Both a haunting apocalyptic story set against the backdrop of a mysterious and devastating electromagnetic pulse, and a character-focused, poignant literary thriller. What would happen if all technology, all over the world, suddenly stopped? When a strange new star appears in the sky, human life instantly grinds to a halt as, across the world, anything and everything electronic stops working completely. At first, it seems to Seth Black to be a strange miracle --it stops him from preventing suicide, and erases the gambling debt that threatened to destroy his family. But, as he and his wife Natalie begin to realize that the electricity isn't coming back on, and the phones will never work again, and the food won't last, they begin to wonder how they and their two sons will survive. Meanwhile, screenwriter Thomas Phillips--an old friend of Natalie Black's--has just picked up Skylar Stover, star of his new movie, at the airport when his phone goes dead and planes begin to fall from the sky. Thomas has just completed a script about a supernova causing an electromagnetic pulse that ended the world. Now, he's the only one who recognizes what's happening, and where it will lead. Soon, Thomas and Skylar decide to rescue the Blacks, and together the strange group must attempt to survive as the world falls apart.

From hiding in Thomas's home and avoiding desperate neighbors to roaming the streets avoiding starving bandits and race-focused vigilantes forming new governments, they'll do their best to hold on to each other and their humanity. Yet all the while, unbeknownst to them, Aiden Christopher--a bitter and malignant man driven to violent, amoral insanity as society crumbles around him--is fighting to survive as well. And he's on a collision course with Thomas, Skylar, and the Blacks .