One Second After, by William Forstchen

"This story is so....Republican," my husband commented when we'd gotten about a quarter of the way through the book.

We're listening to the audio version of One Second After, and my husband is right; it is a Republican take on what life would be like after an EMP hit the United States and wiped out everything that runs on electricity.

The setup is great; one afternoon, without warning, everything that runs on electricity simply stops working. Just like a blackout - except that anything that depends on computer chips dies, too; airplanes crash, cars stop on the highway, even generators don't work.

Things get grim, fast - think Katrina on steroids - and Forstchen launches into a description of every nasty result.

He doesn't always get the reaction he'd like. I laughed when the townspeople decided to put to death two druggies who filched morphine from the local old-age home. Sure, it could happen, but I could just picture the Republican glee as Forstchen wrote it; "Finally - capital punishment for all criminals!!!" (Cackling laughter).

I honestly don't know whether to recommend this book or not. It is what it is; a summer novel - a fun read if you like to think that the future is going to suck.

Hmmm - now there's a recommendation.