The Final Day

In this, the final installment of William Forstchen's post-apocalyptic trilogy, the author does not disappoint. And while the first installment (One Second After) was a classic in its own right, this last, The Final Day, comes nearest to achieving that hallowed status. Wearied after 2-1/2 years of no electricity, running water, and all the other things we take for granted in 21st century America, former Army Colonel & History Professor John Matheson is just now beginning to see signs of rebuilding. Hope for better days ahead. Tempered, as always, by the tremendous losses suffered by the community in battles against marauders, cannibals, and elements of our own military. At this very moment it all changes once again as an old friend from Army days leaves him feeling threatened & puzzled by his actions. Though, through a complicated & dicey adventure to uncover the truth behind "the day", forces are set in motion they hope will reconstitute the former United States. But not before more blood is shed, needlessly. More intrigue occurs, and the outcome is very much in doubt. Dr Forstchen has written a novel filled with emotion, intrigue, historical parallels, drawing the reader in carefully and handily as the tale unfolds. And while I often felt it went on a bit too long, I also didn't want it to end. For this is writing which fully embodies the American spirit, its history & traditions, without all the petty political quandaries. If you have any love at all for your nation, you'll be touched, your heart warmed, your eyes misty throughout the reading of this novel. And that's as it should be. If you don't feel that way about it - I pity you. More importantly, I pity our nation which sorely needs to be reminded of such things regularly.

Just finished "The Final Day," third (and probably last) in the "One Second After" trilogy. My one word reaction was, "okay." Why? Because Forstchen is a good writer with real expertise on his subject and has a fascinating premise with almost infinite possibilities for great storytelling. And he built a strong foundation for a third book on the first two, so The Final Day should have been a great tale. It wasn't. It was okay, and that was down to Forstchen's writing, which was clunky all the way through.Disturbingly clunky, with huge chunks of turbid prose, mindless repetition (alright, already, we GOT it) plot lines that fade into nothingness, and characters that are flat and boring. I'll avoid any major spoilers, but let's cover those points one by one.Forstchen isn't terse, and lots of the prose is like technical writing, Here's one example. "All eyes turned to Paul and Becka, each of them holding one of the twins, who were taking in their first journey to the outside world with wide-eyed wonder, both parents keeping back a bit protectively, for Becka was indeed paranoid about the prospect of the twins catching a cold or something worse from those gathered around." That's one run on sentence and almost the whole paragraph. Come on, man, this kind of thing is where great writers step forward. "Becka was indeed paranoid?" You're not supposed to tell us that, you're supposed to involve us.Repetition. Forstchen loves to make his point. Over and over. Some of it's just annoying redundancy, like this, on the same page as the above: "Paul and Becka had already placed the twins in the back of the Edsel." Next paragraph: Paul and Becka were already in the backseat, huddled over their precious cargo as John helped Makala into the old Edsel after passing the word to Bradley to give a call up to the town hall at the campus to let them know they were leaving." Okay, the twins are in the back seat. Who cares? It's not important to the story and once would have been enough. This happens a lot. People are sitting around talking, making a point, and two pages later, they make it all over again. I counted one exchange that covered the exact same ground four times. I actually checked to see if I'd turned the page backward instead of forward. Nope, just the character, repeating a point I guess he felt he hadn't made often enough. The repetition wouldn't be bad except that when you get into the story and flow with it, you're ready to move on to the resolution of the conflict, or to see how the danger is overcome, and Forstchen pulls us in. Then he repeats everything he just said, which keeps us from reaching our goal. Clunky.Plot threads (and some characters, too) disappear without a trace. We're teased with an unknown government spy in the town, somebody's snitching John and the townspeople off and got a bunch of them killed in the last book. This raises all kinds of possibilities for the writer. Who is the betrayer? How does he do it? What motivates him? How will John find him? What will the good guys do when they catch the bad guy? Forstchen spares us all that suspense by ignoring the whole thing. Guess it wasn't important enough to mention it (about ten times) early on. Another example is the helicopter they captured in "One Year After." That device finally gets used in "The Final Day," but ultimately disappoints. This time, the helo does some important stuff in an exciting sequence, getting damaged in the process. Will they be able to fix it? How will they ingeniously get the bird back up for some other important adventure? Will their resourceful but eccentric aircraft mechanic be able to get the helo up in time? Will the enemy find its secret hiding place? What role will the damaged (and presumably repaired) helicopter play in ending the story? I'll spare you the suspense. The helicopter goes into a hangar and never gets mentioned again. Even the bad guys don't particularly care about it, although you'd think they'd be interested in getting their $6 million aircraft back.Another minor thing. The folks finally figure out how to get some old, obsolete computers working, stuff that wasn't plugged in and was sitting around in a basement, so supposedly unaffected by the EMP. Big buildup, pages and pages. Then, huh... And if the EMP didn't fry computers that weren't plugged in, what happened to all those brand-new, not-obsolete machines in boxes waiting to be sold? Why can't they use those?Finally, nobody, anywhere, ever talks like these people. Everybody, in almost every sentence, uses the other person's name. Who does that in the real world? "A beautiful woman, John. Lots of guts. Can see why you fell in love with her." "Thank you for playing your part, Bob. But she knows."It's just Bob and John talking, but they "John" and "Bob" each other steadily. The dialogue is stilted and frequently corny, and gets interrupted with stuff like, "She smiled, the smile of the legendary Cheshire cat, luring by its cryptic words its prey coming in closer for the kill." Okay.And that's the bottom line. "The Final Day" is okay. A quick read if you skip the clunky bits, which you will after the first few pages. The ending is so-so, but ultimately satisfying.Okay.

