My sister-in-law is a huge Terri Blackstock fan, and I remember when she told me about this series after she first read it years ago. The premise is fantastic. One day, electricity doesn’t work. Nothing electric/electronic works. Planes fall out of the sky. Cars die on the road. All the lights go out. City water pumps fail. Generators won’t operate.

What would happen to the average American if an outage like that went on…indefinitely?

The Branning family is going to find out. This book is the first of four, and it focuses primarily on Deni Branning, the oldest daughter in a family of four kids. She is home from college just long enough to plan her wedding to an aspiring politician in D.C. She is on the fast track to a job in broadcast journalism. Her future looks bright. Until the lights go out. She’s stuck at home in Alabama with no way to communicate with her fiancee.

It’s not long before the Brannings find themselves hauling lake water to their house, catching fish to eat, and saving half their trash and composting the rest. Their lives change drastically.

Their quiet, affluent neighborhood is rocked when one of the families is found murdered in their home. Who is the killer? Everyone starts suspecting everyone else, and emotions run high.

This is a Christian novel, so the Brannings have to face the fact that they are Christians in name only, and not practice (both inner and outer). The family chooses to rely on God to provide and guide. The Jesus aspect is tastefully done, not cringey or contrived.

Deni escalates the conflict with some truly dumb choices, which bring her and her family close to peril.

This was a great book—perfect for anyone who enjoys Christian mystery-thriller.