This absorbing survival story shows what could happen if the entire United States lost power.
Seventeen-year-old Zara grew up in a "self-sustaining home in the thick of the woods" in New York with her doomsday-prepping parents, until she and her mother fled to civilization in Los Angeles. So when a nationwide blackout occurs, survival tactics Zara learned earlier immediately kick in. Amid the ensuing chaos, the only person she can find is her best friend's brother, Gabe, and the two set out to find their families and travel cross-country to Zara's apocalypse-proof off-the-grid homestead. With supplies in short demand and the real reason she left the compound haunting her, the journey isn't easy, but Zara looks to her past to help pave a path for her future.
Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch (The Trouble with Good Ideas) is a complex look at mental and physical abuse, the treatment of marginalized people and the way it all manifests during a large-scale catastrophe. Zara's instincts are often in the form of her dad's admonishing voice in her head, telling her to be "ruthless" and that "survival is about the individual," but Panitch skillfully uses Zara's physical and emotional journey to show the importance of teamwork and that "it's okay not to be okay all the time." Panitch also deftly shines a light on what it's like for disadvantaged groups during a disastrous event with "safe" communities created by "men's rights" fanatics and chronically sick people left for dead. An all-too-real and enthralling novel. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader