Review: the dead and the gone, by Susan Pfeffer

Only the unlucky survive...

Alex Morales lives in New York city. He has no interest in the meteor that's supposed to hit the moon; he has work and school to keep up with, and with his older brother in the Marines and his father away at a funeral he's the man of the house. Not that his sisters seem to pay much attention to him.

When he gets home on the evening of the 18th May, he discovers his mother has been called into work unexpectedly, leaving him with his sisters. In the days that follow, as he realises his parents aren't coming home and life has changed forever, he struggles to keep them together and fed. But worse is yet to come...


Life as we Knew it was set in rural Pennsylvania. Miranda and her family were short of food and heat and water, but their isolation protected them from some of the problems Alex and his sisters face. New York is devastated by the tidal waves, and each time the tide comes in a little more of the city is lost. With government breaking down waste removal ceases, which doesn't seem like a problem until you realise how many people are dying. And with only emergency food supplies making it into the stricken city, it becomes harder and harder for Alex to keep his family alive.

Alex has to make some very difficult decisions during the course of this book. Both his sisters are offered places out of the city, forcing him to weigh their chances of survival against their hatred for being split up. At one point the only way to get food is to trade clothes and belongings looted from dead bodies.

Miranda and her family weren't particularly religious, but Alex and his sisters are devout Catholics and their occasional prayers add a ring of truth to the story. Similarly, while the government was mostly incompetent in LAWKI, here you get the sense that they're genuinely trying to help as many people as possible, particularly in a harrowing scene in Yankee Stadium early in the book.

The book ends on the 29th December, meaning the whole book takes place within LAWKI. And luckily, it escapes the middle—book—in—a—trilogy curse; it's just as strong as the other two.


'It's not Thanksgiving without football,' one of the guys said.
'Touch football,' another said. 'No helmets, no hits.'
'No Cowboys, either,' the first said. 'Jets versus Giants.'
'We need another guy on our team!' another man yelled. 'Come on, kid. You're a Giant.'
And for one glorious moment, that was just how Alex felt.