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The Disappearance #2
After America
March 14, 2003, was the day the world changed forever. A wave of energy slammed into North America and devastated the continent. The U.S. military, poised to invade Baghdad, was left without a commander in chief. Global order spiraled into chaos. Now, three years later, a skeleton U.S. government headquartered in Seattle directs the reconstruction of an entire nation—and the battle for New York City has begun.
Pirates and foreign militias are swarming the East Coast, taking everything they can. The president comes to the Declared Security Zone of New York and barely survives the visit. The enemy—whoever they are—controls Manhattan’s concrete canyons and the abandoned flatlands of Long Island. The U.S. military, struggling with sketchy communications and a lack of supplies, is mired in a nightmare of urban combat.
Caught up in the violence is a Polish-born sergeant who watches the carnage through the eyes of an intellectual and with the heart of a warrior. Two smugglers, the highborn Lady Julianne Balwyn and her brawny partner Rhino, search for a treasure whose key lies inside an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. Thousands of miles away, a rogue general leads the secession of Texas and a brutal campaign against immigrants, while Miguel Pieraro, a Mexican-born rancher, fights back. And in England, a U.S. special ops agent is called into a violent shadow war against an enemy that has come after her and her family.
The president is a stranger to the military mindset, but now this mild-mannered city engineer from the Pacific Northwest needs to make a soldier’s choice. With New York clutched in the grip of thousands of heavily armed predators, is an all-out attack on the city the only way to save it?
From the geopolitics of post-American dominance to the fallout of Israel’s nuclear strike, After America provides a gripping, intelligent, and harrowing chronicle of a world in the maw of chaos—and lives lived in the dangerous dawn of a strange new future.
Pirates and foreign militias are swarming the East Coast, taking everything they can. The president comes to the Declared Security Zone of New York and barely survives the visit. The enemy—whoever they are—controls Manhattan’s concrete canyons and the abandoned flatlands of Long Island. The U.S. military, struggling with sketchy communications and a lack of supplies, is mired in a nightmare of urban combat.
Caught up in the violence is a Polish-born sergeant who watches the carnage through the eyes of an intellectual and with the heart of a warrior. Two smugglers, the highborn Lady Julianne Balwyn and her brawny partner Rhino, search for a treasure whose key lies inside an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. Thousands of miles away, a rogue general leads the secession of Texas and a brutal campaign against immigrants, while Miguel Pieraro, a Mexican-born rancher, fights back. And in England, a U.S. special ops agent is called into a violent shadow war against an enemy that has come after her and her family.
The president is a stranger to the military mindset, but now this mild-mannered city engineer from the Pacific Northwest needs to make a soldier’s choice. With New York clutched in the grip of thousands of heavily armed predators, is an all-out attack on the city the only way to save it?
From the geopolitics of post-American dominance to the fallout of Israel’s nuclear strike, After America provides a gripping, intelligent, and harrowing chronicle of a world in the maw of chaos—and lives lived in the dangerous dawn of a strange new future.
465 pages, Hardcover
First published August 17, 2010
141 people are currently reading
757 people want to read
About the author
John Birmingham
78 books1,163 followersJohn Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He currently lives in Brisbane.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
July 11, 2014
The second installment of Birmingham's "The Disappearance" Trilogy and much like the first, it's a bit... meh. The characters from the first book are now a couple of years down the line and part of an America trying to rebuild itself after the devastation of The Wave.
About the only really interesting character was President Kipper who has to struggle with the realities of a collapsed economy, government structure and war with jihadist insurgence intent on settling the devastated and dead island of Manhattan.
Call me too liberal but I can't help but see the book as overtly racist. Every single Muslim in the book is a fundamentalist headcase intent on imposing Shira law wherever they have settled post wave. Just about every action take by a Muslim character is barbaric and designed to take the world back to the stone age.
And don't get me started on the friendly Polish soldier fighting his way to citizenship and his use of the moniker "nig-nogs" for backs/Muslims. I thought we'd left that kind of vernacular back in the 70's.
