In 2019 many more nations than the superpowers have nuclear weapons and dependable delivery systems, but don't expect ships and bombers. Viewpoint in this novel is strictly from the civilian. New cover, no more confusion; it's not about Christmas Kirby Yates, 40, is groundskeeper at the new underground Energy-Museum at Hammett's Mill, ND, pop. 240. He's also in charge of security of the attached, secret, bomb shelter. It's a story of a man struggling to find love as much as his struggle of accepting the reality of nuclear war. A Review: One of three 5-star reviews Buy -- an unusual, introspective take on the apocalyptic / post-apocalyptic tale, May 5, 2012 By Kurt Stallings-- Author, Law... (Fort Worth, Texas Kirby Yates lives in a part of the country where there are almost as many nuclear missiles as there are people. The small little town he calls home is filled with lonely people making their way through silent lives. They would be mere numbers waiting to be dumped onto a casualty list if it wasn't for the fact that their exact location is just beyond the range of total destruction by any enemy missiles aimed at the American bases a short drive across the prairie. Even so, Yates would be nothing among them in the eyes of planners, but for the fact that he happens to have a combination of basic military experience, a quiet competence for planting and managing landscapes, and a bit more intelligence than most. He's chosen to prepare for and participate in any nuclear exchange without being informed of the fact until it's too late to quit, although he is bright enough to realize it before. Ironically, he realizes, he is preparing the stage for the tragedy that has given him nightmares since discovering a secret stash of materials in his grandfather's house. His artist's vision, which he keeps hidden from others, makes his sense of what may be coming only more vivid. The author achieves something rare, if not indeed unique, with a work of fiction that not only broadens the reach of its particular sub-genre but doubles as a commentary on that sub-genre in itself. Certainly, this is the first of the A/PA novels I've read that explores the reason I am compelled to read so many. The protagonist grew up with the same obsessive sense of impending nuclear doom that vested in so many of us at a certain age, thanks to countless drills at school, those ridiculous films in class, and any number of black-and-white movies on TV. While some reviewers here are put off by Kirby Yates' initial, relative immaturity -- brilliantly and incisively detailed for him halfway through by a woman explaining why they can not be together -- readers more accustomed to novels that aren't purely action-driven will enjoy following his maturation, complete at the end of the book. I'm not knocking action books, or those who enjoy them, I'm simply making the distinction so you can choose whether you personally might enjoy the book or not. I like action books; I also like this one. This is a book about a man, not a war, albeit a man preparing for the most terrifying of wars; and it's a book about a real man, not a caricature. I recommend BUY as someone who enjoyed the tension as the subtle shifts in his relationships, always driven by an artist's appreciation for the insanity of nuclear war, was also balanced by an appreciation for the need for "adults" (as Yates puts it in his musings) who deal with insanity as something that is never going away. The struggle to achieve some sort of mature balance within himself as between those two impulses are what drive his decisions throughout the book. The ending is so satisfying because he finds that balance under the most surprising of circumstances -- or perhaps the only situation in which he might have stumbled onto it. In any event, it's his decisive action that wins him his "adulthood," and brings the security he's always sought to himself and those for whom he cares.