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Friday, March 17, 2023

75 miles review

75 MILES75 MILES by Robyn VanDerSys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read One Second After by Forstchen several years ago, and when I read that VanDerSys was inspired (at least in part) by that book I had high hopes for this title. Unfortunately I didn't find it nearly as interesting, as well written or as well researched.

The premise is simple. a 16 year old girl has traveled several miles from home (a home she had recently moved to) to break up with her long distance boyfriend so she could pursue a guy where she now lived that she found attractive after seeing him a few times but didn't really know. While at a gathering with friends, where she chose to dump her boyfriend, an EMP goes off killing all electronics. She then decides to make the journey home alone and that is the story that is told.

While we do encounter the expected "bad" elements - they are all portrayed as being drug addicts, as if the people we consider law abiding citizens under normal circumstances would not possibly turn to a life of self-interest and bad behavior. The only other "bad" character is portrayed as a fat and creepy neighbor prior to the EMP. Everyone else was either someone willing to help, or they just locked themselves inside.

I also have a hard time believing that a 16 year old with very little experience, an old map and a gun that she had never shot before would have fared as well as this one did - surviving on granola bars, jerky, and a canteen with a water filter that was all given to her by adults that appear to have no issue with sending her off on her own.

I found myself skipping quite a bit of repetitive description (especially towards the end when the characters are retelling their story over and over to others) to get to the end only we never really get to the end. Yep, that is right. Our main character doesn't actually arrive home at the end of the book. We end with her on the road to her home after she was told that there was word of several break-ins and possible nefarious deeds in the area...

I will read the next book because I already own it and I hope the writing and story has improved in it....

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