About the only really interesting character was President Kipper who has to struggle with the realities of a collapsed economy, government structure and war with jihadist insurgence intent on settling the devastated and dead island of Manhattan.
Call me too liberal but I can't help but see the book as overtly racist. Every single Muslim in the book is a fundamentalist headcase intent on imposing Shira law wherever they have settled post wave. Just about every action take by a Muslim character is barbaric and designed to take the world back to the stone age.
And don't get me started on the friendly Polish soldier fighting his way to citizenship and his use of the moniker "nig-nogs" for backs/Muslims. I thought we'd left that kind of vernacular back in the 70's.
April 19, 2019
3 stars.
This series suffers from being written as a series of independent threads, with 'at best,' marginal, tenuous cross-overs links.
There are elements, and characters I liked, especially Caitlan, and Jules. But, its a book I'll only ever read once.
This series suffers from being written as a series of independent threads, with 'at best,' marginal, tenuous cross-overs links.
There are elements, and characters I liked, especially Caitlan, and Jules. But, its a book I'll only ever read once.
July 9, 2012
Didn't see much need for this book. There are a few new characters and some revisited, but the majority of the book is a shoot-em-up military free for all.
There is no further development of the bubble and the people who disappeared. I was very disappointed and only finished the book (hoping for action in the ending) by mercilessly skipping through it.
Really disappointing - don't understand how this got so many good reviews.
There is no further development of the bubble and the people who disappeared. I was very disappointed and only finished the book (hoping for action in the ending) by mercilessly skipping through it.
Really disappointing - don't understand how this got so many good reviews.
September 25, 2023
For some reason, I had started this book instead of Without Warning. Anyway, I had read some of this and liked it. Then I got the trilogy and started from the start of the series. Book 2 finds the same characters, years later, eeking their existence from life that had consumed the United States. The characters showed some growth and some deliberate intertwining from shared experiences. For the most part, the book is good, and I liked it so much that I lost track of time when reading, which is always good. It's a good series and recommend it so far to check out.
July 5, 2016
Big fan of this whole series and wish John Birmingham would get back to it.
This is the second of two in a trilogy about a large part of the US being wiped out by an unexplained 'energy distortion'. Yeah, dumb premise, but an entertaining 'what if' - what if the USA just disappeared from the geopolitical landscape overnight?
Chaos reigns, of course, but chaos can be entertaining.
The third book of the series finished on a cliffhanger, so I want there to be a followup. Unfortunately Mr Birmingham is too busy these days as a mass media commentator and blogger, and has not been very productive lately regarding fiction.
He started a new series called 'Emergence' but unfortunately seems to have tried to copy another Aussie author called Mathew OReilly who just writes action books as though they were action movies. Emergence was Birmingham's attempt to do the same, and people either love it or hate if (check the reviews on Goodreads for example).
I hope he finishes up the fish and chips fodder that is the Emergence series and gets back to the geopolitical 'what if' game. He has done a great job of 'what if a US nuclear carrier task force was sent back in time' and 'what if the USA disappeared tomorrow' so I would love him to return to 'what if dot dot dot' with something a little more heavyweight that Emergence.
This is the second of two in a trilogy about a large part of the US being wiped out by an unexplained 'energy distortion'. Yeah, dumb premise, but an entertaining 'what if' - what if the USA just disappeared from the geopolitical landscape overnight?
Chaos reigns, of course, but chaos can be entertaining.
The third book of the series finished on a cliffhanger, so I want there to be a followup. Unfortunately Mr Birmingham is too busy these days as a mass media commentator and blogger, and has not been very productive lately regarding fiction.
He started a new series called 'Emergence' but unfortunately seems to have tried to copy another Aussie author called Mathew OReilly who just writes action books as though they were action movies. Emergence was Birmingham's attempt to do the same, and people either love it or hate if (check the reviews on Goodreads for example).
I hope he finishes up the fish and chips fodder that is the Emergence series and gets back to the geopolitical 'what if' game. He has done a great job of 'what if a US nuclear carrier task force was sent back in time' and 'what if the USA disappeared tomorrow' so I would love him to return to 'what if dot dot dot' with something a little more heavyweight that Emergence.
