The Unit - Softcover

DeHart, Terry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841499331 ISBN 13: 9781841499338

Publisher: Orbit & Abacus

Synopsis

Jerry Sharpe is a former marine and, for him, survival means protecting his family by any means necessary. Susan is learning just how far a mother will go for her children. But how far will she go for a man she doubted before the bombs fell? As Jerry's training and instincts take over, she is certain of one thing - her children need her. Melanie was going to go to college. Now, she is struggling to find a way to live in a world gone mad without losing sight of what she believes in. Scotty has a new mission - more than survival. He was saved, and he'll be damned if he won't fight for what's right. And Bill - Bill was locked up, but the power went out and the guards left. Now he and his fellow inmates have realised that everything is free for the taking ...if you're strong enough to hold on to it.

About this title

About the Author

Terry DeHart is a former U.S. Marine and NASA security analyst. Three of his stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His short stories have appeared in The Barcelona Review, Zoetrope All-Story Extra, Night Train Magazine, In Posse Review/Web del Sol, Paumanok Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Vestal Review and Opium, among others. Terry lives with his wife and daughters in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From Booklist

DeHart’s latest, set in a recently destroyed world, is a bleak postapocalyptic story in which a family of four learn just how far they must go in order to survive. Dad Jerry Sharpe is an ex-marine who is determined to survive; his wife, Susan, is a dedicated mother, even if she isn’t convinced that her future lies with Jerry; Melanie is their 18-year-old peacenik vegetarian daughter; and Scott is their 17-year-old son, who sometimes thinks that the end of the world is the best thing that ever happened to him. Violence abounds in a world where every human decency is suspect, and while each individual remembers moments of kindness and cooperation, the memory never lasts long. The four of them undergo terrible trials as the winter moves in and the nuclear ash is driven from the sky by snowstorms. Survival is a chancy thing, but it is possible with a good deal of luck and ruthlessness. While the characterization sometimes seems to fall back on simplistic formulas, the speed of the plot and the nail-biting horror of a world destroyed by a nuclear exchange keep the story going and the reader interested. --Regina Schroeder

Edition details

• Publisher: Orbit & Abacus
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841499331
• ISBN 13: 9781841499338
• Binding: Paperback