The "One Second After" trilogy, or as the publisher prefers to call it, the John Matherson series, has kept me captivated ever since the first book was published back in 2009. My only complaint has been that Forstchen kept us waiting several years before writing the second book "One Year After," and now, the release today of the third book, "The Final Day." I downloaded this one the instant it was available and as a result have had a sleepless night!Why am I giving this five stars? First of all it is a darn good read. At times an emotional rollercoaster with plot twists that are unexpected, excellent character development and a powerful strong message. This is more than just a fun read novel, Forstchen's intent is to deliver a message about a true existential threat to our country. Take the message with utmost seriousness. His books got me thinking about the issue of infrastructure security. I did the follow up research on just how real was his scenario about EMP and find that he is dead on with the thesis behind his book: that our power grid is highly vulnerable to a devastating attack which could result in upwards of 90% of all Americans dying once the electricity is turned off and does not come back on. He has some good links on his website onesecondafter.com. Heed the advice he offers, again this is more than just an exciting series of books, it conveys a powerful message as well.Buy the book, if it simply entertains you, it is well worth the money. If it gets you thinking about being prepared even better. Transcend politics. I've read a few snarky reviews that put the series down because Newt Gingrich wrote the foreword to the first book. Come on people, it is a new year today. Let's get the political infighting behind us. Forstchen's message is that regardless if you are liberal or conservative, on the Left or Right, we are all Americans and should be united behind a goal of securing our nation's infrastructure, to insure our survival and that of our children. Beyond all of that, this series is, as well, a truly wonderful read.

I was hooked from the first book One Second After, so reading the following books always made me nervous as with 'First album syndrome' the follow ups can sometimes seem hollow or tired.Not in this case though.Forstchen maintains a flow through this series which keeps a pace demanding you turn to the next chapter, even if it's 2am.The plot line examines the best and worst in human nature and continues through the final novel.The whole premise of America falling foul of an EMP attack reaches its climax after a well developed story of the possibilities if such catastrophe were to occur.I think he has delved into the human aspect quite honestly showing the depravities people can reach without a structured framework to live to. Or the great spirit of those determined to survive and live as a community.The ending was hard for me, not as a story but simply it was the end. I enjoyed John Mathesons company and have kept these books, rather than the usual donation to the charity shop.Excellent reading!

This part of a trilogy, last part.They all make good resting, but the first was definitely the most interesting. Also, there is s very strong pro-military right wing bias in all three. I think at some point it says that the church, medicine and military are the only honourable professions. Hmm.

After One Second After and One Year after, this is the last instalment of the story. Very addictive, right to the end. All books shipped quickly by Amazon to Storage Locker. Buy all three books and set aside time to read them. You will not be disappointed.

Bit slow to start off with, this being the final part of a pretty decent trilogy, but it is well worth sticking with. Did not anticipate the twist at the end however it rings true. Humanity, especially amongst the rich and powerful, can sink to levels so low it would make you sick. Definitely one of the better EMP style series of novels.Ray Smillie

Excellent book part of a trilogy from this author (read the other two books) well worth it.