January 5, 2020
Upon reflection after finishing this book, I'm sad that not really anything of any substance happened. The time jump from the end of the first book until this book were a little jarring. And sure, story lines moved along at a good pace, and there was a rather satisfying climax, short as it was, but it still feels like every large shock is being saved for the last book in the series. I think I'm invested enough that I have to discover what happens to the main characters now.
July 17, 2022
DNF. I tried to like this book. It’s got a very interesting premise. There were pieces of brilliance but I had a hard time pulling them together. Each story on its own was interesting and maybe if I had pushed through they would have made sense.
September 15, 2012
Part two of John's Birmingham's Without Warning Series.
For people who listen to audio books, it is terrible to listen to one then the next right after it. It might be the same reader, but it has been years in his life and he never does the same voices that he did the first time. Oh well.
What to say about this book.
I liked it.
There were still some of the problems I had with the previous books, where the narrative skips around from point to point of view but the times do not mesh.
In one narrative the author makes a comment about a protagonist noticing the still snow bound trees in Texas, and within a few pages we have another character spending hours in New York City's waterways. It isn't till half-way through the book that we realize that the first narrative is taking 5 months in the past and there seems to be no good reason for the author to have hidden this from us.
Three of the view points are from characters that were main characters in the first Novel.
Juilanne Balwyn, an assassin of many names and the president, I won't mention his name here in case someone hasn't read the first novel.
We are also introduced to two people who were secondary characters but who now have bigger rolls in this book.
Miguel Pieraro who has his whole family killed in front of him and must escape Texas with his only remaining family member and a Polish Sergeant who is trying to stay alive and clean up New York.
I felt the Miguel storyline was the standout. His story had brought to mind passages of Lonesome Dove.
If you liked the first book then you will like this one. If you haven't read the first one, then stop and read it first.
For people who listen to audio books, it is terrible to listen to one then the next right after it. It might be the same reader, but it has been years in his life and he never does the same voices that he did the first time. Oh well.
What to say about this book.
I liked it.
There were still some of the problems I had with the previous books, where the narrative skips around from point to point of view but the times do not mesh.
In one narrative the author makes a comment about a protagonist noticing the still snow bound trees in Texas, and within a few pages we have another character spending hours in New York City's waterways. It isn't till half-way through the book that we realize that the first narrative is taking 5 months in the past and there seems to be no good reason for the author to have hidden this from us.
Three of the view points are from characters that were main characters in the first Novel.
Juilanne Balwyn, an assassin of many names and the president, I won't mention his name here in case someone hasn't read the first novel.
We are also introduced to two people who were secondary characters but who now have bigger rolls in this book.
Miguel Pieraro who has his whole family killed in front of him and must escape Texas with his only remaining family member and a Polish Sergeant who is trying to stay alive and clean up New York.
I felt the Miguel storyline was the standout. His story had brought to mind passages of Lonesome Dove.
If you liked the first book then you will like this one. If you haven't read the first one, then stop and read it first.
August 23, 2013
After reading "Without Warning" I couldn't let too much time pass by before I read the next in the trilogy. In "Without Warning" the apocalypse has happened, at least for North America. Birmingham built up a plausible world of chaos and survival. In "After America" we are three years into that post-apocalyptic world. The US has been virtually emptied of all human life, great destruction has occurred, now it is time for something to fill that vacuum. Once again John Birmingham does a very plausible job of painting one possible way things would develop... and it's not a nice world. It is unsafe, violent, full of fanatical extremists trying to establish their own fiefdoms and of a rump US trying to create some sort of stability in a world where it is no longer number one.
I found this to be a very thrilling ride with just enough variation of pace to keep the various storylines running and keeping my attention riveted on the page. There were times it read like a war novel, others when it read like a spy novel, but there were also times when it was very much in the post-apocalypse genre. I would give this book five stars but I'm trying to reserve those for truly mind-boggling stuff... This was a close-run thing. I can't wait to read the next in the series....
