Could you survive the aftermath of the Pulse?

About the Book

Book: Pulse

Author: Linore Burkard

Genre: Christian YA/Apocalyptic Suspense

Release date: August 24, 2015

What do you do when the whole world stops?

Andrea, Lexie and Sarah are just ordinary teens until a mysterious event shuts down all technology. In the dead of winter, there’s no heat, no internet, no cell phones–not even a working car.
In this chilling Christian YA tale, most of the population doesn’t survive. Pitting faith and grit against a world without power, the girls and their families must beat the odds. But can they find the strength to survive when society collapses and technology fails?

Click here to get your copy.

Book Review:

3.5 stars

Post-Apocalypse Christian Fiction, yes, please! I’m always looking for a new take on the Apocalypse and Pulse did not disappoint on the care and details given to how society would react to the loss of electronics. Having to survive on instinct created a different kind of monster for Andrea, Lexie, and Sarah to overcome.

Pulse did a wonderful job of creating a devastated world where electronics no longer function. What happens when stores shut down, cars don’t run, and you can’t call 9-1-1 when something goes wrong? And things will go wrong. Things will go incredibly wrong.

Humans are animals at heart. Survival of the fittest. Kill or be killed. They’re all explored in Pulse.

There are a few points that will offend some readers. Pulse does have a political bend and often makes rude remarks about government. But I can overlook that.

While enjoying Pulse, you’ll read the diary entries from three different girls and see how they fare from their perspective in different parts of the city. Now, we’re talking about the viewpoint of three sixteen-year-olds who’ve grown up having everything at their fingertips, and Burkard does an excellent job of making them sound their age. Pretty much, they’re snobby know-it-all’s, which got old fast but made their character arc intriguing as they learned to overcome the trials facing them.

Lexie was my favorite character. She and her family are ‘preppers’ so they’ve been preparing for something like this for years. When they’re threatened, they protect themselves. I have no qualms with that. I would probably react the same.

Since this is a series, I’m interested to see how the story progresses. Andrea, Sarah, and Lexie show great promise in their journeys and their paths will only become more difficult as the world continues to deteriorate.

For a YA novel, it could go either way. I personally don’t believe it is too dark for the younger generation, but that’s only my opinion. There are some uncomfortable situations brought up in Pulse, so read and recommend at your discretion.

I requested a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

Linore Rose Burkard wrote a trilogy of genuine regency romances for the Christian market before there were any regencies for the Christian market. Published with Harvest House, her books opened the genre for the CBA. She also writes YA Suspense/Apocalyptic fiction as L.R. Burkard. Married with five children, Linore home-schools her youngest daughter, teaches workshops for writers, and is the Vice President of the Dayton Christian Scribes.  Her latest  PULSE EFFEX SERIES, takes readers into a “chilling possible future for America, while affirming the power of faith in the darkest of times.”

More from Linore

When my sweet historical romance series was published, I never dreamed my next would be YA/dystopian. What a switch in genres! So, how did I go from one end of the writing spectrum to another? Blame it on an idea that refused to die. I read a headline about how close the earth came to suffering a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, in 2012. We missed the worst effects of a solar flare by a hair (in space terms); but the “what if” factor had been set in motion. What if that flare hadn’t missed us? What if I was a teen raised on electronics–or an adult medically dependent on them–and it all went dead in a matter of seconds? What if the next flare doesn’t miss? PULSE, the first book in my PULSE EFFEX Series, was born.

The books shows life in the aftermath of such an event for three teens and their families. With the world plunged into a new dark age, can they keep hope alive?