Aurora - David Koepp

 

Just how much this book got to me might be revealed when I admit that I was addressing my friend’s voice controlled virtual assistant as Aurora rather than the given name! Frustrated when the song I requested wasn’t played I feared the worst - no power! 😉

A PLANET WITHOUT POWER

When a solar storm hits the earth, the lights go out across the planet. But this time the blackout won’t be over soon - it could last for years. Aubrey and her stepson now face the biggest challenge of their lives.

A SOCIETY WITHOUT RULES

Soon they hear rumours of riots, the struggle for food becomes real, and even within their small communities, the rule of law is collapsing. Aubrey’s estranged brother Thom, a self-made billionaire who abandoned her years ago, retreats to a gilded desert bunker where he can ride out the crisis in perfect luxury.

A RACE TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD

But the complicated history between the siblings is just the beginning of a personal reckoning long overdue…

With a narrative that sweeps the reader along like a tidal wave Aurora takes a very real solar event, based on the Carrington Event of 1859, and looks at how such a thing might pan out in our 21st century world. And the result is a tense, thriller that almost borders on the dystopian as we accompany Aubrey and Thom on their quest for survival in a life without power. The siblings each have their own stories that run parallel to the main thrust of the story and it all makes for an explosive melting pot of tensions.

A palpable atmosphere is created and sustained throughout as the crisis exposes the fractures in family dynamics. But we also see how a community thrust into disaster can pull together. The characterisations were believable and compelling - I wanted to know how these people fared, I needed to know their stories. 

It’s subtly deceptive for the opening chapters suggest the reader might be in for a sci fi story but that morphs into a disaster tale laced with family dramas! There’s a hint of a crime story too but no one element overshadows the other. It’s well structured and I absolutely loved the final sentence which echoed a quote from a favourite film of mine from the 1970’s.

As I read I felt the story had a cinematic quality so I guess I was not surprised to read that the author is a screenwriter. It’s a wonderfully visual book. But it’s also a scary book. Not merely in terms of the content but because of the potential for an event such as this to happen. Scientifically it could. It would make the pandemic seem like a walk in the park. Excuse me now, please, I need to go build a bunker.

My thanks to HQ stories for a gifted proof and a spot upon the blog tour.