48 Hours 

William R. Forstchen’s new novel, 48 Hours, continues in the same breathtaking pace as his One Second After trilogy. Whereas the trilogy focused on the events before, during, and after an electromagnetic pulse, the premise of 48 Hours is a massive solar flare, or Coronal Mass Ejection, which will hit Earth in 48 hours. To prepare for the event, the U.S. government has taken an unprecedented step to shut down the entire electrical and communications grid. As ordinary citizens dig in and prepare to wait it out, Dr. Richard Carrington, who first observed the solar flare, goes to the President to brief him on the findings and deliver an ominous message. As the president listens, he mulls how to tell the citizens what is coming without causing panic.

Like his previous books, 48 Hours continues to deliver the same level of nail-biting suspense. Everyone from the higher echelons of the government to the military to everyday civilians is depicted and nicely developed in Forstchen’s book. Like any book in the apocalyptic genre, 48 Hours describes how everyone is really in the same boat when it comes to surviving and dealing with a crisis that could potentially alter humanity. Forstchen definitely doesn’t disappoint, as his latest novel is just as strong as the previous three.