Ashes( 465 Pages )

Ilsa J. Bick, the author of this book has written some of the most gruesome prose I've ever read. This is the first book of what will become a trilogy, and I almost didn't make it through. Because it was so full of violence, it was difficult to continue.  Alex is a young high school girl who's parents were both killed in an airplane accident. Both of her parents were doctors, and were on their way to a rescue mission. After her parents deaths, Alex was living with her aunt when she was diagnosed with a brain  tumor. Chemo and other treatments didn't seem to be helping, so one day she decides to take her parents ashes to Lake Superior and let them loose in the waters. But she doesn't make it because on her way there is some sort of attack on the U.S. that involves nuclear eruptions, among other horrible events. Both coasts are pretty much wiped out, but all of a sudden, Alex realizes that her senses that were gone, as a result of the chemo, had returned. But when the "ZAP" (her name for the attack) hit, many people dropped dead on the spot. Others were changed and became animal-like in their behaviors. A boy and girl who Alex had seen earlier have begun to eat the people in the camping area near Alex's camp spot.Although there are some tender moments in the book as she meets a young man who helps her, and there are twists and turns to the plot, it's just about as violent as a book can be. I may give book two a look over, but it it follows the same path as Ashes, I won't read all of it and won't buy Book #3! We'll see.