I found this to be a very thrilling ride with just enough variation of pace to keep the various storylines running and keeping my attention riveted on the page. There were times it read like a war novel, others when it read like a spy novel, but there were also times when it was very much in the post-apocalypse genre. I would give this book five stars but I'm trying to reserve those for truly mind-boggling stuff... This was a close-run thing. I can't wait to read the next in the series....
June 6, 2012
While the first book in this series, "Without Warning", had an ending which wrapped up the plot lines of the book, but left enough intrigue to get the reader to continue, this is definitely the middle book of the trilogy. By that I mean that while a reader could work out what's going on without having read book one (although with some difficulty), the story does not have any type of ending in this book - that is presumably to come in book three.
Birmingham writes with his usual style and pace, and he knows his subject when it comes to the modern military. He has pared the cast down from book one, some permanently, some because their story was not relevant to the ongoing events in this part of the trilogy. This, to me at least, had the effect of providing fewer "natural" pausing places, as one becomes more invested in the characters that do feature. The story picks up about 3 years after the ending of the first book and covers a relatively brief period (a few weeks at most) as opposed to the year covered in the first book.
Birmingham writes with his usual style and pace, and he knows his subject when it comes to the modern military. He has pared the cast down from book one, some permanently, some because their story was not relevant to the ongoing events in this part of the trilogy. This, to me at least, had the effect of providing fewer "natural" pausing places, as one becomes more invested in the characters that do feature. The story picks up about 3 years after the ending of the first book and covers a relatively brief period (a few weeks at most) as opposed to the year covered in the first book.
December 21, 2016
After America. John Birmingham
This is an extraordinary novel of perseverance, survival, never taking the easy way out of just giving up. Only the strong will survive. The world is in chaos after a chemical attack decimated it. Some areas were hit, killing. It's inhabitants instantly. Other areas untouched. America has a new president, but others are fighting to squash his authority. Isalmic terrorist cells are fighting to control New York, aided by other mercenaries. Texas wants to control and is an obstacle to the President. This is an amazing read!!! I highly recommend!!! Another feather in Birminghams cap!!!
This is an extraordinary novel of perseverance, survival, never taking the easy way out of just giving up. Only the strong will survive. The world is in chaos after a chemical attack decimated it. Some areas were hit, killing. It's inhabitants instantly. Other areas untouched. America has a new president, but others are fighting to squash his authority. Isalmic terrorist cells are fighting to control New York, aided by other mercenaries. Texas wants to control and is an obstacle to the President. This is an amazing read!!! I highly recommend!!! Another feather in Birminghams cap!!!
June 15, 2025
Sluggish alternative "future" history epic about disinteresting, disconnected people I cared nothing about
John Birmingham is an Australian novelist who writes postmodern lifestyle comedies set in Australia, sci-fi space operas set in outer space, and alternative histories one of which is the "Disappearance" series of which this is Book Two (Book One is Without Warning). He really likes to write trilogies, I suppose, because, judging by how I feel about this one, he doesn't focus on a single story arc long enough to make a simple soul like me give a care about the characters or the plot. Birmingham is a competent writer, but the emphasis is on clever world building, not clever storytelling or characterization.
Dang, I almost ALWAYS love anything about the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it (TEOTWAWKI). But this one didn't work for me.
Sheesh... okay, full disclosure: I did not finish this. Wouldn't for all the tea in Sydney (if that were what Australians drank). This one was like walking on a treadmill staring into a blank wall without a screen to watch or a person to talk to... or even look at.
And calling this an alternative history is weird. It's a speculative novel about a future without an American Superpower due to a mysterious "disappearance" of most of the people in the United States that leads to a collapse of the global order (and an Indian-Pakistan War, a civil war in China, a revolution in France, an invasion of NYC by jihadist pirates, and an immigrant purge in an economically dysfunctional UK...among other things). But that's how some describe it. Maybe because the Disappearing Event takes place around the same time as Y2K and the author isn't going to change the timeframe or something... I don't know. And maybe as the first book in the series, Without Warning, sold fairly well, Birmingham decided to drag it along into the future a bit. For the publisher. Maybe.
