In the After by Demitria Lunetta
Series: In the After #1
Published by HarperTeen on June 25, 2013
Pages: 455
Format: Hardcover
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They hear the most silent of footsteps.
They are faster than anything you've ever seen.
And They won't stop chasing you...until you are dead.

Amy is watching TV when it happens, when the world is attacked by Them. These vile creatures are rapidly devouring mankind. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to escape—and even rescue “Baby,” a toddler left behind in the chaos. Marooned in Amy’s house, the girls do everything they can to survive—and avoid Them at all costs.

After years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she’ll lose Baby—and much more.

Rebellious, courageous, and tender, this unforgettable duo will have you on the edge of your seat as you tear through the pulse-pounding narrow escapes and horrifying twists of fate in this thrilling debut from author Demitria Lunetta

In the After was a deliciously creepy, gritty survival story. I loved the plot, the writing, the pacing and the characters. I was intrigued by the world Lunetta created and, when I got to the end of the book, stunned by the revelations.

I loved Amy. She was strong, smart and resilient. The first few chapters SHOULD be classified as an info dump, but the way Lunetta wrote it was fascinating and I couldn’t put the book down. Normally, a character grows from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. But we saw a huge amount of growth in Amy just in the first few chapters alone. She was alone for so long and, yeah, at first she crumbled under the fear and isolation. But eventually she learned how to thrive, how to survive on her own. And a typical girl her age never could have cared for a toddler on top of that.

Baby was a fascinating character. Right from the beginning, she was different. I always knew she was different and I had my theories about her from day one. The bite, the mark… I knew something wasn’t right. She was highly intelligent for a child, though, and a great companion for Amy. Though young, she knew how to be silent, how to hide and how to take care of herself.

The second part of the book held so many answers, yet for every answer we got, three new questions popped up. Also, 98% of the time, when the MC stumbles into a thriving community of survivors and someone starts talking of their desire to ‘isolate the best, weed out the worst’ and bring about a ‘new civilization’ in Dystopians and Post-Apocalyptic stories, it usually means trouble. It never ends well. That wonderful utopia, away from the all the evils of the outside world, is usually hiding some nasty, dark secrets. And, as predicted, this was the case and bad things happened – I won’t spoil it for you, but there were many people that could not be trusted and many people I did not like, such as Dr. Reynolds and Amber and… Well, someone else… I can’t say… MAJOR spoilers. But you’ll see when you read it!

I loved Rice though. He was kind, compassionate, cautious and honest. He was good for Amy. He helped protect her and he kept her and Baby safe. He also kept some things from her.. But I do hope we see more of him in book two. I also loved Kay. She was such a hard-ass on the outside, but deep down, she truly cared for the safety of New Hope and for Amy. Gareth was another one I loved; he was the father figure Amy needed, as well as her protector. Finally, Vivian was the friend Amy deserved and I’m disheartened with how her story ended, though I had a feeling it would happen very early on and it DID lead to a major revelation.

Part three of the book was definitely the most action-packed. It held almost all of the answers and had at least three HUGE, MAJOR revelations. I actually had a ton of theories as early as half-way through the book. Unintentionally, Rice gave away a lot of things in his actions and words. Lunetta really pulls the rug out from under us in this section of the book. Everything you thought was true… Well, you’ll see.

Overall, I completely loved this book. It was creepy, intriguing and page-turning. Lunetta is definitely an author on the rise and I’m incredibly excited for the second and final book in this duology, In the End.