Those who were thought to be covered by the use of generators are also struggling as the EMP wiped out the generators as well. The failure on the part of the town government to believe the power outage was long-term allowed for looting of the stores after the first week and other desperate acts that later turned out to be detrimental to the long-term survival of the entire community.

Initially families not overly concerned, believing the power will come back on within hours or days. The author then proceeds to detail events and realizations that would occur following such an attack. Upon realizing that all of the cars, except his mother-in-law’s old Edsel, a Ford mustang, and a few old VW’s have also died on the spot, Matherson begins to suspect an EMP attack. Initially there is very little panic from residents who believe it to be just a short-term power outage. On one afternoon in May, some four years after his wife’s death, the phone lines, electrical lines, everything goes dead, without any warning whatsoever. She died in her hometown, surrounded by those she had known her entire life, leaving him widowed with two daughters. He took a job as a history professor at the local college. Army colonel, and moved the entire family back to Black Mountain.

When his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he retired from his job as a U.S. John Matherson is the primary character of the novel. This fictional story takes place in Black Mountain, a small college town in North Carolina, located along a major interstate highway in such a way that its claim to fame is that it provides water to the main city of Asheville.īlack Mountain has become a summer getaway for urban dwellers looking to escape the city rat race and is home to about 600 college students during the school year.

Forstchen one second after