Aftermath
-
- £1.99
Publisher Description
It's 2026, and the Alpha Centauri supernova has risen like a second sun, rushing Earth toward its last summer. Floods, fires, starvation and disease paralyze the planet. A flash of gamma rays has destroyed all microchips worldwide, leaving an already devastated Earth without communications, transportation, weaponry or medicine.
The disaster sets three groups of survivors on separate quests. A militant cult seizes the opportunity to free their leader from her long court-mandated coma. Three cancer patients also search for a man in judicial sleep: the brilliant scientist - and monstrous criminal - who alone can continue the experimental treatment that keeps them alive. From a far greater distance come the survivors of the first manned Mars expedition, struggling homeward to a world that has changed far beyond their darkest fears. And standing at the crossroads is one man, U.S. President Saul Steinmetz, who faces a crucial decision that will affect the fate of his own people... and the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ho-hum: it's another global disaster. This time, a supernova has caused disastrous climatic effects and, if that's not enough, it has also sent out a massive electromagnetic pulse that has disabled all electrical devices worldwide. Sheffield centers his tale on the personal rather than the global--three people with a very specific problem: their experimental cancer treatment has been disrupted, and the only chance they have for a cure lies with a man who has been sentenced to "judicial sleep"--the humane alternative to imprisonment--for serial murder. In addition, there's the crew of the first manned expedition to Mars, struggling to return to Earth; a powerful cult known as the Eye of God; and one Saul Steinmetz, the anguished president of the United States. Most of the main characters are one-dimensional and seem at least as interested in their love lives and personal relationships as they are in the state of the world. Still, Sheffield (Tomorrow & Tomorrow), who has won Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell awards, has taken an often-used scenario and given it enough of a twist to keep the pages turning.
