NASA captures footage of solar plasma vortex on sun’s north pole | Watch (msn.com)

Imagine a world where Solar Flares killed most of the Earth’s population and animals. No technology left. And some people appeared… changed. Perhaps the solar flares had short-circuited different people’s brains in varying degrees. Most died, some fried, and a few lucky souls were left to sort out the mess. This is the story of a handful of survivors trying to make it out alive for another day in Scott Nicholson‘s post-apocalyptic thriller “The Shock“. Other books from this author include

• Afterburn: A Free Post-Apocalyptic Thriller – Scott Nicholson
• From Darkness Comes: The Horror Box Set (8 Book Collection) – The Home by Scott Nicholson

Solar flares are measured in five categories with M-class and X-class being the strongest. An X-class flare can release as much energy as 1 billion atom bombs, according to NASA. A coronal hole appears as a large black area on the Sun’s surface because it lacks plasma which has instead traveled out into space. Because of the Sun’s spin, a coronal hole can sometimes hit the Earth twice – the Sun spins every 27 days meaning the coronal hole can strike the Earth in 27-day intervals.

Rachel Wheeler finds herself alone in the city, where violent survivors known as “Zapheads” roam the streets, killing and destroying. Her only hope is to reach the mountains, where her grandfather, a legendary survivalist, established a compound in preparation for Doomsday.

She hurried west, figuring the beltway was two miles away, and beyond that, a pine forest broke up the small satellite communities. For some reason, the forest was a more appealing option than the maze of alleys, buildings, and vehicles that could serve up a Zaphead at any second. At least in the woods, the hunt and the flight would feel more natural.

Other survivors are fleeing the city, but Zapheads aren’t the only danger. Rogue bands of military soldiers want to impose their own order in the crumbling ruins of civilization.

Rachel wasn’t sure why she’d survived. She’d always felt special, but not in an arrogant way. Even from an early age, she’d always felt God made her for a reason, and made only one person like her in the whole world, and she was supposed to be Rachel all her life. She’d felt it even before her mother took her to Catholic services or her dad gave his grumbling rants that took her years to understand as atheism. She wasn’t even sure if she’d ever accepted his atheism, because she couldn’t comprehend a world without purpose and order. After Chelsea’s death, Dad had shut off any pretense of faith, insisting that no merciful God would allow such a tragedy. She wondered what Dad would make of this apocalypse.

When Rachel discovers a 10-year-old boy, she vows to care for him even at the risk of her own life. And the Zapheads are evolving, developing communal skills even as they lay waste to the society they will eventually replace.

The Good Bits: The book is an OK thriller. Just like the Walking Dead series, there is a lot of walking and talking and note taking on how to survive in a crisis. On that side, Scott Nicholson is a trove of information.

The Bad Bits: The Zappers were only zombies with a bit more movement range. So this could have easily been a zombie apocalypse book with little to no change. There were really few explanations like why the llamas immediately died when the light appeared but the farmer was unhurt. Was it blindness? A heart attack? EMP?

OK book to read but slightly disappointed at how short it was.