Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes

By Ilsa J. Bick

Published by EgmontUSA, 2011

480 pages (hardcover)

It could happen tomorrow . . .
 
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation. (from barnesandnoble.com)

I had heard a lot of good things about this book before I started reading and those people were not wrong. Ilsa J. Bick has created a terrifying present-day setting in Ashes where you don’t know what is out there and who you can trust. Like the main character Alex, I really was questioning everyone’s motives and constantly wondering how Alex will  survive the fallout from the incident and the hundreds of survivors willing to do anything to make it another day.

Warning: This book does end on a cliff-hanger and I am not sure when the sequel will be out. BUT, this is so worth the time it takes to read it and the impending wait for the sequel. The characters were so real with vivid emotions and thoughts scattering between survival, missing loved ones, and looking toward a not-so-certain future.