Day Zero by Kelly DeVos

The Quick Cut: A girl and her younger brother try desperately to survive and escape their pursuers after a terrorist level attack occurs. 

A Real Review:

Thank you to Inkyard Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 Survival can be a complicated thing for those who are homeless or barely making it by. But what happens when the world we know is attacked by those in power, just to keep their grasp? This is the reality for Jinx and her little brother Charles. 

 Jinx has spent her life prepping for the worst case scenario. Her dad is a bonafide doomsday prepped who wrote an infamous book on the subject. So when that situation happens and the world is ripped apart by political forces using a bank attack, she finds those she cares about on the run while searching for answers. Who is behind the attack and how is her family connected? 

 This book does a great job in setting the story by making it abundantly clear who the main political forces are and what their power plays are about. The action gets moving quickly with our heroine playing the lead role of keeping everyone safe and on the move. However, that's when the story falls apart. 

 By the halfway point, the action that keeps you on your toes turns sour. Where the frenzied pace kept you interested, the plot gets so intricate that it's hard to stay at an interested pace. The woven web is very complex, so much so it takes away from the entertainment factor. 

 Upside: the little brother Charles is such an entertaining character. His precociousness is unrealistic, but the rest of him feels genuine. The way Jinx has to care for him and keep him on track with his diabetes tells a story of how difficult a condition it is to live with. It's a constant job ensuring they don't let their glucose levels go so high that the damage is permanent. 

 With a strong start that turns complicated, this story may lose all but the most dedicated readers.

My rating: 3 out of 5