Five Years After is book 4 in the One Second After series by William R. Forstchen. I love the concept of this series because I feel it focuses on a type of disaster that could become a reality any time...an EMP. It's interesting to hear how the characters in the books cope with different situations and what the consequences of their decisions are. I found that Five Years After was a little slower-paced than some of the other books in the series, but I was patient and stuck with it and I don't have any regrets!

This book focuses on what happens once the New Republic of America begins to stabilize. John has been able to spend the past five years focusing on his family and community with minimal involvement in the government despite his role as vice-president. Now, he's drawn into the midst of the fray and must make critical decisions when faced with new responsibilities, secret forces, and an invisible threat that may be the most lethal yet.

Although I felt like the book had a slower start, it did eventually draw me in to a point where I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Parts of the book reference major events from the previous novels, which I found extremely helpful since it's been awhile since I read them. The characters had a familiar feel and it was fun to revisit them as they faced a new series of challenges. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of the narrator of the audiobook. He attempted to do different voices for the characters and to me the female characters came across as especially screechy and whiney, which was NOT the way I had read them in the previous books. It might have something to do with the way the dialogue was written, but I feel like it had more to do with the way they were read. Overall, I found Five Years After to be an enjoyable addition to the series and it left me with a renewed interest in this type of fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forge Books for the opportunity to review an eARC of this audiobook.

Another amazing book in this series. It's one of my top favorite thriller series of all time. Makes you really think how you would handle the apocalypse.

After having read One Second After which was so fascinating to me, I was look forward to this fourth book by William R. Fortschen. Imagine having one of our countries enemies attack our electric grid with an EMP that totally destroys all electronic functions in our country. The first book shows how our country could decline with shipping, production, food, medicine and so many ways we are dependent on our electric grid. This book picks up five years later as our country is slowing trying to rebuild, There are mere regional powers across our "former" country with threats from the US's former enemies like a Russia and China. At this point, there is an underground military movement trying to takeover the fragile government in place, threatening global thermonuclear war. Can John Matherson (in all four books) save his beloved country from war and pandemics? A fast paced book. But it makes more sense starting with Book #1 but you can still get your heart pounding if you read just this one..

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot who does a great job but his Jack Nicholson way of saying "John" did irritate me.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

I’ve been reading William R. Forstchen’s After series since the very beginning. It has been quite a while since the last book and nearly a decade and a half since the first book released. But as soon as I started listening to Five Years After, John’s story immediately came back to me and I remembered just why I enjoyed the series so much. Unlike many post apocalyptic stories, Forstchen tried to ground this one in reality. He didn’t give us an action hero in John, but an everyday man forced to deal with the shifting reality of a collapsing world, which forced him to become a leader. A flawed man who did his best for himself and those around him, but a man who couldn’t save everyone.

John is finally content. Things at his settlement finally seem to be stable. The world is hardly back to normal, but perhaps the worst of it is over. Technically he is Vice President, though it seems more of a title than a real job, as the government such as it is happens to be spread out, and he’s never really been asked to do anything in the role. Until now when he receives notification to report to the President and learns there happens to be other survivors they were never aware of. And their intensions are questionable. I won’t say anymore to avoid spoilers, but I will say I was impressed by how Forstchen retconned in references to the pandemic so it appeared to have happened way back before the start of the series. This a worthy addition to the series. This is a look at how even in a devastated world there are those who still want to fight. The book is narrated by Bronson Pinchot, which even after after years of listening to his work still surprises me and makes me smile. I guess I’ll forever picture him as Balki from Perfect Strangers. As always he’s does a fine job, though I will say there something odd about to his performance this time around. His reading has some of the characters, one in particular, coming off as always being extremely intense/angry. Not sure if was his personal choice to go that way or a request from the author, just seemed a bit off. But again, as I said before it’s a worthy addition to the series. My only real complaint…I wish Forstchen wrote faster as I don’t want to wait another six years for the next book, lol. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy of Five Years After.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RYYPPQKCNAFB6/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Five Years After
Boy just when you thought things might start getting back to normal, it collapses. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to deliver a story that would add anything to the other books. I enjoyed the first three. This one maybe didn’t have as much depth to it as the others, but I liked it. There’s a deadly outbreak and John has to make a deal to get needed medicines and vaccines for his town with a government takeover. I listened to the audio version with Bronson Pinchot as the narrator. He’s a great narrator and did an excellent job on this one. I would advise reading the other three books to have full knowledge of all the characters and storyline but you can read this one by itself.
I received a complimentary audio version from the publisher through NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are my own.

DNF @33%

When I grabbed this ARC, I didn't realize it was a #4. I was in the mood for a post-apoc storyline.

