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Nuclear War: A Scenario
By Annie Jacobsen
Dutton, January 2026, 416pp.

The Short of It:

A terrifying nuclear scenario that could absolutely happen.

The Rest of It:

Terrifying? Yes. Realistic? Absolutely. Nuclear War: A Scenario is based on intel from retired military personnel and walks the reader through a nuclear incident as it’s happening. Second by second. In five seconds, this is the impact. Two minutes in, this is what’s happening. You get the idea.

Reading this book while our current President is building a bunker to rival no other, was chilling and infuriating because given the picture that this book paints, no one is surviving. Six floors of a bunker will not save you. This is hard to read about but factual.

In this scenario, the Pentagon is the target. This seems probable to me. Taking out the command center would be the way to go. Once the bomb is dropped, it provides several stages of destruction. There’s the detonation, the flash of thermal radiation, the blast wave, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and the formation of a radioactive fallout plume. If you aren’t one of the lucky ones to die on impact, you face horrible burns, immediate loss of limbs, burned out lungs.

If you survived all that, then your real challenge comes next. Survival. Water and food, all contaminated. All food sources, obliterated. This goes on for a very long time.

If there is no water, the fires from the blast are left unchecked and just continue to burn which damages air quality and UV filters, creating a nuclear winter; a projected drop of about 35 degrees. That means crops and livestock are wiped out.

In this scenario, it will take approximately 25K years for the earth to recover. Read that again.

Writing this book had to be quite the undertaking. It’s fascinating and you cannot stop reading even though the outcome is so grim. It’s broken down into locations and time. What’s going on in California? Or D.C.? Or at military bases around the world? More importantly, what is the President doing? His cabinet? Held against this current administration I’d have to say that we have NO HOPE of surviving such an event.

Grim.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Lock In
By John Scalzi
Tor Science Fiction, 2015, 336pp.

The Short of It:

Interesting concept.

The Rest of It:

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent – and nearly five million souls in the United States alone – the disease causes “Lock In”: Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge. ~ the publisher

I went into this book club pick completely blind, with no idea what to expect, and it ended up being exactly the kind of read I needed. It’s a little strange, a little unsettling, and perfectly suited to a mood-driven reading experience, which honestly feels essential these days.

What really hooked me was the central concept: a virus that leaves people fully conscious but unable to move, forcing them to live their lives through “threeps,” robotic, humanoid bodies that act as their physical stand-ins while their real bodies remain safely tucked away. It’s a fascinating idea, but the story quickly makes it clear that “safe” is relative. Those affected by the syndrome are being targeted, and what once seemed like a solution to a global crisis becomes a new kind of vulnerability. These people are still here, still aware, and still at risk.

The narrative follows police detectives, including one who has Haden’s, which adds a compelling layer to how the world and its biases are portrayed. Society has already started deciding what’s acceptable and what isn’t, and the lines get murkier as the story unfolds. The fact that “threeps” can be damaged or destroyed, often at great personal cost to their users, raises the stakes in a way that feels both practical and deeply human.

What starts as a straightforward murder investigation expands into something much bigger, blending speculative sci-fi with a grounded, procedural feel.

I’m always drawn to stories that explore where we might be headed when things start to fall apart, and this one hits that note without feeling too far removed from reality. Maybe a little too close, at times.

Overall, it’s an engaging, thought-provoking read, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else in book club takes away from it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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