When The Change Came

Gabe Dunnit watches from the cockpit of his sailboat as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge explodes, concrete and shrapnel crashing into the saltwater miles away. He tries to communicate with the civilized world and finds it impossible either by cellphone or radio. He moves toward land in hopes of finding other people and an explanation as to why every bridge to the mainland has suffered the same fate as the Skyway.

He finds a young, but very capable teenage girl and her injured mother, companions in his new existence as a survivor and sometimes reluctant protector. There are soldiers in black trying to kill him and anyone else they find in the evacuated areas bordering Tampa. There are civilians looking for blood on the streets. taking advantage of the abandonment of civilization and murdering at will.

They’re looking for a way out, for a safe place, for a Way Home.

WAY HOME by Wayne Lemmons is frighteningly realistic. Gabe happens to be at sea and off the grid when some mystery event results in the Tampa area being cut off from the mainland. He meets a few others who are left behind after the brief evacuation, but no one knows what exactly has taken place. They are being hunted by Black Ops soldiers who sound American, but they think the States may have been attacked by another country. Lemmons creates a struggle for survival, which isn't difficult to imagine, and that is the most terrifying aspect, in my opinion.

I think the characters are believable for the most part. Gabe has no direction or purpose until he meets Sandra and her daughter, Bree Anne. The two females are trying to locate another loved one. While I can accept a young person being able to think outside the box more easily than adults, Bree seems a little too perfect. I'm not a fan of convenient skill sets. I prefer to see characters struggle more, rather than continually get lucky.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the ending because there really isn't one. Gabe and his group of survivors have a destination and plan to get there, but the mystery soldiers in black are still an ongoing threat. Lemmons never reveals what happened on the day of the mass evacuation. Hopefully, there will be a follow-up novel to justify the time spent reading Way Home.

As always,
AstraDaemon