He said it would happen. Someday, the world would fall apart and no-one will know what to do, or how to survive. That was five years ago, when Zara Ross lived with her mum and dad in the wilderness.

Her dad had built their compound with survival in mind. Before leaving the compound with her mum, that was all Zara had known. Her parents were her world, her father all knowing, as he taught her how to use a crossbow, hunt for her food, gut and cook it with only fire as her tool. He taught her how to forage, climb, hide, run, track her prey and instilled in her a kind of one mindedness of how to survive.

It took Zara years to get used to the outside world, never truly fitting in. It was her cool head that gained her her best friend Estella, and a knack with computers and gaming that cemented it. But her dad was right. Their electricity is wobbling, then is completely gone. No electricity meant no ovens, or microwaves to cook, and no fridges and freezers to store the food anyway. It meant no tv, computers and its ever helpful Google and eventually cell phones either. There are no air cons to keep people cool and in some US states, alive. It means complete chaos.

Suddenly alone, Zara knows what she has to do. But Estella has been kidnapped, and her brother Gabe beside himself with guilt and a drive to find her. They set off across the US in an all but hopeless search. Any kindness or compassion that once existed seems to have vanished, with people desperate to keep themselves and loved ones alive. There are collections of good people too, building their own compound like camps. But are they what they claim to be?

Zara, and Gabe and like-minded others make their way across state after state, dealing with one challenge after another in order to survive. Now five of them, Zara has become their leader, teaching them as her father taught her. His voice is clearer in her mind with every step closer to where she needs to take her friends – to safety and home.

A riveting story of modern apocalypse with just one vital component of our world taken out – electricity. Main character Zara (17) has been raised with this eventuality (according to her survivalist dad), and taught all the skills she will need to survive. Zara’s internal battle with all that her father taught her against helping others is a gradual one and her own sense of what is right wins.

All sides of human nature are portrayed in Gone Dark as the world falls apart around them, but Zara experiences all that is good within her own group who she believes she is leading to safety. She too learns new skills as each person who joins their group of five brings their own knowledge.

A further threat is a stranger who tries to capture her only hours after the electricity fails. This man knows her name and appears more than once on her journey home. Who is he and why does he want her?

A non-stop read with a slice of everything that makes a book great. Action, danger, family, guilt, loss, betrayal, survival, loyalty, courage, a kick ass main character, and even the possibility of love. A shocking ending that punches you in the gut is the icing on the cake.

Author – Amanda Panitch

Age – 14+

Find an Excerpt here

(2022, Harper Collins, Survival, Courage, Action, Family, Friendship, Kidnap, Camps, Betrayal, Compound, Guilt, Loyalty, Gaming, Stranger, Violence, Hand to hand combat, Crossbow, Hunting, Grief, Father, Dad, Los Angeles, Wilderness, Group dynamics, Leader)