting, characterisation etc. Please note: there are lots of books out there that are perfectly good books, but I didn't like them. So if I give a book a bad review, don't take my word for it - read at least some of the book and exercise your own judgement!