Set in the near future, when a huge solar storm knocks out the worlds power grids and technology, two adult siblings face the problem with very different perspectives. Aubrey, a woman with a dead beat ex who left her to raise his teen from a previous relationship, stays put and finds community, while her brother, a tech billionaire, heads to his bunker and enacts his prepper plan. Throw into the mix the secret that the two have never spoken about, a bag of cash and Aurbey’s ex hanging around like a bad smell, and you have plenty of tension and drama.

If David Koepp’s name sounds familiar, he’s a film director and screenwriter who worked on Jurassic Park, Carlito’s Way, Panic Room and more. And he also wrote the novel Cold Storage.

I really enjoyed this book.

I had one problem with it, and that’s how Aubrey, even though she’s divorced and knows her ex has a drinking, drugs and gambling problems, has not changed the locks on her house and continues to give him money when he asks. Frequently he’s just in their house when they get home. It drove me crazy. I get that it’s a device in the book that the plot us hung on, but… it annoyed me so much.

That said, this is a good book. It posed an interesting problem and one that is based on something that could happen. It explains it succinctly, but thoroughly. It brought the settings of the book to life for me, and I liked that. It’s very well paced and plotted, so at times I thought I knew what was coming, but it threw in things to throw me off, which I love. All these threads that the author wove in, all building tension and dread, and all threads leading back to Aubrey’s house. So nicely done. The characters are varied, and not overwritten, but we get a sense of them and who they are, what drives them, in a few sentences and they feel fresh but familiar. A bit like characters in a movie. I wanted things to work out for our lead characters.

It’s not a super long book, but I liked it.

Read It If: The premise interests you or you like Koepp’s other work. It’s very solid. Also one for those of you who have wondered who would fare better if everything went down: the little people with their sense of community or the big guy with the bunker and all their cold preparation.

Thank you to Harper Canada for the advance copy of this book for review.