I would say it is a beautiful book about a mother who loves her boy. I would also say it could be a grim prediction of the future. Remember when there was a leak in a nuclear plant in China (2021)? This book will make you wonder what you would do. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the digital ARC. This review is my own honest opinion.

Thank you to Doubleday Books for letting me read this one early. NOT ALONE publishes on May 2.

This book totally consumed me. It was so engrossing but also hard to read at times. The moments it felt too heavy to read were also the same moments I was left pondering it. This story centers on an environmental catastrophe which leaves the few survivors alone and starving. The details of the story were so perfect, which makes sense, as Sarah K. Jackson is an ecologist and knows exactly what she's talking about in this apocalyptic story she created. NOT ALONE gives me Bird Box vibes, but also its so much more, and this is a debut novel, my friends. I can't wait for more from Sarah K. Jackson. Put your library holds and preorders in!

I forgot to be afraid of microplastics but thanks to this book I now care about that more than anything else ever. This was so compelling, terrifying, and sweet. It is a classic tale of a mother's love.
She wasn't perfect but none of us are.

I think all moms will relate to the parts where Katie is trying to drive while Harry asked her to do things like open jars.
This was amazing!

Five years ago the world changed…a microplastic storm wiped out most of the population. No one is safe.

Katie lives with her son Harry, outside of London in a small flat. Katie takes care and makes sure they’re provided for. One day someone comes knocking, and its not someone Katie wants. With her cough getting worse she sets off to find Jack, her fiancée.

Now out of their protective bubble, Katie and Harry encounter new and dangerous things. Everything they knew is changing. Will Katie be able to figure this all out before its too late for herself?

WOW. This is not a happy book by any means, but it is a book that makes you think. I love dystopian books and this one had a fun twist of a microplastic storm instead of say a virus. I really enjoyed how we got flashbacks to figure out what happened, I just wish some of them were a little sooner. The story of Katie and her son was so sweet and I really teared up at the end. I was really hoping for a different outcome. This is one of those books that will leave you a wreck for a while. I enjoyed the writing style though I felt some things were a bit repetitive at times and that slowed it down. I think it was also a little long for what we got. I really did enjoy all the side characters and how they came together for the community. This was a satisfying read, but not one I would recommend you go into lightly.

This book comes out on May 9th.

Thank you so much to Doubleday, @doubledaybooks, and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have a soft spot for post-apocalyptic novels featuring a parent/guardian and child traversing a devastated landscape devoid of law and order. Name it, and I've already read it or its on my tbr list.

To me, this was one of those rare novels that achieved the perfect balance between a character study with an actual hero's journey (of a sort). So, kudos to Sarah K. Jackson on this end. The character studies I've read lately tend to forgo plotlines entirely in order to focus on the characters, which isn't really my cup of tea.

I liked the trigger warnings present in the beginning of this book. This is an extremely bleak novel that deals with life as a woman and mother in a post-apocalyptic UK. We don't read much from a woman's POV when it comes to this trope, so I really appreciated the fact that this story tackles survival and safety issues for a single woman with a young child.

There were several instances of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault. And in the context of this novel, in a world where institutions have broken down, it makes sense. We do see examples of good and decent men though, but at times, the cruelty that the MC experienced overshadowed this fact.

I loved how the author described the post-apocalyptic landscape in detail, especially regarding the effects of microplastic pollution on the flora and fauna. At every instance, you're able to feel like you're there in the scene along with the characters. When Katie experienced fear whenever she or her son came in contact with the microplastic dust, I could feel the tension in the air like a slowly ticking time bomb.

Other reviewers have mentioned that the MC, Katie, wasn't likeable. She wasn't a saint, and in a dog-eat-dog world, this seemed realistic. As the reader, you could see that she tried her best to raise her child with absolutely zero help or resources, so it seemed appropriate that she'd be bitter and callous at times.

Without any spoilers, I actually liked the ending. It was realistic and it was a punch to the gut. But yet, there were still tendrils of hope to make it an uplifting ending.

I just wish that there were more descriptions when it came to the breakdown in society. You're left to fill in the blanks with the bits of information that was given.

Other than that, this was a good addition to the post-apocalyptic fiction genre.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for this arc.

I felt the beginning chapters of this dystopian thriller about a mom and son living in isolation in London after a microplastic storm raged the world lagged and started off slow. The action really kicked in at the midway point of this novel. Ultimately, I wasn't surprised with what went down in the ending chapters.

I do appreciate how the author, who's an ecologist, crafted the story to make it feel as realistic as possible in depicting climate change and ecological disasters.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

When getting ARCs, we are explicitly instructed not to consider small errors that will be fixed in the final copy. But sometimes, the errors are significant enough that it's hard to give a book a fair read. In this case, the consistent failures to indent and random spaces between words made it very difficult to get into a reading flow, contributing heavily to a two-star reading experience. I don't want to hold this against the author, as it is certainly not her fault, so I am rating it three stars here.

