One Second After

De: William R. Forstchen

Narrado por: Joe Barrett

A post-apocalyptic thriller of the after effects in the United States after a terrifying terrorist attack using electromagnetic pulse weapons.

In a small North Carolina town, one man struggles to save his family after America loses a war that will send it back to the Dark Ages.

Already cited on the floor of Congress and discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a book all Americans should read, One Second After is the story of a war scenario that could become all too terrifyingly real. Based on a real weapon—the electromagnetic pulse (EMP)—which may already be in the hands of our enemies, it is a truly realistic look at the awesome power of a weapon that can destroy the entire United States, literally within one second.

In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe, and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future and our end.

©2009 William R. Forstchen (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"[An] entertaining apocalyptic thriller....fans of such classics as Alas, Babylon and On the Beach will have a good time as Forstchen tackles the obvious and some not-so-obvious questions the apocalypse tends to raise." ( Publishers Weekly)

excellent wake up call but tear jerker also

excellent book on disaster preparedness set in a fictional near future, sort of red dawn, road warrior and the postman movies in one book, im sure this will be made into a movie, a realistic view of what will, not maybe, happen should our Great Country devolve into anarchy from war, or similar catastrophe and i dont mean global warming, but a real crisis

entertaining listen

This audible title was an entertaining listen. It may not have been the most well written book in certain parts, but thats why we were born with imaginations. If you don't appreciate and enjoy this book, it is definitely your loss.

Stock Up!!

A well written, depressingly sober, possible future...for all of us. It makes me feel sort of sorry for all of you city people, especially in states where owning a firearm is against the law. This book is an attempt to wake Americans up to a possible and probable EMP attack that could send our way of life back 500 years. The forward by Newt Gingrich should at least cause our leaders to open their collective eyes to real dangers rather than trying to bail out big lobbying corporations. From a terrorism perspective, this book portrays the coup d'etat of all time. America brought to its knees and forced to destroy itself. I can look around in my own community and see that there is such little actual preparation for a scenario of this proportion. This book makes you question everything including yourself. I don't want to say that this is a good book for your average daily commute to work and home. You would probably be a nervous wreck when you showed up. It is a good book though. It's non-political and cuts through the political correctness crap that we know today. It's not for the weak of heart or for those who lives are too dependent on others for survival, though I'd encourage them to read/listen as well.
As a final thought, I listened to The Road by Cormack McCarthy several months ago and found it to be a bleak nihilistic portrayal of a post apocalyptic scenario in the United States. In some ways you could tie these two books together by reading One Second After first and then The Road; however, you'll probably need a bottle of Prozac afterward.

Excellent post-apocalyptic fiction

I confess to a weakness for post-apocalyptic novels. Unfortunately, most of them suffer from weak writing and premises that are paper thin. One Second After suffers from neither. Writing, premise, and narration are all excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Will make you want to stock up on bullets and bean

As much as I like post-apocalyptic novels, zombies, aliens, and supernatural horrors are entertaining but not scary, because we know those type of end-of-the-world scenarios are not going to happen.

One Second After manages to be scary because it sounds very plausible. In fact, William Fortschen supposedly wrote this book in part to warn Americans about a threat he believes has been overlooked and ignored — hence the foreword by Newt Gingrich and the afterword by a military officer, both warning that "HEY, THIS IS REAL, YO!"

The apocalyptic scenario is an Electromagnetic Pulse. In this book, there are actually three EMP weapons detonated — one takes out the U.S. and Canada, another takes out Japan and South Korea, and a third takes out Russia. They never do find out for sure who launched them, though the obvious suspects — China, North Korea, a jihadi network — are all suggested.

EMPs of course are well-known side effects of atomic bombs. Is it possible that one well-placed missile, launched from a container ship in the Atlantic to detonate high in the atmosphere over North America, could fry most electronics in the U.S. and thus cause a breakdown in civilization in a matter of weeks? I am not quite convinced on that score, but it's one of the TEOTWAWKI scenarios that keeps certain breeds of survivalists and politicians awake at night. Fortschen's concern is that the U.S. government has taken virtually no steps to harden critical electrical and electronic infrastructure. The reason is that like so many preventative measures, it would cost a lot of money to protect against what most see as a remote, hypothetical threat.

Well, everyone has their hobby horse. But ignore the EMP as the delivery mechanism. There are other scenarios that might cause a SHTF event. And if something happens to disrupt electricity, food, and water, for days, weeks, or months, it will get very, very ugly, and that's the more convincing message this book gets across.

