The Salt Line in After the End: A Post-Apocalyptic Book Group

Sep 02, 2025 Troy M. rated it really liked it

"June felt her love of this place powerfully and painfully--a love made larger and dearer because it seemed borrowed. Ephemeral. She was willing to sell her soul to protect this thing she had built. But what if even that wasn't enough?"

Dystopian novel about a deadly tick infestation that has sequestered the United States into exclusion zones, with the rich elite going on bespoke hunting/camping expeditions into the infected areas? Yes please, sounds awesome. Broad strokes-wise, that is the premi "June felt her love of this place powerfully and painfully--a love made larger and dearer because it seemed borrowed. Ephemeral. She was willing to sell her soul to protect this thing she had built. But what if even that wasn't enough?"

Dystopian novel about a deadly tick infestation that has sequestered the United States into exclusion zones, with the rich elite going on bespoke hunting/camping expeditions into the infected areas? Yes please, sounds awesome. Broad strokes-wise, that is the premise of this book, although it explores themes of family, class/caste, isolation, and relationships(or lack thereof). I was a huge fan of the world-building and premise, 5-star potential there for sure. The book lost me a little bit once they got beyond the exploratory phase, it's a bit segmented, and the political/double-crossing/dealmaking portion didn't really do it for me.

The Salt Line itself references the walls that divide the exclusion zones(Atlantic, Gulf, etc) from the tick-infested wildlands, think haves and have-nots. Our novel focuses on a group of couples and duos who are embarking on an expensive tourist excursion into one of the tick zones. The ticks themselves are intrepid, and carry a high probability of infecting people with Shreve's disease, which is usually fatal, in a short period of time. The nations economies and power paradigms have shifted to adapt to the infestation. We meet our main characters in a 3-week boot camp prior to the trip, where they are paired up, taught disinfection procedures, survival skills, etc. Among our main group are Marta, the wife of a mob boss in hiding, Wes, the teenage prodigy behind a powerful finance app, and Edie, the purely-by-chance girlfriend of a famous rockstar. As they progress past the salt line, led by the mysterious Andy, we discover sinister ulterior motives for the trip, and Ruby City, a thriving town, hidden within the hills of the exclusion zone, with(spoiler ahead) a potential cure/repellent for the ticks that have stumped the rest of society.

I thought that one of the biggest strengths of the novel was the characters - all of the group have different motivations, and some are paired by marriage within the trip(buddy system), while others are paired by chance or necessity. We learn as things progress how their stories intertwine, and their motives shift. Society is fractured by the zones, and those outside of them have been left behind, in more ways than one. The plot progresses quickly, and I've gotta say, the worldbuilding is superb. I just finished a novel about flies with the plague(Horsefly), so this is clearly a direction that piques my interest lol. The book focuses on the theme of motherhood, as well as trust, and class, both inside and outside of the zones and our main characters. I felt that the hard facts were very well-done, but aspects of the flashbacks and characterizations lost me a bit.

The pacing of the novel was great and suspenseful...to a point. It felt like once we hit Ruby City, the drama and intrigue was less in-your-face, and focused on behind the scene political motivations, which didn't really hit home for me. It took us leaving again for things to pick back up, and by then, we'd lost a little bit of the pacing that propelled the beginning of the book.

Overall, I thought that the setting and situation surrounding our quasi-apocalyptic future were superb, and the characters were well-written and dynamic, however I struggled a little bit with the pacing and motivations at certain points. Still a good, interesting read, and I'd absolutely recommend it 4/5
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Feb 06, 2021 Donna Huber rated it it was amazing

Shelves: post-apocalyptic-book-club

I'm never sure what to expect with my book club's book each month as I'm not a fan of horror or hardcore science fiction. I loved this book though. It falls squarely into the dystopian genre that I enjoy. A well-written story with complex characters. It made for a great discussion too. ...more

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