Anyway, I know some fan will chastise me for starting the trilogy in the middle instead of getting all the backstory in Without Warning, but this 2011 Del Rey Mass Market paperback doesn't give a hint about this "trilogy" until you are well on your way... slugging it out in the mud of four or five story arcs about people you don't know... or care for.
(Or because Book Three wasn't written yet? Or because Del Rey was hedging its bets on sales?)
Synopsis: America is fragmented. Millions have vanished in an event eerily similar to the Christian Rapture or Dean Koontz's The Taking. NYC is under attack by African Pirates. Texas is an autonomous region called the Texas Republic that is run by a duly elected strongman we are told is a bad guy (and his followers are called "Republicans".... hmmmm.... our Aussie friend was researching this by watching Stephen Colbert or reading Rolling Stone articles for that hip, anti-George W. Bush stuff that resonated with the cool NYC literary crowd circa 2008). The new US president is named Kipper, a conflicted western American liberal type who was a city engineer from Seattle (uh, sure) before being elected President of the diminished United States. Good immigrants, encouraged to migrate from overseas to Texas by the good President Kipper, are being savagely persecuted by rednecks and the Texas State Defense Force (uh-oh!). An American female secret agent boss girl living in the UK rescues her emasculated US-Airborne-Ranger-turned-UK-commune-farmer from some bad guys who want HER dead. Can I stop now?
This book is an un-thrilling thriller and an unsuspenseful suspense novel with unrealistic action scenes. According to author John Birmingham, the bad guys are armed with "cutting edge" Type 56 rifles (Chinese AK-47s which haven't been cutting edge since the Tet Offensive). And Birmingham's bio says he was a researcher once for the Australian Defence Force? Not good, John!
Zero character development here--again, I will be chastised for skipping Book One -- but I LIKE a little descriptive prose and third person POV once in a while so my brain has something for my imagination to digest, and my heart can decide to love, hate or be curious about the people who populate the story and the places the story takes them. This book is long on telling, long on disinteresting scenes, and I get it, Birmingham is going after a world-building for his alternative speculative reality and that means covering the map with people and story arcs. But too much of that without an interesting plot or interesting characters is not interesting.
Here is a tip: Read Dean Koontz's The Taking instead. Now THAT is a great, eerie, suspenseful, end-of-the-world novel I HIGHLY recommend.
But if you LOVED Birmingham's predecessor novel, Without Warning, then by all means, read this to find out more about the people from that novel.
I warned you.
John Birmingham is an Australian novelist who writes postmodern lifestyle comedies set in Australia, sci-fi space operas set in outer space, and alternative histories one of which is the "Disappearance" series of which this is Book Two (Book One is Without Warning). He really likes to write trilogies, I suppose, because, judging by how I feel about this one, he doesn't focus on a single story arc long enough to make a simple soul like me give a care about the characters or the plot. Birmingham is a competent writer, but the emphasis is on clever world building, not clever storytelling or characterization.
Dang, I almost ALWAYS love anything about the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it (TEOTWAWKI). But this one didn't work for me.
Sheesh... okay, full disclosure: I did not finish this. Wouldn't for all the tea in Sydney (if that were what Australians drank). This one was like walking on a treadmill staring into a blank wall without a screen to watch or a person to talk to... or even look at.
And calling this an alternative history is weird. It's a speculative novel about a future without an American Superpower due to a mysterious "disappearance" of most of the people in the United States that leads to a collapse of the global order (and an Indian-Pakistan War, a civil war in China, a revolution in France, an invasion of NYC by jihadist pirates, and an immigrant purge in an economically dysfunctional UK...among other things). But that's how some describe it. Maybe because the Disappearing Event takes place around the same time as Y2K and the author isn't going to change the timeframe or something... I don't know. And maybe as the first book in the series, Without Warning, sold fairly well, Birmingham decided to drag it along into the future a bit. For the publisher. Maybe.
Anyway, I know some fan will chastise me for starting the trilogy in the middle instead of getting all the backstory in Without Warning, but this 2011 Del Rey Mass Market paperback doesn't give a hint about this "trilogy" until you are well on your way... slugging it out in the mud of four or five story arcs about people you don't know... or care for.
