Genre: Apocalyptic Fiction
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: July 14, 2010
ISBN-10: 0316077402
ISBN-13: 978-0316077408
Author Website: Terry DeHart
Terry DeHart’s debut novel The Unit is a post-apocalyptic narrative permeated with themes of family, faith, and pyschology. The story begins two weeks after a nuclear holocaust has hit seven major cities in the United States. The Sharpe family lived outside Sacramento, but were on their way to an undisclosed location for Christmas when Sacramento was leveled by a nuclear bomb. Their electronics out of commission due the accompanying electromagnetic pulse, the family of four – mother, father, and late teen children – must find a way to deal with the aftermath when there is no law but survival.
DeHart, a Marine and disaster preparedness expert, brings his knowledge to bear in creating the novel. The plot is developed through seven interwoven perspectives, that of the family and three of their antagonists. Dehart drops the reader right into the story, developing the backstory of the family in dribbles and memories even as he places them in opposition against a mob of released juvenile delinquents from an isolated prison.
Each of the heroes of the story deals with their situation in their own way. The father, Jerry, calls up his Marine training and stoically attempts keep his family alive. Susan, his wife, trusts her husband, but has lost any love for him, staying with the family only for the sake of her children and out of renewed faith in God. Melanie, the pacifist, does everything she can to deny what is happening, though even when she becomes the victim of violence she never denies her principles, an unusual twist on this type of character. And Scott, the youngest, wants vengeance and begins to see himself as a Messiah when seeming miracles continue to happen around and to him.
On the flip side of the coin are Bill Junior, leader of the gang of boys, who must constantly justify his actions to himself, Bill Senior, a debauched and angry man who only sinks farther into lonely and selfish depravity, and Donnie, who serves Bill Junior only because he has no other option. DeHart skillfully weaves all these perspectives together both the advance the plot and explore the different psychological and emotional responses to a nuclear disaster people might have.
DeHart keeps the tension high, not shying away from the atrocities that would accompany a breakdown of law and order in an American setting. There are few pages in which there is not some sort of action sequence involving death, and even when there is not, there is emotional trauma instead. It is hard not to read this entire novel in one sitting, as it the tension is so palpable you almost fear to walk away without knowing how it concludes for the family.
The story also delves into issues of faith. Susan finds a previously lost faith, only to have it immediately challenged. Scott finds one he never had before, though twists it to his own ends. Melanie continues in her disbelief of religion and belief in a philosophy and Jerry is the only one who really finds anything close to real faith in a Supreme Being. DeHart makes these approaches a permeating theme, careful to make them fit into the character without drawing a conclusion, though one wonders if the author himself may have his own issues with belief in God that are being worked out in the context of the tale.
The Unit is a high-tension, high octane post-apocalyptic novel that delves deeply into the minds and hearts of the people involved in such a situation. It is both psychologically and emotionally deep while still being full of the non-stop violence one expects from such a work. This is apocalyptic story to stand alongside such greats as Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or the Wastelands anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. I highly recommend it. It’s one of the best in its genre I’ve read to date.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Ottinger. John Ottinger said: P: Book Review: The Unit by Terry DeHart http://bit.ly/b97124 [...]
I read this thing too, John, and I thought it was pretty terrible. Weren’t you bothered by the unending cliche and near complete failure to say anything new about survival in a post apocalypse environment?
Here’s what I had to say about it:
http://www.omphalosbookreviews.com/index.php/reviews/info/521
(Hoping this gives a trackback to this page.
Gregory,
You know, I’m so far removed from reading this book, that I don’t quite remember why I liked it.
I think I liked it most because its themes (though in some cases cliche, as you point out) resonated with me, whereas I can read from your review they most definitely did not.
As always, to each his own.
OK. Guess you don’t want to talk about why you liked the book.
Oh, no, that isn’t it at all. I just don’t remember beyond the documentation of this review. I read this book like twenty or thirty books ago. I simply cannot remember the details well enough to comment beyond this review.
Perhaps Mr. Tidwell should read another twenty or thirty books instead of following other reviewers around and maliciously trying to crush new writers. I think your review reflected my responses to the book very well, John, and was glad to see someone take the time to praise Terry DeHart. I published his work when he was just starting out in the short story form, and I can tell you that he’s a very fine writer. This particular novel is a bit more commercial than his usual literary work, but it’s his first novel, and a good read. I’m a retired publisher and editor of Ink Pot and Lit Pot Press, and while I’m a Liberal to the bone, I think Mr. Tidwell’s own political bias has shamefully obscured his good sense. A scathing review, ugh.
Thanks for the compliment Beverly. We are a panoply of colors we are.
Thanks, John. Sorry if I grokked you wrong.
Beverly, I actually have read several dozen books since I read this one. And I assure you, my review was not meant to be malicious at all. My comments were meant to do two things. 1) start a conversation. 2) provide some insight into why I disliked the book. I’m surprised that a former professional editor missed that. I think that if you took a moement and read more than one review on my site you would see that I have in fact loved some first efforts. For example, take a look at my review of The Unselfish Gene. I also just wrote a glowing review of James Van Pelt’s Summer of the Apocalypse, which should be ready to go up soon.
As to me following reviewers around, well, that’s just plain silly. I have actually contributed articles to this site before, so I think it’s OK if I post here. Plus, this is the only place I’ve commented. So shame on you.
Now, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, refrain from the ad hom attacks on my own motivations for the review I wrote, and tell us why you think the book was a “good read.” After all, I pointed out the language that I thought was a bit inspired. Can’t you do the same, or do you feel the need only to bash my efforts?
Not at all. I thought your points about the grammatical construction were well-founded. As I was not really looking at for purposes of this review, I glossed over them, focusing on the theme and adventure level instead.
By the way, Beverly, where were the short stories published? I looked at ISFDB and Fantastic Fiction and could find none by Terry DeHart.
While I felt the plot of this novel was fine and don’t have an issue with the perspective device I did find it difficult to differentiate between the characters. The Voices were not distinctive enough to feel they were fully fleshed out for this arrangement to work well.
I am a fan of this genre so I’ve read several similar works. My comparison would probably be to Patriots by James Wesley Rawles. While I believe his plot line was fleshed out in more detail he had an issue with the depth of character not the Voice. I found I could follow the characters better but in the end when one of Mr Rawles protaganists died I didn’t really care because the characters were one dimensional. With Mr DeHart I felt more compassion for the characters but thought they were too similar in Voice to be distinguishable.
Did I enjoy the book? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes, with a caveat to what I mentioned. It wasn’t Lucifer’s Hammer but then that wasn’t Pournelle/Niven’s first work either.