Five years after the EMP strike that fractured the United States, in the New York Times bestselling novel One Second After, John Matherson is teaching at Montreat, attempting to lead a quiet life when he receives the news that President Bob Scales has mysteriously died. The Republic of New America has all but collapsed into regional powers, and the world at large is struggling to remain stable as regional conflicts ravage the post EMP landscape. Suspecting assassination, John is pulled back into the fray as he joins the struggle to hold the tottering Republic together, while facing threats on multiple fronts. When another EMP is set off over the Eastern states, years of progress are put in peril. With so much of his work undone, John must find the strength within to start over, so that he can save the country and the people that he holds dear from even greater calamity.