POINT OF IMPACT

In Stone’s novel, the aftermath of a nuclear attack, a young Floridian goes on a dangerous journey to reunite with her sister.

On a summer day in July, improvised nuclear devices go off in 13 cities across the United States. Eighteen-year-old Dakota Sloane is working a shift at the Beer Shack in Miami; fortunately, she’s about a mile and a half away from the blast site. Dakota was raised for six years on the River Grass Compound—the base of an abusive apocalyptic cult—before running away with her younger sister, Eden, and later spending time with doomsday prepper Ezra Burrows. As a result, she has the knowledge and skills she needs to survive a nuclear event and the days that follow. She’s desperate to reunite with Eden, who’s 15 and living in a foster home elsewhere in the city. However, rubble and corpses block the roads, phone lines are down, and nuclear fallout rains from the sky, among other threats. Still, Dakota’s determined, and she’s joined by her manager, Julio de la Peña, who’s trying to reach his wife in West Palm Beach; Logan Garcia, a heavy drinker with a violent, shady past; and, later, nursing student Shay Harris. Eden survived the blast by shielding herself in her foster home’s bathtub; she knows that Dakota’s coming for her, but how long can she wait before she’s forced to leave? Meanwhile, Maddox Cage, a member of the River Grass Compound, has come looking for Dakota and Eden. In a story told through the varying perspectives of Dakota, Eden, Logan, and Maddox, Stone presents a compelling, action-packed apocalyptic thriller featuring memorable characters and thought-provoking moral questions. The narrative frequently provides exposition through dialogue, but it’s rarely distracting. Overall, the prose is immersive and spares no gory detail along the way: “He was a mass of scorched flesh. The skin of his back and legs was burnt and blackened, the plaid pattern of the shirt he’d been wearing seared into the flabby folds of his chest and stomach.”

A suspenseful story of people grappling with a horrific event—and their own demons.