A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

My Rating: ★★★

Six years after a deadly flu strain wipes out much of the human population, survivors are rebuilding their lives and cities. The new world consists of a combination of rebuilding cities, communes, and people living off the grid. Much of the population is terrified of the outdoors and face to face visits with other people. In the middle of this new world, Moira, Krista, and Rob are three people brought together and learn what it means to live again.

I don’t come across post-apocalyptic novels that also fall under adult fiction that often, so I knew I had to pick this up. Once I started reading, I quickly became absorbed in the story and enjoyed it from beginning to end. One of the things that I like about this book is that it has a great cast of characters that are very realistic. While these characters are thrown into a fictional setting, they are still relatable. I can understand their actions and why they’ve become the people they are at the point where the story picks up.

Rob is a widower and single father struggling to raise his daughter the scrutiny that new San Francisco focuses on families. His young daughter, Sunny, is acting out at school and new San Francisco is about to review their case and determine if he should keep custody of her. Unfortunately for him, Sunny’s behavior is due to a white lie Rob’s been telling her for most of her life and he can’t bring himself to tell the truth. I understand why Rob’s been lying to Sunny as well as why he never made new friends once the worst was over with the deadly flu. He lost nearly everyone he knew and his primary focus is his daughter and living day to day with a huge hole in your life.

Meanwhile, Krista and Moira have run from what family they have left. Krista had a fake death certificate sent to her family so that she could have a fresh start and get away from the hectic and toxic life she had with her family. Moira, a former pop star, changed her name and became a whole new person so that she would never be forced to become her dad’s celebrity puppet ever again. Both characters are so real that I enjoyed following them and seeing how events unfolded with their pasts threatening to bubble up to the surface in different ways.

When you throw these three characters together, you get a friendship between three people who have been too busy trying to get by to get back to living. This new friendship opens their eyes and urges them to deal with their past, the end of the world, and embrace life again. I enjoyed following these characters and their stories and look forward to reading more books from Mike Chen.