Ever since Isobel’s mom died, her dad won’t stop preparing for the rest of the world to end―attending doomsday survivalist meetings, packing bug-out bags, and drawing up plans for a secret backyard bunker. He’s methodically stacked and stored countless packs of batteries and bottles of water in the basement. And thirty-six cans of tomato soup.
But Isobel has no interest in it. She has enough to deal with between finishing high school and trying to shield her little sister April from their dad’s increasing paranoia. She’s managing to cope―until their dad decides to move them all to Endurance Ranch, a survivalist community in the middle of nowhere. When Isobel meets Dane, the son of a hardcore prepper couple, she doesn’t feel as isolated at the ranch as she first thought. But she wants to be in control of her own future. She realizes it’s going to be up to her to save her sister―and herself―from a life underground.
No one knows exactly how many preppers there are in the US - because the best ones don't tell anyone they're doing it - but at least a third of adults claim to do some prepping. This story delves into the more serious side - bunkers, compounds, secrecy - but it also has some very deep things to say about grief and how different people deal with it.
Isobel is drowning under the grief for her mother, her attempts to keep her younger sister happy and the lack of support from her father. Instead of seeing what they need, he's falling further into the rabbit hole of prepping (and hiding, though he doesn't see it that way.) From one perspective, he's trying to keep his children safe as an overreaction to his wife's death; from another, he's hiding from everything that happened. Seeing the different ways people react to grief is amazing, and no one is presented as entirely wrong.
The love story doesn't take up too much space, which is great. One thing I didn't like is how everyone is ignoring the mental issues - Isobel clearly has panic attacks, and right at the end her father is offhandedly described as having a panic disorder, but there's never any sign of treatment or therapy for any of them. Perhaps that happens off stage. I'd like to think so.
I thought this would be an interesting read from a prepping point of view, but it's far more about the colors of grief and how they affect people. This should do really well and I can't wait to see it.
The End of Always publishes on the 16th April, 2024. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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