And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder

Author : Will Hill
Title : After The Fire
Published : 01/06/2017
Pages : 496
Genre : Young Adult
Publisher : Usborne Publishing

     The things I've seen are burned into me, like scars that refuse to fade. Father John controls everything inside The Fence. And Father John likes rules. Especially about never talking to Outsiders. Because Father John knows the truth. He knows what is right, and what is wrong. He knows what is coming. Moonbeam is starting to doubt, though. She's starting to see the lies behind Father John's words. She wants him to be found out. What if the only way out of the darkness is to light a fire?

     When it comes to young adult novels my interest is definitely more on the side of contemporary fiction. So while I was lost in the shelves of my favorite bookstore in between various fantasy or dystopian Y/A novels I came across this book. A story of a religious sect is not one that I have come across before although I'm sure that is mostly down to me not having looked. I find it interesting to read about people who have strong beliefs that are different to my own. Also how the chose to play out those convictions. Form the blurb it was fairly obvious that things inside this little world are about to go very wrong. This in of itself had already started to conjure up images in my mind before I'd opened the book. 

     Hill's story is driven by Moonbeam a girl who at the age of seventeen has never really known the outside world. Having grown up fowling farther John's strict religious views. She is a complex and guilt-ridden person. She is fully aware that the things that took place within the compound's walls were not right. But how do reconcile this when your whole world comes crashing down and your view of the outside world is put to the ultimate challenge. I did end up feeling a lot of compassion for this girl, I think it is difficult not to. Throughout the pages, i got to see her trying her best to do what she thinks is right even though this goes against everything she has been taught to believe. 

     As the story starts it feels like the end of days with the compound already under attack. But after a few pages, it jumps to our heroine being in a facility and under the care of a doctor. At first, there is always the worry that in knowing how things end the story will be facing an uphill battle to draw you in. Hill, on the other hand, showed me what a great writer he is by giving me a story I couldn't tear my self away from. The story plays out in the two separate time periods, this is down to Moonbeam relating her story to the doctor and an agent from the F.B.I. To me it felt like a good balance as the sections in the present gave pause for thought on which bits of information she chose to share with them and also at times allowing them to question her version of events. 

     As for the setting of a cult, it was for me an interesting dynamic. Throughout I got a real sense of the tension and paranoia in the air. The character of father John  Feels like a mix of Charles Manson and David Koresh. Which I must confess is where most of my knowledge of sects come from I can still remember seeing the footage from Waco, a wound I think is still pretty sore to this day. It's just not something that happens in England so much we are more the pamphlet and scrounging a cup of tea. No compounds full of people armed to the teeth with AR-15's. I think in a lot of ways he does treat the topic of religion with respect at no point did I feel like he was demeaning or antagonizing against those of the Christian faith. But I'm not religious so perhaps I'm not the best person to judge that one. 

     This is a book that I really enjoyed, the story provided enough tension to keep me on tenterhooks. And the in's and out's kept the story going strong. All this proved to me what a skilled writer Hill is, the story felt so real. And I think he did it with the upmost respect for those survivors who have gone through it for real be it Waco or Ruby Ridge. Less of a who done it and more of a how done it. I would strongly recommend you give this book a bit of your time.