(Or because Book Three wasn't written yet? Or because Del Rey was hedging its bets on sales?)
Synopsis: America is fragmented. Millions have vanished in an event eerily similar to the Christian Rapture or Dean Koontz's The Taking. NYC is under attack by African Pirates. Texas is an autonomous region called the Texas Republic that is run by a duly elected strongman we are told is a bad guy (and his followers are called "Republicans".... hmmmm.... our Aussie friend was researching this by watching Stephen Colbert or reading Rolling Stone articles for that hip, anti-George W. Bush stuff that resonated with the cool NYC literary crowd circa 2008). The new US president is named Kipper, a conflicted western American liberal type who was a city engineer from Seattle (uh, sure) before being elected President of the diminished United States. Good immigrants, encouraged to migrate from overseas to Texas by the good President Kipper, are being savagely persecuted by rednecks and the Texas State Defense Force (uh-oh!). An American female secret agent boss girl living in the UK rescues her emasculated US-Airborne-Ranger-turned-UK-commune-farmer from some bad guys who want HER dead. Can I stop now?
This book is an un-thrilling thriller and an unsuspenseful suspense novel with unrealistic action scenes. According to author John Birmingham, the bad guys are armed with "cutting edge" Type 56 rifles (Chinese AK-47s which haven't been cutting edge since the Tet Offensive). And Birmingham's bio says he was a researcher once for the Australian Defence Force? Not good, John!
Zero character development here--again, I will be chastised for skipping Book One -- but I LIKE a little descriptive prose and third person POV once in a while so my brain has something for my imagination to digest, and my heart can decide to love, hate or be curious about the people who populate the story and the places the story takes them. This book is long on telling, long on disinteresting scenes, and I get it, Birmingham is going after a world-building for his alternative speculative reality and that means covering the map with people and story arcs. But too much of that without an interesting plot or interesting characters is not interesting.
Here is a tip: Read Dean Koontz's The Taking instead. Now THAT is a great, eerie, suspenseful, end-of-the-world novel I HIGHLY recommend.
But if you LOVED Birmingham's predecessor novel, Without Warning, then by all means, read this to find out more about the people from that novel.
I warned you.
April 24, 2021
The first book in this series explores what happens after some strange and never explained phenomena called, 'The Wave' kills all people in the US and parts of Canada and Mexico. It explores what happens in a world without the United States. This book, takes place five years later, shortly after 'The Wave' disappears and people are recolonising where it was.
I like these books as they continue to surprise me. The world without the US is an interesting concept, as is how it would be recolonised. I have heard that there is a third book in the series, so I wonder what will happen next.
Most of the characters are from the first book and, as Birmingham's books do, he has several point of view characters that the reader sees events through. It's a good story telling method as if you are not terribly invested in one character or plot, it will change after a dozen or so pages anyway. All of the characters are interesting and well rounded with strengths and weaknesses, most of them in situations that they find very hard.
The antagonists are realistic with schemes that some consider good or just, although they are happy to do terrible things in order to achieve them. However, as in the last book, the environment almost seems to be an antagonist on its own.
One of my few complaints is that the book ends very suddenly without a lot of true resolutions, obviously leading to the next in the series.
I like these books as they continue to surprise me. The world without the US is an interesting concept, as is how it would be recolonised. I have heard that there is a third book in the series, so I wonder what will happen next.
Most of the characters are from the first book and, as Birmingham's books do, he has several point of view characters that the reader sees events through. It's a good story telling method as if you are not terribly invested in one character or plot, it will change after a dozen or so pages anyway. All of the characters are interesting and well rounded with strengths and weaknesses, most of them in situations that they find very hard.
The antagonists are realistic with schemes that some consider good or just, although they are happy to do terrible things in order to achieve them. However, as in the last book, the environment almost seems to be an antagonist on its own.
One of my few complaints is that the book ends very suddenly without a lot of true resolutions, obviously leading to the next in the series.
