The Dead and The Gone Review

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes.
Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.
With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.
Taken from GoodReads.

The Dead & The Gone is a companion novel to the first novel, Life as We Knew It. While the latter followed life in the aftermath of the meteor disaster that knocked the moon out of orbit in rural Pennsylvania, The Dead & The Gone examines the effects it has on life in the bustling city of New York. Detailing the story of devout Catholic, Alex Morales, and his two sisters, Bri and Julie, the story shows that life in New York was just as devastated as it was in Pennsylvania. The lack of food, the lack of electricity, and most of all, the lack of civility and human compassion are all things that newly-orphaned Alex Morales and his two sisters must contend with.

Ok, I really enjoyed Life as We Knew It. I thought it was an original idea and truly showed Miranda's emotions through her diary-form book. However, The Dead & The Gone missed that essential element. The book is sans diary form, and therefore, I felt like I was being told what was happening in New York, rather than being shown. That, essentially, was my one major problem with The Dead & The Gone. I wanted to feel for Alex Morales and his struggle, but he was often so stoic and so reserved that I never got to know him. He was duty-bound to protect his sisters, but I never actually felt the love he had for them until the very end. Moreover, I think his sisters, Bri and Julie, stole the book from the MC, and Alex almost felt secondary to them.

All in all, The Dead & The Gone is a well-written book. It shows, with harrowing detail, the aftermath of such a catastrophic event, but it fails to show the human element that made me love the first book so much. I will definitely be reading the third installment in the series, This World We Live In, but I've heard a lot of people say you can skip the second book and go straight to the third. I almost feel as though I should have listened. I give The Dead & The Gone a 3 out of 5, and I recommend it as a borrow-only.