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Amy Harris doesn't know from where They came.  She doesn't know why They chose to attack Earth.  She has no idea how to eradicate the plague that is Them.  All the 16-year-old can do is hide behind the electric fence that keeps the monsters away from her Chicago home, keeping the lights off and making as little noise as she can.  Silence isn't that difficult when you're alone in a vacant city, an empty world.  Still, Amy's learned to tiptoe and taught herself and Baby—the toddler she found in an abandoned supermarket—to communicate in simple sign language.  It's the only way to stay alive when they're forced to venture beyond the safety of the fence.  

When a new enemy threatens to invade their fortress, Amy knows it's time to leave.  But where will she go, especially with a small child?  Rescue comes in a most surprising way, landing Amy and Baby in a place that should feel safe.  So, why doesn't it?  As Amy discovers the shocking answers to her most baffling questions about Them, she begins to realize just how much she's risking by staying.  Leaving is suicide, but what choice does Amy have?  She'll protect Baby with everything she's got, even if it means forfeiting her own life.  The only question is where will the child have the best chance for survival?  And what will Amy have to sacrifice to get her there?

Even though the YA market is saturated with dystopian novels, most of which are clichéd copycats, I can't stop reading them.  Occasionally, I stumble across one that makes me glad I haven't given up on the genre yet.  Unfortunately, In the After, a debut novel by Demitria Lunetta, isn't one of them.  The monsters are a little different, but everything else in the story is pretty much been-there-done-that.  Pacing-wise, the tale moves right along, making most of its 450 pages fly by.  Still, if the book had been shortened, the plot tightened up, the characters fleshed-out and the prose enlivened, it would have been a much more enjoyable read.  As is?  Meh.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of Orleans by Sherri L. Smith as well as other YA dystopian/horror novels)

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