GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE by Victor Gischler

[Gerald So]

Out tomorrow is Victor Gischler's new novel of what happens after the end of the world. In the near future, divorced insurance salesman Mortimer Tate decides to stock up on guns and goods and wait out Armageddon in a mountaintop cave. Nine years later, he feels the urge to come out of seclusion with the quixotic goal of finding his ex-wife Anne.

I'm a longtime fan of Victor Gischler's work, but even if I weren't, I wouldn't be able to resist the title. To describe the book in much detail is to spoil the surprise readers should feel along with Mortimer at what the world is like after nuclear devastation. The catalyst is no one stroke, but the confluence of current events taken to plausible conclusions. This grounding allows Gischler to sketch out his new world without bogging the story down in exposition.

The result is a brisk, funny, poignant read as Mortimer and friends rediscover their purpose.