Shortly after I started reading it felt very familiar, like I had read this book before which prompted me to log it on GR. Sure enough I had read #1. My review was that I thought the book accurately portrayed how society would shut down but that the rest of the book was jarhead misogynistic that I couldn't stand it.

In the portion I read it didn't seem "as bad" but this definitely felt like a book written by a white male desperate to show off masculinity.

The fourth John Matherson book in the series by William R. Forstchen which began with One Second After continues in Five Years Later. Not much has changed in the five years since the attack. Most of the United States is living hand-to-mouth with subsistence farming and only a smattering of rudimentary technology. President Robert Scales, Matherson's friend and mentor, heads a sort of government based out of Raven Rock. Matherson serves from his Black Mountain home as the nominal vice president as well as president of Montreat College. Supplies at the Raven Rock facility are starting to run out and technology and equipment that breaks are no longer able to be repaired.
Scales, dying of cancer, summons Matherson to Raven Rock where he meets General Joshua Lawrence. Lawrence is running another hitherto unknown underground (literally) facility that is far better supplied. Lawrence delivers a demand that Scales and his government immediately and unconditionally surrender to him and his organization.

Meanwhile, a deadly disease is ravaging China and has made its way to US shores. It is through these obstacles that Matherson must navigate in an attempt to restore something of the America he remembers.

The apocalypse and its aftermath in One Second After were novel and thought-provoking. There aren't a lot of new ideas in this book. A good deal of Matherson's time is spent missing cigarettes, finding cigarettes, enjoying cigarettes, rationing cigarettes, and then finding more cigarettes. The underground facilities are reminiscent of the caves referenced in Dr. Strangelove, sometimes explicitly so, but there is none of the humor and self-awareness found in that movie. The characters and the plot in this book are ultimately a little hard to swallow.

Little of what happened in books two and three of the series is necessary to understand what is happening in this book, but reading the first book would be helpful for new readers. Much of the intrigue of the first book is missing here, but fans of the series and completists may enjoy returning to Black Mountain. A disappointing book in the end.

The audio version of Five Years After is read by Bronson Pinchot. Bronson is an amazing narrator who adds a great deal of energy to the characters and the story. His different voices sometimes make you feel like you are listening to a full-cast recording of the book. The dialogue for the main antagonist, Joshua Lawrence, comes across as cartoonish, which Pinchot's narration underscores.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

The fourth book in this dystopian series. The main protagonist, John Matherson, is once again reluctantly forced to make uncomfortable choices to try and save post-apocalyptic America. It is a complex psychological thriller about power, privilege and doing the right thing. The premise of the series is frighteningly possible and I feel is a must read for all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I want to start and say I love this series. I have read it countless times. I don't know if my expectations were too high based on my love for this series or this book missed the mark. The "bad people" of the book made no sense to me and the ending fell flat. I really hope William writes more in this world as I need more but I need the quality of the original three books.

Not quite a 4, but much better than a 3. Tie goes to the author, so I'm rounding up.

I am an OG for the After series having read One Second After in 2012 when author William Forstchen was early in his writing, and his "real" job mimicked main character John Matherson in so many ways: "He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War and the History of Technology."

What I loved about book one was the set-up. I enjoyed the novelty of an EMP attack back when we believed in the infallibility of our world, and none of it seemed possible. The Montreat College location, and knowing it was a real place where the author really lived, made it seem possible. Main character Matherson was the everyman hero - think John McClane in Die Hard. He had a particular set of skills which came in handy in the aftermath, but he was also a dad, professor and neighbor.

I read book two, but somehow missed book three. The internet summarized that one for me so I could jump into the book 4 audio arc prior to its 8/22/23 release.

After a hiatus of more than a decade, I got warm and fuzzy to hear the beginning of Five Years After and get caught up on this little town, and all that had happened during my absence. If you are new to this series, do yourself a favor and begin at the beginning. I do not think anyone should read this without the earlier works embedded in your brain.

Here's where I am a little sad - I didn't love this one. I LOVED the first. Have actually re-read that one multiple times. I fell a little in love with Matherson and was happy to meet up with him again. Sadly, Five Years After on audio was a let down. I honestly cannot say if it was Forstchen's writing, or narrator Bronson Pinchot's delivery. I immersed myself in the audio and listened to the 11+ hour book over the course of 24 hours. Pinchot, or the production team, made the choice to read just about every line with a snarl and exclamation point! Honestly, if every sentence needs to be emphasized, they all lose meaning! I mean that! Read everything now as though it's an emergency! Your brain starts to explode! I have a headache!

Thankfully, I also received a hard cover from Forge Books and plan to read that one (without exclamation points!) next month on the beach. I may update this review to let you know which medium I prefer.