Not Alone feels like a post-apocalyptic road trip story, but I had trouble connecting to it in the ways I usually connect to a post-apocalyptic road trip novel. Most of the time, we see the apocalpse unfolding in the chilling first scenes, or at least see the lead learning to live in a new world. Here, we start five years down the line, and the destruction all comes via flashback. For me, that didn't build the kind of atmosphere that I expect, and made it hard to really dive in to the novel. Perhaps some of it was the formatting, perhaps it was structural choices--it can be hard to tell--but either way, I didn't get the tension I hoped.

I also didn't really connect to the characters and their lives as I'd hoped. We see a Mom and her child, and we see many of the day-to-day tasks to survive in a world where much of the outside is poisoned. I was looking forward to the parent/child connection, but despite having three young children of my own, I really struggled to connect to that relationship. And so much of the day-to-day felt disconnected from the big picture, so that it became hard to tell what was ritual and what was necessary for survival.

I pushed through until 55% and then put this one down. I figured that was long enough to generate honest feedback. The sentence-level writing is totally fine, and perhaps the story will really click for others, but I just had trouble generating either the character connection or the tense atmosphere to appreciate it.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I liked the idea and the premise of the book, but that is about where it stopped for me.

This book takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, after global warming takes its effects and the air is deadly due to tiny particles that you can't inhale.

I get the idea of the book. It is supposed to be about love and perseverance above all else. However, I could not get over the stupidity and selfishness of the main character.

When everything comes to an end, Katie and her fiancé/husband Jack get separated. She is left to fend fo herself and her young son named Harry. One day, Katie gets the idea that Jack must still be alive, so five years after she's last seen him, she sets off with Harry to find him. Although the right age, Harry isn't Jack's son due to a man forcing himself on Katie early on.

They end up leaving their fairy safe home in a rickety old vehicle. It is clear Katie is dying, so she wants to get Harry to his "dad." I find this whole initial plot selfish and juvenile in the word they are living in. It has been five years, and she is dragging a child from the only world he has know, across the country, to try to find a man she doesn't know is alive.

I have to add, Harry makes Cailou look like a saint. He is the most annoying, whiney child in the universe. I couldn't handle anytime he spoke. He was afraid of his own shadow, whined about everything did stupid things, and just all around was not a charming and endearing child.

Halfway through, when they get to a safe place and meet two other kind humans who want them to stay, Katie does it again with her stupid selfishness and drags Harry along further north in search of her elusive husband who may or may not still be alive.

I could have gotten over the detestable characters if it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't follow the immediate plotline to save my life. I followed the overarching plot, but when it came to line by line, it was like, "wait.... what are they doing in why?" It felt like they would be driving along and suddenly they were doing something out of the car and I didn't know what they were doing and why. The car kept stalling and getting stuck, but it was difficult to follow what was happening and how they got themselves out of the scenario. Then all of a sudden they are walking in the woods for days, so it was like, "mmmmkay guess they abandoned the car, but why?"

Even the ending - I couldn't tell if it was a happy ending or not. Or whether it was intended to be a happy ending or not. I spent the whole book not understanding how it wanted me to feel.
Points for effort - again, I liked the idea of the book. It just missed the mark for me on every level.

This book follows a mother and son post-micro plastic apocalypse. The main character and her husband were in separate locations “before the storm” so she has been raising her son alone for years. One day she finds a sign that indicates her husband may have actually come looking for her at one point, when she must’ve been out searching for food. So she ventures out into the dangerous world to find her husband, with her son, who has never met his father, along for the journey.
On the way they run into both friendly and sketchy strangers, but eventually they make it to their target destination. The place she thinks her husband has been living out his post-apocalypse years.

Will they be reunited?

Unfortunately this book had me utterly bored. The concept is interesting and the beginning was promising but it quickly fell flat. A huge portion of the book consists of dialogue between the mother and son. This excessive dialogue hindered the plot development rather than help it, and sadly I was left disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy for my review.

Incredible addition to the cli-fi canon. This book differed from other cli-fi I've read in that the people in this world had been doing everything "right"--they were all vegan and drove electric cars, etc. But it...didn't matter. When a big storm scatters toxic microplastics throughout the world, everything changes instantly. This book follows a young mother and her five year old son as they try to journey across an American wasteland to find the mother's boyfriend, whom she had presumed dead but now thinks could still be alive. It is bleak and not particularly hopeful, but it also didn't make me want to die so that's good!

Because of climate change and global pollution, a microplastic storm wipes out most of the human race and life as we know it. Katie and her 5-year-old son Harry struggle to survive in an isolated flat in London. When evidence of other people is still alive, Katie decides to travel North and try to find Harry's father. This book was ok, just not all that suspenseful or exciting. Thanks to the author, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The fear is claustrophobic, for everything presents a threat. The very air, the water, the earth itself, has been poisoned. A young mother and her son are isolated in this dangerous world, in hiding from the few others who are still living. Katie doesn’t know if her fiancé is alive. The microplastic storm divided them, and they missed each other, Jack leaving a message that became lost.

