On this particular afternoon, Willo's out hunting in the hills. When he returns, he senses right away that something's wrong. His home looks and feels deserted. Creeping closer, he discovers that everyone's gone. Judging from the tire tracks in the snow and the half-eaten breakfast abandoned on the kitchen table, his people have been discovered and apprehended by police. Willo knows they could be back for him at any time, could even be hiding somewhere on the property waiting to nab him. Not sure what to do or where to go, Willo takes off into the mountains. He's been hiding himself, masking his scent and noise for as long as he can remember - he'll do that now while he figures out a plan.

It doesn't take long for Willo to hit a snag. As he tromps through the frozen land, he comes across a young girl. Stick-thin and starving, she's waiting for her father to return. Willo's already found the man - he's dead in a shed out behind the hovel where the girl is waiting. Thirteen-year-old Mary, now an orphan, is so distraught, so far out of her mind, that Willo can't reason with her. He also can't leave her by herself, especially not with a pack of wolves circling outside, just waiting for another carcass to tear apart. He also can't drag her along with him, seeing as she's a city girl, unused to living in the wild. Now, he has a plan: Get Mary back to the city, then figure out how to get to his own family.

The city, though, isn't what Willo thought it would be. It's much bleaker, much more dangerous. As Willo tries to navigate his way through its filthy makeshift streets, he'll learn some shocking truths - about life in the dingy city, about his own family, and, mostly, about himself. With these revelations comes the realization that he's now in more danger than he could ever have imagined. Maybe he's no match for the animals that stalk the hillsides, but in the city, it's a whole different kind of hunt. Here, in "civilization," Willo's the prey.

The narration in After the Snow is a little hard to follow at first (Willo's speech resembles that of Todd in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness), but once you get used to it, Willo tells a gripping post-apocalyptic tale. Which is grim, to be sure. Also fast-paced and exciting. It's a chilling dystopian/survival story, set in a unique climate, which makes it even more fascinating. After the Snow might not be my favorite YA dystopian novel - still, it's an engrossing, well-written adventure that kept me flipping pages well into the night. Bottom line: I liked it.

(Readalikes: The Road by Cormac McCarthy; The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch; The Chaos Walking trilogy [The Ask and the Answer; The Knife of Never Letting Go; Monsters of Men] by Patrick Ness; also reminded me a little of Trapped by Michael Northrop)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder invectives), violence and intense situations

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of After the Snow from the generous folks at Feiwel and Friends (an imprint of Macmillan). Thank you!

Sophie Marks doesn't want much really, just the things the average 14-year-old takes for granted: school, friends, laughter, an occasional trip to the mall or the movies. It's so little to wish for, but Sophie knows she'll never get any of those things. Not as long as she lives with Cheryl Marks. Her mother is so afraid of the outside world, so paranoid of what she calls the "No Good," that she refuses to leave the house any more than she absolutely has to. Since Sophie doesn't work or go to school, she's never allowed to stray outdoors. Her mother insists she remain inside, with the door locked and the shades drawn against prying eyes. Sophie obeys, as she always has, because it's the only way to keep her mother calm. But she can't stop hoping, wishing things were different.

As isolated as the Marks' new rental home is, it's not the only one hidden back in the woods. When Sophie spies a boy about her age playing outside with his dog, the urge to reach out to him is so strong that she does the unspeakable - she talks to him. Soon, she's creeping outside to play baseball with him. Then, she's sneaking over to the house where Joey Rudd lives with his two aunts. Their home life seems so sweet, so normal, that lonely Sophie can't stay away. She has to be extra careful, though - if her mother knew she was consorting with strangers, Cheryl would pack up their meager belongings and drag Sophie onto the next train out of there.

Sophie's small rebellion sparks a curiosity she's never felt before. Now, she's wondering about her mother: Why is Cheryl so afraid? As she sifts through the few momentos her mother's kept from their life together, Sophie discovers a shocking truth, one that has her questioning everything she's ever known to be true.

(Readalikes: Reminds me of Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams; June Bug by Chris Fabry; Circle Nine by Anne Heltzel; The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo; Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor and Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu)

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs) and mature themes/situations

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find