When the children come

The book’s premise had me hooked from the start. People are going crazy, killing children, for some unknown reason. Then, it is explained by a scientist type to have something to do with electromagnetic waves.

This is where the book lost me, because if it is really electromagnetic waves, then all the characters need to do is to be inside a Faraday cage. For example, mobile phones get no signal in a fully enclosed metal elevator because the metal elevator acts as a Faraday cage, blocking the phone signal. But a Faraday cage is never mentioned. There are a few scientist types and they act like they have never heard of it either. One of the scientists even suggests a submarine, which is a pretty good Faraday cage, but never makes the leap to make or find one for themselves.

Now, I’m not saying that a Faraday cage is the solution for this book’s problem. Maybe someone tries it and it doesn’t work because of some other factor. But the fact that no one tried it, not a single survivor in this book even mentions it, even the scientists who should know about it, boggled my mind.

I kept on reading to see if anyone would bring it up, but no one ever does. This made me feel like the whole book was ludicrous, which is fine if it was what the author was going for. Unfortunately, the book seems to want to be serious sci-fi and the science fell short.

★★✰✰✰