Crimson phoenix

The U.S. approves an Israeli first-strike to destroy Iranian nuclear weapons, in this pallid near-future series launch from bestseller Gilstrap (the Jonathan Grave series). Given the threat of nuclear war, all members of Congress are transported to an underground bunker in West Virginia, but Victoria Emerson, a U.S. representative from that state, balks at entering when she's told her two teenage sons accompanying her aren't welcome inside. She resigns her post to go in search of her third son, a student at a West Virginia military academy. When word of the government's precautions leaks to the press, Iran acts first, killing millions of Israelis with multiple nukes and triggering a Russian attack that takes out 13 U.S. cities, the president, and the vice president. The House Speaker is left to try to run the country after most of America's power grid is knocked out, while contending with opposition to his leadership inside the facility. Implausible details--both the president and v-p are in Washington, D.C., just hours before the planned Israeli operation, leaving them vulnerable--don't help a familiar story line. Still, fans of apocalyptic thrillers may want to check this out. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency. (Feb.)

When you imagine nuclear war, what do you think next? Gilstrap thinks series launch. Getting wind of Israel's intention to launch a nuclear strike, Iran attacks preemptively. So does Russia, which targets major U.S. cities. Communications are sketchy, but it looks as if Britain's not doing so well, and the American president and vice president, along with many Beltway stalwarts, have been incinerated. Escorted by Maj. Joseph McCrea to the Hilltop Manor Resort, the designated secure refuge for members of Congress, West Virginia Rep. Victoria Emerson is informed that her sons, Caleb, 16, and Luke, 13, can't be accommodated. So she resigns her position on the spot, turns on her heel, and leaves in search of someplace safe for them to shelter together--preferably someplace like Top Hat Mountain, the designated rendezvous for her son Adam, an 18-year-old cadet at Clinton M. Hedrick Military Academy, and the rest of the family. As the legislators immured back at Hilltop squabble about whether House Speaker Penn Glendale is really next in line for the presidency, McCrea, Victoria, Caleb, and Luke, surviving a brush with an outlaw gang led by survivalist Jeffrey Grubbs, arrive in the ravaged town of Ortho and step into the middle of a vigilante case study. It's up to Victoria, whom nobody in Ortho elected to be or do anything, to provide more inspiring leadership than the colleagues she left behind. Very little is resolved, but that's more or less the point for this opening installment in Gilstrap's post-apocalyptic series. Just the thing for readers who feel oppressed by the pandemic lockdown. Yes, things could be worse. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.