Nuclear Survival: Southern Grit, Northern Exposure, and Western Strength by Harley Tate

Harley Tate's Nuclear Survival series consists of nine books.  It is best to read the Southern Grit trilogy first, followed by the Northern Exposure trilogy, and ending with the Western Strength trilogy.  Grant is the protagonist of the first trilogy, and he briefly encounters Midge at the beginning of the first book.  Midge is the protagonist of the second trilogy, and Midge's sister, Lainey, is the protagonist of the final trilogy in the set.  So we get to see what happens in three separate parts of the country as the disaster unfolds.

Since each set of books opens on the day that the disaster begins, none of the summaries spoil events for any of the books.  The summaries were taken from Amazon's product pages.

Southern Grit:

What if an EMP is only the first strike?

With a credible threat to the United States and a plane stuck on the tarmac, Grant Walton is thirty seconds from full-blown panic mode.  He’s the only one in the airport who knows the truth.  When the power goes out, he can’t waste another second.  It’s the beginning of the end and every man for himself.

A nuclear attack will rip the country apart.

Leah Walton is wrapping up a twelve-hour shift as a nurse in the heart of the city.  When the power goes out, the hospital operates on crisis mode.  She can’t stop to breathe, let alone check her messages.  When she finally listens to her husband’s frantic calls, she’s faced with an impossible choice:  leave or die trying.

Could you drop everything to save yourself?

Grant and Leah race the clock to find each other before the United States is plunged into chaos.  When the bombs fall, their worst fears come true.  Can Grant make it home in time to find his wife?  Will Leah escape the brunt of the blast?

Northern Exposure:

An imminent threat.  A city in the dark.

When a fellow hacker clues Midge Sinclair into an impending terror attack, every second matters.  She must alert her sister, find her mother, and make it out of Chicago before a nuclear bomb tears the city apart.  The only problem?  She’s 30,000 feet in the air careening toward O’Hare in a powerless plane.

Could you drop everything to save yourself?

Danny Olsen spends his days learning to be a doctor and ignoring his father’s disapproval.  When he flies back to college via a layover in Chicago, he never expects to meet a girl like Midge.  She’s smart, quick on her feet, and the only person who can get him out of the airport alive.

Strangers on the run against impossible odds.

With an EMP destroying the grid in Chicago, Midge and Danny race the clock to escape the city before a nuclear bomb turns downtown to ash.  They’ll have to learn to trust each other if they want to make it out alive.

Western Strength:

A looming threat.  A reporter on the edge.

Lainey starts her day like any other, preparing to host the midday news on a local TV station.  When her younger sister calls, spouting off about an imminent terror attack, she’s skeptical.  Midge might be a top-notch computer hacker, but that doesn’t mean she’s a reliable source.

An entire country thrown into chaos.

Keith takes his dog for a run and heads into work, expecting an uneventful eight-hour shift behind a video camera.  When his ex-girlfriend busts into the boss’s office with news of not only a massive blackout, but potential nuclear bombs, he doesn’t believe it.  A glimpse at her sister’s information changes everything.

Could you chase the story despite the risks?

Lainey and Keith are thrown together in a race-against-time to uncover the truth and broadcast the facts to the American people.  They’ll have to trust each other, their instincts, and their wits to survive.

I enjoyed all three sets of books, but the trilogy I enjoyed the most is Western Strength.  I like Lainey the best of the protagonists, and also, I felt deep suspense since I knew what was going to happen after having read the previous trilogies.