The first book of this series ended with the hero and heroine setting out on journeys, and while both got to where they were hoping to go, travel was arduous in the post-EMP world, and when each got to their destinations, the situations weren’t quite what they had expected. This book felt a bit repetitive, like the other one. Both protagonists seem to lurch from dangerous situation to dangerous situation, and the situations themselves don’t really seem to change much, either within the book or between books. The author should have mixed it up a bit! Not only about journeys, this book is also about running into bad guys who will either want to take advantage or shoot to kill. The villain from the prior book takes a prominent role in this one, though he is toned down somewhat, and another big, bad guy shows up. Enough with so many villains already! One subplot is barely wrapped up before another emerges that is very similar. (And it seems a bit far-fetched that, out of all the people in this small area of Minnesota… the two villains would be arch enemies still determined to take each other down.)
Before the epilogue, the book ends with both protagonists in relatively comfortable places compared to what happened earlier in the book. But both are about to strike out again, he hoping to find her and she hoping to get back to her hospital. But the epilogue showed that a new villain is emerging as well that will undoubtedly make things go from bad to worse again AND a change in the weather as the season moves to winter will hamper both journeys and further tax dwindling resources. I like the main and secondary characters as well as the children in this book. Trent is a particular delight, keeping his optimism up despite everything and being more of a help than you would think a 14-year-old boy would be. Three young teens are partial focuses of this story (two sick and one orphaned), and all are boys. I wish the author had made at least one female. Over the course of these two books, despite the plot bumps and repetition, I’ve come to care about the main characters, and I’m interested to see what happens to them next.