She Treads Softly: Five Years After

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Five Years After

Five Years After by William R. Forstchen
8/22/23; 352 pages
Forge Books
John Matherson Series #4

Five Years After by William R. Forstchen is a very highly recommended post apocalyptic thriller and the fourth book in the John Matherson series.

The most succinct introduction to the narrative is from the publisher: "Five years after The Final Day, the Republic of New America has all but collapsed into regional powers and the world at large is struggling to remain stable as regional conflicts ravage the post EMP landscape. After several years attempting to lead a quiet life, John Matherson receives the news that the President is dying ... and is asked to step in to negotiate with what appears to be a new military power hidden in the wreckage of the world."

This is the fourth novel in the series and every book has been a winner. The series consists of One Second After, One Year After, The final Day and, now, Five Years After. While John reluctantly steps in and represents the Republic, he is up against more than he bargained for and must be ready to save what progress his community has made. As the plot unfolds, parts of the narrative will hit uncomfortably close to home, including the emergence of controlling, nefarious surviving bureaucrats.

Fans of the series will applaud this fourth installment. Those new to the series will likely be able to follow the plot easily as background information is provided and John Matherson continues to be a great character. After reading The Final Day, most new to the series will want to jump back and read the previous three novels.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Forge Books via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.