by Peter Heller
First published 2012
Hig has carved out a bare existence after the world collapsed. He tends his small territory with Jasper, his loyal dog, while his volatile neighbor provides security with weapons and suspicion. His Cessna offers escape, but only for careful trips that conserve his dwindling fuel supply. Then a radio transmission breaks through the static. Another pilot's voice crackles across the airwaves, proof that someone else survived the catastrophe. The message haunts Hig until curiosity overwhelms caution. He climbs into his plane and flies toward the transmission's source, knowing the fuel won't last for a return journey. The decision forces him past his safe boundaries into unknown territory where other survivors might offer salvation or death. What Hig discovers challenges everything he believed about the world's end and his own capacity for connection.
Genres: fiction, science-fiction, adventure, post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, isolation
416 pages · Paperback · Headline Review