After creating a nail-biting premise in the first book with a state-wide power outage that forced people into survival mode during a cold winter, and escalating conspiracy theories in the second book with the spread of a virus and speculations about the forces responsible for it and the attack on the power grid, this third book takes the story a few steps further by uncovering the mystery and addressing questions that pose a threat to national security.

For any book series, it is very important to have consistent character development for its protagonist or main characters, as well as a linear storyline that revolves around them. However, I found this aspect missing in this book. The focus Thom received as the main character in the first book shifts to other characters. In the second book, Dominic took center stage, and in this book, the story is carried forward by Dominic, Commander McGinnis, and Captain Murdock with the LST 325 battleship and armed forces as they fight against a Chinese invasion and work to challenge the high-ranking politicians who aim to strip America of its superpower status.

Although this book was packed with adrenaline-filled action and was as fast-paced as the first two books, I didn't enjoy the genre shift it went through. From being a survival thriller, it transitions into a military thriller. Some important elements—such as the power outage, the virus spread, and the helplessness of ground-level people—were not given the significance and weight they deserved, which could have helped maintain the consistency established in the first two books.

Overall, it was an entertaining and gripping thriller. I assumed the story would conclude with this book, but the way it ended left me anticipating even more. It’s clear there will certainly be a fourth book in this series.