Katie has given birth and raised Harry on her own, leaving him locked in their apartment as she forages for food and water. She trusts no one. When a man discovers her, and wants her to come with him, she knows it is time for her and Harry to leave.

The world outside is full of terror for the isolated Harry, and for his mother, who knows that only with persistence care can they avoid death.

As I read this novel, I felt the stress of continual suspense and fear.

The story is filled with details of this world in crisis, the efforts needed to survive, the fears of a mother protecting her child, and a child’s first encounter with the outside world.

This dark novel is about what a mother will do to save the life of her child. And, underlying the story, is a warning of how ignoring warning signs leads to ecological disaster and the collapse of civilization.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Living in isolation after the population was wiped out by a microplastic storm, Katie and her son Harry are fighting for survival. But with fears of her declining health and her child's safety, Katie finally braves the outside world in search of her fiancé, who went missing five years prior.

Encountering dangers and friendly faces along the way,Katie and Harry had quite the journey. This novel had me sitting on the edge of my seat. I don’t think I’ve read a book that has had me in its grips as much as this one. Wow.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone that loves suspense and end-of-the-world genres.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After a microplastic storm devastates the world and leaves Katie and her five-year-old son Harry as two of the few survivors in England, they must learn to live in isolation. Katie forages while Harry, who was born after the storm and knows nothing of life Before, lives in relative fear of anything outside the confines of their small London flat. But when Katie finds a note that suggests her lost fiancé, Jack, is still alive, the two set out on a dangerous journey north in hopes of finding him.

I'm a little conflicted about this book. I found it well written and I flew through it; even though relatively little happens except for the mundane rituals of Katie's and Harry's survival, there are real moments of heart-in-your-throat-action amid some of the more repetitive parts (this is mostly in the dust itself and the mask wearing, which gets repeated over and over). I also found Katie a sympathetic lead--her struggle to raise a child, especially given the circumstances leading up to and involving his birth, and keep him safe in this new environment, and trying to find a balance in keeping him safe and teaching him how to cope was both heartbreaking and solid.

I also appreciated that the book didn't get too preachy. There's a tendency for these types of books to get a little heavy handed in their message, but with the exception of Katie lamenting a few times "If we all only went vegan!", the author simply lets her story unfold.

Additionally, I found the premise of a microplastic storm compelling. Not Alone follows in the tradition of its end of the world predecessors. At one point it was nuclear war. Then we had zombies. Currently, there's a crop of climate ravages (not that it's new--The Day After Tomorrow and Waterworld were examples of disaster Hollywood blockbusters). The more recent ones I've read focused on hurricanes and flooding, so it was a fresh change to bring plastics into the mix.

In the end, it's a satisfying read--for me. But it's really painfully bleak, so I don't know if I'd necessarily recommend it or to whom I would. There is nothing particularly uplifting or hopeful in these pages. Even hearing of communities coming back together--we never see them; they're only suggested through predatory men. Almost as if the message is that this is not a world (or at least a people) worth saving.

Special thanks to Doubleday for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review through NetGalley.

A remarkable novel so well written.A story of a mother and a son fighting for survival a haunting tale a book that stays with you.#netgalley #doubledaybooks

This book is way out of my typical reads, but when I was offered the chance for an ARC, I couldn’t refuse. It started a bit slow, but soon hooked me in. I was completely invested in how Katie and her son Harry would fare. Without giving anything away, it didn’t end the way I would’ve liked, but this makes it all the more realistic. I think an adaptation of this book on Hulu or Netflix would make a great miniseries!

Not Alone is not great. A mash up of Emma Donoghue's "Room" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" it tells the story of a mother and her son fighting for survival after an environmental catastrophe. Too much space is taken up with the minutiae of their day to day lives. The struggle to find food and fresh water and the annoying need to entertain a 5-year-old in a confined space day after day reads like nails on a blackboard.

While I understand and appreciate books that are blaring the climate change siren I felt this one failed to stir any reaction in this reader other than boredom.

I downloaded this book and am not able to leave a full review as I read the trigger warnings and feel as though this is not for me. I am giving 5 stars to not lessen the book’s ratings as well as the fact that this book was mindful enough to place serious trigger warnings! Thank you for doing so! That’s a 5 star thing to do.

With an ongoing and pervasive sense of dread, this novel by Sarah K. Jackson, keeps you moving forward eagerly through the pages to find out whether Katie and her son, Harry, reach their destination. It’s five years since an environmental disaster hits the world, and Katie, alone except for her small son, must try to survive. Katie’s character is so well drawn, and deeply recognizable as a mother doing everything she can to keep her son safe, fed, and happy. This is a brilliant debut by Sarah K. Jackson. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

The story feels so real. The details are exquisite. Well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and DoubleDay Books for the ARC.