As another reviewer has said, book 2 picks up right when book 1 leaves off. As in, the next chapter picks up. This is a touch annoying to the reader, as your first impulse is to think "Did you just slice the book in two in order to get more money? Why the weird cut?" Btw, Book 2 ends in much the same manner as Book 1 - as if the next book will pick up right at the cut-off point. As interesting and well-written as the series is, I'm not interested in paying $7-$10 for a kindle books that could easily have been combined with the previous book. That said....

I was wondering when Grant was going to wise up in regards to Lisa. Frankly, had it been me, I'd have left Lisa at the curb long ago. But that's me - and the author did a nice job of portraying Lisa in both a negative and positive light so I'm probably about the only person who just wanted to shoot Lisa and leave her on the road. Lisa's mom? Makes it easy to see where Lisa's attitude came from.

It's also fascinating to see how some people's minds work. There's Grant, who has to prepare in secret. Lisa, who ignores everything in hopes that "normal" will be back tomorrow. Nancy and the state auditor who, even in the midst of their world crashing down, are still trying to position themselves for a future grab for power.

Any novel that deals with the collapse of the US is, by nature, going to be speculative. That said, the events and their timing rang true to me. That not everyone would panic at once, that some areas would still appear "normal" even while literal battles raged in another, and that there would be a short period of time where you could do last minute preps safely.

Even with the odd start and finish of the this book, I'd recommend buying and reading it. ( )