Ember

In Adams’s gripping postapocalyptic thriller, the sun’s unexplained weakening leads to a precipitously cooling world. A plot to reignite the star with nuclear weapons only causes a massive solar flare that knocks out all power. Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, a survivalist group calling themselves the Minutemen violently takes over. Their agenda includes a strict patriarchy, decentralized government, heavily armed self-sufficiency, and reeducation of children in a radical version of personal liberty. They demand that all who oppose them move to large cities. The revolution exposes overly cautious Guy’s infidelity, when he insists to Lisa they cannot flee South Carolina without his mistress Heather. Their delay in leaving requires the trio to kill their way to Atlanta. In their flight, Guy dies in an attack, leaving the two women to seek community and stability on their own. They straggle to Atlanta, then Asheville, N.C., and then a betrayal separates them. As their paths diverge, hardened, practical Lisa and immature Heather offer divergent images of how women could survive in such a hostile future. While Adams (Gulf) writes very tense action sequences, the situations his characters find themselves in feel much too improbable. Nevertheless, this terrifying spin on the possibilities of extreme rhetoric will chill readers with its bleak image of the failure of humanity and the futility of fighting massive climate change. (Sept.)