February 4, 2023
I enjoyed this a lot. Despite a two year gap since reading the first novel (I've been busy OK, lay off!) I soon picked up the threads again: we're three years after "The Wave", a mysterious surge of energy that depopulated most of North America. We alternate chapters between half a dozen characters, mostly familiar from the previous, with a couple of newbies. There are Mexican immigrants struggling to build a life in Texas, the new US President trying to rebuild the country and a pair of chancers looking to strike it reach in a war-ravaged New York.
The tone varies from tragedy to knockabout fun, with a dash of satire thrown in, but I found it a great mix. Caitlin, the kick-ass superspy, is a standout for me, and her mission includes lots of revenge-driven action. I had to google a lot of the hardware (M4s, PP-2000 etc). My internet search history may well trigger an anti-terrorist investigation. The English aristocrat Lady Julianne and her partner in (not-quite-but nearly) crime Rhino are also great fun.
It finishes a tad suddenly for me, and I would have liked something on the origins of The Wave. I realise I may be disappointed with this, the Wave just a plot device to imagine how the world would react if the USA haters were granted their wish. I will definitely be returning for the finale and won't leave it so long this time. This is shaping up to be a terrific trilogy, a satisfying blend of military action, dystopian thriller and Western adventure.
The tone varies from tragedy to knockabout fun, with a dash of satire thrown in, but I found it a great mix. Caitlin, the kick-ass superspy, is a standout for me, and her mission includes lots of revenge-driven action. I had to google a lot of the hardware (M4s, PP-2000 etc). My internet search history may well trigger an anti-terrorist investigation. The English aristocrat Lady Julianne and her partner in (not-quite-but nearly) crime Rhino are also great fun.
It finishes a tad suddenly for me, and I would have liked something on the origins of The Wave. I realise I may be disappointed with this, the Wave just a plot device to imagine how the world would react if the USA haters were granted their wish. I will definitely be returning for the finale and won't leave it so long this time. This is shaping up to be a terrific trilogy, a satisfying blend of military action, dystopian thriller and Western adventure.
November 7, 2017
This series isn't bad. It is an interesting scenario, anyhow, a 'what if" plot that supposes America is hit by a mysterious event that somehow kills all the people (and certain other mammals) in most of the USA, Canada, and Mexico. It is at least quite honest in how it treats the possibilities, refreshingly not sparing any group for fear of offending them, and it is quite honest in showing exactly how much of the world might really act if this ever happened.
My major complaint with the first two novels in the trilogy that I have read so far? The usual jingoistic rah rah America attitudes of many of the characters, as well as the absolutely annoying insistence of certain characters for nitpicking about things that I cannot help but see as ridiculous in the situation we are supposed to believe in here. Constant harping about tiny details in the constitution, and the arrogance of killing large amounts of people because they supposedly just must recapture New York City. That center of the universe attitude might fly in this reality we live in, but in the context in these novels it just looks stupid and, well, arrogant.
Decent plotting, though, and it is interesting enough to make me overlook the flaws because of wanting to see what happens next. Therefore I will definitely be trying book three as soon as I get a hold of it.
My major complaint with the first two novels in the trilogy that I have read so far? The usual jingoistic rah rah America attitudes of many of the characters, as well as the absolutely annoying insistence of certain characters for nitpicking about things that I cannot help but see as ridiculous in the situation we are supposed to believe in here. Constant harping about tiny details in the constitution, and the arrogance of killing large amounts of people because they supposedly just must recapture New York City. That center of the universe attitude might fly in this reality we live in, but in the context in these novels it just looks stupid and, well, arrogant.
Decent plotting, though, and it is interesting enough to make me overlook the flaws because of wanting to see what happens next. Therefore I will definitely be trying book three as soon as I get a hold of it.
March 13, 2021
A strong second book in the trilogy. Rich characters and their interweaving experiences. I liked the chapter changes between characters and locations. The violence is visceral. Found myself looking up the weapons on google - how sad is that? The concept of the story with the initial destruction of most of the US in the coming of the ‘wave’ is well handled. The local as well as the global implications are believable. I ordered this book whilst finishing the first and have done the same with the final book. Excellent👍
May 30, 2024
Recommended just to continue the series.
