Five Years After

A John Matherson Novel, Book 4

By: William R. Forstchen

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

From William R. Forstchen, the New York Times bestselling author of the One Second After series, comes Five Years After, a near-future thriller where John Matherson must contend with new threats to the fragile civilization that he helped rebuild.

Five years after The Final Day, the Republic of New America has all but collapsed into regional powers and the world at large is struggling to remain stable as regional conflicts ravage the post EMP landscape. After several years attempting to lead a quiet life, John Matherson receives the news that the President is dying from a possible assassination attempt, and is asked to step in to negotiate with what appears to be a new military power hidden in the wreckage of the world.

Pulled back into the fray, John struggles to hold the tottering Republic together. Facing threats on multiple fronts, he races against time to stop another EMP attack on the former United States and China, putting years of progress at risk. With so much of his work under threat, John must find the strength within to start over, so that he can save the country and the people that he holds dear from even greater calamity.

A Macmillan Audio production from Forge Books.

©2023 William R. Forstchen (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The future has never seemed more chilling or more believable than in Five Days After, a riveting dystopian page-turner from one of the masters of the genre. As you descend into the world that William Fortschen creates, you absolutely know that this is how it could all turn out. But as you root for the characters who inhabit his world, your faith in the human spirit will be restored.”—William Martin, award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Constitution and December '41

“Forstchen is a rare storyteller who not only entertains, but also conveys a vital message. He reminds us how much we’ve forgotten—how to subsist, how to fight, and how to live. Five Years After is a veritable guidebook for surviving the apocalypse—and better yet, how to avoid it.”—Ward Larsen, winner of eight major awards and USA Today bestselling author of Deep Fake

“With One Second After, William Forstchen redefined and elevated the genre of apocalyptic fiction. Now, with the release of Five Years After he raises the bar once more. John Matherson faces his most diabolical antagonist yet, when he he's thrust into a deadly game of wits when a secret cabal of government survivors unleash global holocaust. To save the world, John must embrace the unthinkable, and live with the consequences forever. This is edge-of-the-seat fiction at its finest!”—Kathleen O'Neal-Gear and W. Michael Gear, award-winning, New York Times bestselling authors of The People of the Earth series and Dissolution

high hope's edited review after completion

I love this series!! I've listen to the 1st 3 books at least 4 times in order. I been waiting for this book to come out for over a year!! compared to the 1st 3 books this book goes nowhere. kept thinking it would take off, maybe get some action like the 1st 3 but NO it actually makes me sad!!

The last 3 hours really shined even though the ending Came fast but hopefully this isn't the end of John matherson and black mountain!!

Why, narrator, why?

The first three books were read fine. This book is, for some reason, read in the most annoying way possible. I understand that certain characters were supposed to be portrayed as insufferable but it was almost unbearable to listen to. I'm ranting, I know, but this is the only venue that holds any value to rant on and I'm so very annoyed. Other than that, a pretty good fourth book to the series (...so far, I haven't even finished it yet...).

Holy GOD that reader.

I’m kind of invested in the series, so I purchased this without hesitation. Once we got rolling I kept noticing the reader. Like, he was trying too hard and getting in the way of the story. It’s driving me insane. I’m almost ready to quit the book just to make his horrible overacting stop. Sweet baby jebus calm down and just read it normally. Otherwise a nice little series to listen to while doing chores.

Surprised and Wanting more

It honestly felt like such an abrupt ending and I was still hoping for more it felt kinda forced. But it was a great story nonetheless.

Forstchen’s finest work yet.

Smart, entertaining, well written and dare I say… a bit educational. Well done! I anxiously look forward to the next in the series.

Good story, overacted by the narrator.

Really enjoyed this series overall and was looking forward to the final audiobook. The story itself was very good with the finale being a tad implausible. The real letdown here was the narration. Pinchot overacted most of the book and gave an over the top performance in the dialogue between the characters. He went too angry almost all of the time which in my opinion shows a lazy, one dimensional characterization of the main players in this story. It doesn’t ruin the audiobook but it does make for a LOT of cringeworthy and almost unlistenable parts, but I think the story was good enough to outweigh Pinchot’s performance. It wasn’t all bad, but the parts that were bad, were pretty bad. Overall I would recommend it with this caveat going into it.

Weakest one.

Seemed to aimlessly wander then abruptly end, right when it started to get going.

fantastic listen

i loved every minute of this trilogy and was hooked to the listen. Pinchot was a great narrator

it’s gory

these books are based on a true story of our future 2025 is when it’s all going to go down this book was written by the CIA who are daemonic and is all part of their plans and in order to feel good about what they do they have to tell us so here you go folks buckle your seatbelt because we are in for a fuct next couple of years

Inevitable, maddening

Excellent book. Narration was spot on, despite many reviewers’ complaints-completely feasible, considering the nature of the characters. The decisions that had to be made were clearly shown to be beyond difficult and heartbreaking. Just hoping this series is NOT a foreshadowing of things to come. Forschten, I am ready for another series.