The Switch

October 10, 2022
When the power abruptly goes out globally due to a mysterious electromagnetic pulse known as “the switch,” 13-year-old Henry Carter’s maternal relatives, the self-sufficient, technology-averse Ludds, are uniquely situated to cope with the emergency. Their well-supplied 40-acre Oregon farm is set up with multiple households, a wind turbine that provides limited electricity, and even a disaster-analysis professional. The compound soon becomes a small pocket of order amid the outside world’s chaos, but Henry struggles to cope: he’s navigating the loss of his zookeeper father, not seen since the event, and begins communicating with the ghost of a neighbor who died in a switch-related plane crash that hit Ludd property. Complicating matters, the 13-year-old is stranded when his uncle’s truck is hijacked during a mission outside the farm. To survive, Henry allies himself with family friend Derek, a former Army Ranger, and self-assured water vendor Rebecca, tracking the missing truck and family members amid increasingly threatening stakes. Skirting specifics around the catalyzing event, Smith (Descent) focuses instead on society’s fragility post-apocalypse, paying particular attention to the Ludds’ efforts to survive and adapt, and employing a tense third-person narrative that drives this suspenseful, crisis-oriented read. Characters default to white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Barbara Kouts, Barbara Kouts Agency.

January 1, 2023
On the morning of his thirteenth birthday, Henry Carter declines his father's invitation to go with him to the zoo where he works. While Dad is gone, Henry notices something odd: "It was like a lightning strike without the sound or the bolt, or brightening. Like God was snapping a photo using the flash of his celestial camera." Uncle Edgar suggests that it was an electromagnetic pulse of some sort. Then a plane falls from the sky, the power goes out, cars stop running, and Henry's new smartphone dies. A drive to the zoo in Uncle Edgar's old, pre-electronics Cadillac yields escaped gorillas, leopards, giraffes, and a rampaging elephant -- but no father. Days and weeks pass, and life becomes a struggle for survival. The world outside grows desperate and chaotic, and Henry's family must build a wall of abandoned cars to protect their farm. Smith's gripping novel offers intricate world-building, a companionable protagonist in Henry, abundant action, plentiful dialogue, character-deepening journal entries, and a ghostly voice in Henry's head. Perhaps it's a sign of our times that a tale of near-doom seems perfectly believable. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2023
On the morning of his thirteenth birthday, Henry Carter declines his father's invitation to go with him to the zoo where he works. While Dad is gone, Henry notices something odd: "It was like a lightning strike without the sound or the bolt, or brightening. Like God was snapping a photo using the flash of his celestial camera." Uncle Edgar suggests that it was an electromagnetic pulse of some sort. Then a plane falls from the sky, the power goes out, cars stop running, and Henry's new smartphone dies. A drive to the zoo in Uncle Edgar's old, pre-electronics Cadillac yields escaped gorillas, leopards, giraffes, and a rampaging elephant -- but no father. Days and weeks pass, and life becomes a struggle for survival. The world outside grows desperate and chaotic, and Henry's family must build a wall of abandoned cars to protect their farm. Smith's gripping novel offers intricate world-building, a companionable protagonist in Henry, abundant action, plentiful dialogue, character-deepening journal entries, and a ghostly voice in Henry's head. Perhaps it's a sign of our times that a tale of near-doom seems perfectly believable.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)