Ashfall by Mike Mullen

3
Ashfall (Ashfall, #1)
Photo and Description from Goodreads.com

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget.

This book was absolutely amazing. Highly recommended that you buy this for yourself and your friends. The characters and the plot were so well written, I had to pry my eyes away from this book, never wanting to put it down. I experienced several different emotions while reading ranging from, anger, to disgust, to thirst and relief. I'm not kidding that I had to keep a glass of water by my side I became very thirsty during this one.

The author did a great amount of reasearch and it comes through in this story. Alex has to survive while traveling in dirty air, ashes that stack up feet thick on the ground. There is very little food and water and varying levels of humanity as he struggles to survive and find his family. The people that he comes across on his travels will anger you, have pity for some and even very thankful that there are still some that show him some kindness.

I dare you to pick up this book and after reading it say that it's not worth the money, because it is. I hope that the rest of the series keeps up the pace and the intensity that we experienced in this one.
Oh, almost forgot to say that I really appreciated the way that sex was handled in this book. It really follows along my thoughts of "less is more". We the reader are filled in enough to know what's going on, but it never crosses the line of too much information.

http://www.mikemullinauthor.com/    (read the first 2 chapters link at bottom of page)
http://www.tanglewoodbooks.com/    

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