Jag tänker då och då på hur dåligt jag skulle klara mig utan moderna bekvämligheter som elektricitet och mataffärer - hur lite jag vet om hur man överlever utan sådant. Så jag tycker att det är intressant att läsa om hur Hedvig klarar sig alldeles ensam, och boken hade gärna fått innehålla ännu mer beskrivningar av praktisk överlevnad. Slutet gör att det känns som om det kan komma en fortsättning och jag läser gärna mer om den här världen efter katastrofen och de få överlevande ungdomarna. ( )

13-year-old Hedvig is left all alone when an apocalyptic fever has killed her family and everyone in her street, her suburb and the city overnight. It would seem that the human race as a whole has succumbed to the disease, with Hedvig the sole survivor. Unable to deal with so much unexpected death, Hedvig spends the night in an empty school, grabs some of their camping equipment, and moves into the forest to begin a new life. It's the only way she can think of to forget and escape, even though the new peopleless world won't let her.

Overall I liked this book. It was well-written, with a clear idea of where it wanted to go and in my view it achieved that for the most part. It is spot-on in capturing a 13-yo's fears and emotional instability, though I'm not sure if the maturity that Hedvig displays is due to Swedish teens being so self-reliant or to an adult author wanting to move the story forward.

Throughout I found myself looking forward to finding out what the protagonist was going to do next to stay alive and more or less comfortable. But the heart of the book is the emotional world that the protagonist creates around herself: self-doubt, deliberate oblivion and lethargic acceptance fitfully morph into a firmer grasp on her own psyche. The minimal plot carries and supports that development throughout.

I also like the decision to never tell the readers what caused the outbreak or what happened in the rest of the world. This very firmly maintains the book's low-key profile, its deftly local focus on the emotional turmoil of a 13-year-old and her desire to move away from the end of the world and forget all about it.

Both of these points work wonders for characterization and the level of investment in the protagonist's plight, and that's where the strength of this book lies: Nordin writes characters very deliberately, and knows how to get you to invest yourself in them.

There are points where the narrative could have fallen prey to cheap tricks, but the book thankfully steered clear of those. For instance, near the end of the book the main emotional stumbling block that the story has been building up to can in part be overcome through the power of cute. But Nordin is very careful not to exploit that cheap trick as much as she could have: she keeps the narrative focused on the protagonist's inner conflicts, so that's another point in her favour.

All of this is not to say that I didn't have any complaints. For one thing, even though the post-apocalyptic reality is necessarily quite constrained, the pre-apocalyptic world seems unnecessarily small, with few characters to populate it and even fewer speaking parts. That took away from the realism and lessened the impact of the story.

And then there's the ending, open and sudden when it arrives: though symptomatic of Hedvig's changed perspective, it could definitely have been connected more methodically to the rest of the story. While it resonates with the "life goes on" tone prevalent in the rest of the book, and while it does add to an understanding of Hedvig's successes and maturation, it does smack a bit of sequel-baiting.

In short, this was a well-written, tightly focused post-apocalyptic tale with plenty of psychological development and a troubled protagonist dealing more or less realistically with their issues. The ending could have done with a closer fit with the rest of the book, but given the skilful characterization and the overall quality, that registers as a minor flaw. En Sekund i Taget is a fine ya novel.

Disclaimer: the author is an acquaintance, but I've no reason not to be honest. ( )

Vad gör man om man är den sista människan i världen? Om alla andra helt plötsligt dött av en mystisk febersjukdom?

Det här är vad Hedvig, bokens huvudperson, råkar ut för. Hon flyr lägenheten där hennes familj ligger död och ger sig av utan någon riktig plan. Till slut hittar hon till en bondgård där hon varit med skolan, en sån där de ska visa hur det gick till förr i tiden. Här skapar hon sig en ny tillvaro med ett litet hopp om att det kanske, kanske finns någon annan där ute.

Personbeskrivningarna är trovärdiga och lika så beskrningen av hur en urbaniserad trettonåring försöker sköta om djur och jordbruk samtidigt som hon försöker undvika att gå under av sorg och ensamhet. En bok att fastna i och gilla.