The Dead and The Gone

The Dead and the Gone is the follow up to Susan Beth Pfeffer's follow up to Life As We Knew It.  This book takes place in the same post-apocalyptic world as Life As We Knew It except that it's in New York City.  Seventeen year old Alex Morales and his two younger sisters, Briana and Julie, are left to survive on their own as both of their parents go missing on the day that the asteroid hits the moon.  Alex feels the pressure of having to fight to keep both of his sister's alive and safe.  New York City becomes a wasteland - people are fighting for food, getting sick, and dying in the streets (from hunger, riots, suicide and the elements).  As Alex and his sister go to school, they fight to get around rats that are eating the bodies on the streets. 

This book was just as enthralling as Life As We Knew It.  I couldn't bring myself to stop reading it once I started.  Pfeffer makes it impossible not to identify and feel for the characters.  The world she writes is believable.  Also, it doesn't seem like some distant future.  It could be tomorrow or tonight and we could be in the same situation as her characters.  I highly recommend both of these books.  And, although they both take place after the same event, they involve different characters so you can read them in any order.