I originally picked this book up because of the cover, but then I held onto it for deranged life once I saw it was by Neal Shusterman and his brother, Jarrod Shusterman. Sometimes, you just know a good thing when you see it.
An amazon summary, "When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman.
The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.
Until the taps run dry.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Alyssa's family is like any other family in California that suddenly lost water in their taps. They first try to go to the grocery store to get water but that runs out quickly, so they buy ice instead. They manage to stave off their thirst for a couple days until their supply of ice (which turned into melted water) is contaminated by an unfortunate accident. Her parents set off to hopefully get a couple gallons or so from a nearby effort, but they don't come back. Alyssa, her brother, and her survivalist neighbor, Kelton ride down to where they're supposed to be only to find a disaster. Once they return home, they find their house has been broken into, and their dog has become part of a small pack of other dogs. Everyone and everything are hunting for water.
Except for Kelton and his family. They have been the 'crazy' doomsday preppers all along, and only they are prepared to be off grid in their suburban home with water, food, and plenty of necessities ready to shelter in place for a while, but they ultimately want to reach their bug out. A bug out refers to their place in the woods where there is plenty of food, water, and a very safe shelter to wait out this crisis. Everyone thought they were crazy and just breaking home owner association rules until suddenly everyone is turning on each other for any amount of water.
That's enough summary.
I liked this story even though it was kind of unnerving. There were a lot of elements that made sense in terms of how society would slowly collapse and get more desperate and to see how different people's desperation transformed them into, well, different people.
I also enjoyed the wide range of characters that were introduced and showcased, while also maintaining the focus on the story at the heart of the matter: survival.
There are a couple things I wish we knew how they resolved, but I also think it's okay that I don't know on some level. For those of you out there that have read this, any theories on Kelton's parents are welcome.
This story also makes me desperately hope that if something were to happen like this in the real world, that we would look out for each other better than they were able to in this story. BUT, there are also the very real struggles plaguing us every day that there seems to be minimally done to stop.
So, maybe this glimpse at one theory of humanity holds a little more uncomfortable truth than not.
Happy reading!
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