Total Oblivion, More or Less
Alan DeNiro
Ballantine, Nov 24 2009, $15.00
ISBN: 9780553592542

No one in the Minnesota town was prepared for the invaders, the ancient Scythians wearing NBA Lakers jerseys. Everyone was captured and placed in camps. However, survival takes a plunge and not because all non-fast food joints were closed. Wasps were transmitting a new form of the deadly plague by air and by sting.

Sixteen year old Macy and her family manage to escape to the Mississippi hoping to find a safe haven in what is left of civilization. None quite realize the invaders have taken over the country and are now at war with one another to see just who will be the top lord. However, Macy and family manage to reach St. Louis, where her dad says he has a job at a university's astronomy department. As Macy recovers from the plague, she meets Em the submarine captain and Wye whom she is not sure of whose side he is loyal to while her brother is sent for trial to Nueva Roma and her sister is sold into indentured servitude while her father has become the leading astrologer in the Mississippi.

Not for everyone, Total Oblivion, More or Less is an enjoyable futuristic thriller in which the conquering invaders come from the ancient past. The story line is a combination whimsical look at what truly civilization is when calamity strikes on a mass scale in a world gone mad. Sub-genre fans will enjoy traveling the DeNiro American landscape escorted by courageous Macy who learns the mighty Mississippi means civilization to all types of groups.

Harriet Klausner