This seemed a slog. It took me two weeks to read - I just couldn't get invested with the characters, the situations they were in or the plot. No dramatic tension, very little exciting action, and a great deal of detailed post Wave world building description which made my mind glaze over.
In the afterword the author stated he had broken his arm two weeks into the beginning of writing this book. It slowed and disrupted the writing process. I wonder if it also had something to do with the deadening quality of the story.
This seemed a slog. It took me two weeks to read - I just couldn't get invested with the characters, the situations they were in or the plot. No dramatic tension, very little exciting action, and a great deal of detailed post Wave world building description which made my mind glaze over.
In the afterword the author stated he had broken his arm two weeks into the beginning of writing this book. It slowed and disrupted the writing process. I wonder if it also had something to do with the deadening quality of the story.
October 6, 2023
Oddly intriguing. At times, it feels very dated with references to « current » political figures. And then often somewhat prescient with behavior of the book characters similar to the current MAGA nonsense. ( you sit back and think — people would behave like this if faced with an apocalyptic event). Dark and violent, but that would come with the territory. And of course, leaves done issues unresolved to hook you into book 3. Appropriate for a beach read.
October 27, 2020
I really enjoyed the perspective of this book, the fact that the author doesn’t try to explain the cause of the bubble that is the starting element of this book, but spends more time focusing on the results. It was an interesting take to see what he thinks might happen with the governments, The climate, and the effects To the rest of the world and the conflicts that it causes. Very good read!
December 22, 2017
OK so reading the second book of a series without reading the first one isn't the best choice--it's what I did. On its own, it is a fine techno/political thriller. Nothing too memorable, but a fine read.
September 30, 2017
'After America' flowed on nicely from the first book. If you like action this book is for you.The concept is totally believable in the current political climate. Who would move in/up if America was militarily weakened. Looking forward to Book 3 'Angels of Vengeance'.
November 26, 2018
The first book of the series, Without Warning, was far superior.
It is almost like another author showed up and felt the need to add politically correct sensitivities to water down a wonderful concept.
Still interesting enough to get 3 stars.
It is almost like another author showed up and felt the need to add politically correct sensitivities to water down a wonderful concept.
Still interesting enough to get 3 stars.
January 4, 2019
Dire. Set in a New York which is partly under water as a result of rise in sea levels caused by global warming. An Arab group are the baddies. Surprise, surprise. Pandering to stereotypes. Gave up a third of the way in.
July 21, 2019
This is a very good follow up to the first book. Many similar characters from the first book, with many stories occurring at the same time, and intersecting. I like these people, and the world they find themselves in is very clever, and challenging. I will read book 3.
April 8, 2020
This is the second book of the trilogy and continued from where the previous book left. After the wave, the battle for control has bgun. US has a new president with much lower number of armed forces. The author has been quite imaginative in the series so far. I would go for the third book as well.
May 19, 2022
The mystery field that cut off 90% of the United States and killed everyone within it has fallen. The destruction inside this enormous area is complete and so is the opportunity for plunder both internally and from external forces.
March 10, 2025
I did not know this was book #2. It explained the lack of resolution at the end. It was a ripping yarn regardless
After America seemed topical.
Cheesy American against Muslim state building after nuclear attack.
Has wetbacks as a primary theme and state building
After America seemed topical.
Cheesy American against Muslim state building after nuclear attack.
Has wetbacks as a primary theme and state building
November 5, 2017
Entertaining and fast paced
Good sequel to Without Warning. Less humorous and grittier but still good fun. Great ideas about how a post apocalyptic world would look.
Good sequel to Without Warning. Less humorous and grittier but still good fun. Great ideas about how a post apocalyptic world would look.
June 30, 2018
This didn't work for me as a standalone book. I may put the first one on hold at the library, because I didn't hate the writing style.
October 30, 2018
Memorable for an extended and boring battle for some of the ex-USA. What could have been a wide spanning feast of ideas becomes mired too much in overlong battle scenes, plus weapons porn.
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