48 Hours

William R. Forstchen

Jan 2019 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

About this audiobook

From the New York Times bestselling author of the smash hit One Second After series comes 48 Hours, a nail-biting and prescient thriller about a solar storm with the power to destroy the world’s electrical infrastructure.

In forty-eight hours, the earth will be hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun, a “Carrington Event” that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world’s electrical infrastructure. To try and prevent permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit: global communications are shut down; hospital emergency generators are disconnected; the entire internet, media broadcasting, and cell phone systems are turned off.

Will the world’s population successfully defend itself in the wake of the CME, or will mass panic lead to the breakdown of society as we know it?

William R. Forstchen is at his best in 48 Hours, a tale of the resilience of American citizens when faced with a crisis.

Ratings and reviews

As always the author Forstchen brilliantly provides an accurate and scientific description of the events he lays out in his books. But this novel goes a step further than his previous fictional series on this same subject, being that the effects of an EMP or Cornal Mass Ejections and Coronal Proton Ejections from the Sun, or other electromagnetic effects on our planet are what the author specializes in, even having addressed Congress on their potential effects on our civilization.

The author takes forever to develop the plot with characters who are flat and cliche. The limited and overly predictable story is hindered by constant flashbacks which do nothing to drive the story and are completely irrelevant. Then, the speakers gets back on track to repeat the same things over and over again.

Interesting thought experiment around what to do with 48 hours left.

About the author

William R. Forstchen is the New York Times bestselling author of One Second After, One Year After, and The Final Day. He holds a PhD in history from Purdue University, with specializations in military history and the history of technology. Forstchen is currently a faculty fellow and professor of history at Montreat College, near Asheville, North Carolina.

Bronson Pinchot began talking at 9 months of age. Today, half a century later, he talks into a microphone in a soundproof booth for a living. In between, he attended Yale University as well as the acting programs at Shakespeare & Co. and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.