I’ll be brief…this is not a dystopian tale with excellent scientific or economic explanations for the state of affairs that afflict the story’s main characters (and the U.S.). This book is gun porn, survivalist fantasy, and right-wing (militia) pulp fiction.
The premise is ridiculous (EMP destroys the Eastern U.S. infrastructure), though no motivations for this eventuality are forthcoming. Instead, plot and back-story are replaced with people shooting, stealing, torturing and raping around a slow, plodding, plot. The most prominent line in the story is, "We can talk about that later." (Feh) Nothing ever gets resolved. The characters are acted upon, rather than acting. No character is actually smart or interesting…they are all merely gun-totting dim-wits with lots of MRE’s and ammo in the basement.
Do not bother with this paranoid "prepper" fiction. A "prepper" is a citizen ready for the apocalypse. This novel is definitely not Peter Heller’s, The Dog Stars. In fact…it is nothing but the stuff of bad dreams.
Run from this title and read, The Dog Stars…that book will get you ready for anything.