The main character, John Matherson, is a history professor and former Army officer. Despite having almost been promoted to general, his military career was largely that of a desk jockey. He is a widower living in a small town in North Carolina with two daughters and two dogs.

Then the EMP goes off. Instantly, virtually every vehicle, generator, and electronic device is dead. It takes them a few hours to realize it's not just a power failure (despite the puzzling fact that cars stalled on the highway), a day to realize it's serious, and a few more days to realize that the S has indeed HTF.

The rest of the book is a survival story. Matherson becomes a leader in their small town. First they have to deal with routine problems, very inconvenient and occasionally life-threatening (such as the fact that his daughter is a Type 1 diabetic who's going to die when the insulin runs out). As the refugees start pouring in, and it becomes evident how very unprepared they are, things get progressively worse, and worse, and worse.

By the climax, in which Matherson has trained a bunch of high school and college kids into a militia which is the only thing standing against a barbarian horde known as "the Posse," they've already lost most of their population to starvation and disease. They've had to implement rationing, shoot looters and hoarders, eat their pets, perform surgery without anesthetics or antibiotics, and make hard decisions about who they're going to let starve to death.

I found this to be a compelling read because the author didn't take any dramatic artistic licenses. I don't think everything would play out exactly as described in this novel — it might be worse, it might be not quite as bad (I do think the U.S. population being reduced to 30 million in one year is unlikely) — but other than the EMP scenario described as the precipitating event, nothing that followed seemed implausible.

One Second After is a book to get you thinking. There are a lot of things that disrupt modern civilization for varying lengths of time. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina showed just how bad things can get for people who are unprepared, and that was localized and everyone knew order and services would be restored eventually. What would you do if the power shut off right now and the trucks bringing food to the grocery store stopped running, and never resumed?

Even if you are not seized with an impulse to go out and buy guns and 10# cans of beans, One Second After is a realistic novel that might inspire you to start thinking realistically.

Everyone Should Listen to This - NOW!

This is a scary book, I will admit right up front. But it is based on events that could easily happen. And if they do, we are all in a world of hurt. Where I live, we have been warned and warned that events like this not only could happen, but most assuredly will happen. We have been warned to be prepared. This book is a probable scenario of what will happen to those who are NOT prepared, which is most people. Please be wise. Read this book, then get prepared to the best of your ability for any eventuality. We have been told over and over that those who are prepared shall have no need to fear. I am well prepared, but what I now realize now is that I am not prepared for defense against those who would overrun my property and force-ably take what I have worked so hard to accumulate.

Joe Barrett is a fabulous narrator. This is not the first book I have listened to that is read by him, and I hope it is not the last.

Great story

Solid story...will keep you listening while your car sits in idle! Narrator is good and story is gripping. I sure hope our nation's 'leaders' read this book. Strongly recommend.

Wrought with cold realities of what could be!

All I can say about this book is that is scared me. The truths told and harsh realities that could or would be present in this scenario left the touch of their cold hands around my heart. I really liked the character John as a historian, and how different battles were referenced. It foretold of what would be in their near future, or "why didn't we learn" our lessons.

The opening by Newt Gingrich captured my attention immediately. The real potential of this happening and how it could happened snatched my attention by its roots; and the horrors that were faced by the characters and the fact these are real possibilities, imprisoned it. My mind will be wrapped around this book for a long long time.

I really love dystopian books, with all the potential "what ifs" out there. This is my first ovel that dealt with an EMP attack. But this one ... shook me to the core.

I know there are two more books in this series, but I'm going to wait a little bit before I jump into the next one. I want to give my brain a break before I traumatize it again, LOL!

The narrator did a great job with changing voices and overall. There were times it really seemed like multiple narrators were involved. I think this is the first time I've heard him. I look forward to the next one he narrates.

society is a fragile thing.

As someone who has been interested in a currency crisis and has been preparing for many years this book brings home how a functioning can easily be broken and people will revert to their base instincts. This story brought up some things I had not thought of and are quite disturbing.
I enjoyed the story and plot.

One Second After

In a time of extreme uncertainty, coupled with our need for all things digital, the scenarion painted is spine chillingly posible. As the human condition grows more agressive fueled by greed, all men are pushing the world to armageddon.

This work should be read by all, oneday this knowledge may give you true power,

My world changed, I see another future.

William, your knowledge of this subject is phernominal, keep on writing, we will read.

Good luck for the future

Venn South Africa